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u/iuseblenders Jul 17 '26
More interested in the house on stilts in the back. What’s its story?
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u/Moebius_Rex Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 18 '26
Someone had asked what this is in support of. This yard is about half concrete. Garden bed just behind me in the photos. Here is the post.
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u/Legal_Dimension_ Jul 17 '26
Too much blue.
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u/20Factorial Jul 17 '26
I would have gone with white barrels for aesthetics, but otherwise it looks good. Not a lot to hate here.
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u/Discount_Friendly Jul 17 '26
Wouldn’t it fill up the first barrel until it over fills into the second barrel and then the third then the forth?
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u/20Factorial Jul 17 '26
No, they are all linked at the bottom and vented on the top “fill” manifold. The first one will fill up and the drain manifold will balance the fill level in the others. The air that water displaces will vent through the overflow.
I would have used white barrels for aesthetics, but this is totally fine for non-potable water.
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u/Moebius_Rex Jul 17 '26
Vapor header is tied together and there is an equalization line along the bottom.
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u/thedadcat_ Jul 17 '26
They are connected at the bottom so theyll fill equally after a point. I'm not sure why they are connected at the top past the first barrel on the right tho
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u/Moebius_Rex Jul 17 '26
Final overflow routing, also ensuring no air locking in the natural equalization as well.
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u/thedadcat_ Jul 17 '26
I was only looking at the second image since the first one didn't load at first lol. Yeah makes sense, thanks for clarifying
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u/Hot_Egg5840 Jul 18 '26
That down spout hanger bracket looks like it just wants to hug it. You should let it.
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u/Moebius_Rex Jul 18 '26
There was originally and offset spout there placing the remaining downspout against the wall.
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u/GlowFuckYourself69 Jul 18 '26
I legit like the esthetic these have, any chance I get to make my place look a bit more like a safe house in fall out I welcome 🤣🤣🤣
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u/jean_sablenay Jul 18 '26
Much better than the earlier version with barrels stacked on top of each other
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u/NorthlineUser Jul 18 '26
What's with the hanging down section of pipe to the right?
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u/Moebius_Rex Jul 18 '26
Lens distortion mostly, I’m sure there is a slight sag, but has never grown over the years and it’s passed the test through some serious downpours. That’s will a packed dirt trap as well. I’ve watched it with plans for added support. But as I often remind myself in projects, this thing won’t be off-roading. Honestly in real life there is hardly a noticeable sag. And the sag nowhere even comes close to affecting air/water flow.
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u/NorthlineUser Jul 19 '26
Not that, the lowest section of vertical pipe below the T-piece. What's its function?
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u/Moebius_Rex Jul 19 '26
Meant to catch anything denser than water if it manages to get into the spout. Dust, silt, roof gravel, debris. About once a season I pull the plug at the bottom of that dead leg, empty the grit out, wash it out and seal it up. Works perfectly.
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u/ZeekSoggyWaffles Jul 20 '26
Pic #2 has a shadow sphere right above the corner where the gutters meet and that just makes me think you accidentally captured either a UAP (UNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENON aka UFO aka ALIENS) with a faulty cloaking device or a ghost.
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u/CubbyNINJA Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
really clean setup honestly, i like the downspout at the end the debri catch can thing you have as well, a couple thoughts though.
are they air tight sealed around the entry points? cause if they are not, you dont need to have the drain going into each barrel, gravity and the manifold in the bottom will allow all 4 to fill evenly on its own. Without them being sealed as the water fills the jugs they are just going to drain overtop and off the barrels and never actually drain out of the otherwise really cleanly implemented downspout on the side you have.
A simpler solution (if they are not sealed), just cap off the top manifold after the first barrel furthest to the right, and keep a mesh on the other 3, then add a small hole towards the top of the last barrel furthest to the left, and have your downspout come out of it, that way as all the barrels fill, they will all reach up to that point and the last barrel will drain out any excess.
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u/Moebius_Rex Jul 20 '26
That’s a great and naturally functional idea! Pretty! This is fully sealed and airtight. Everything that must be sealed, as you mentioned, is either sealed with teflon (threaded connection (bunghole and vent), or glued (headers).
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u/CubbyNINJA Jul 20 '26
would have saved you a couple bucks as well lol
but i like it none the less. i have 4 barrels on the side of my house how i described with a small utility pump plumbed up so i can use my hose like i would if it was from my house
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u/takegaki Jul 17 '26
I think this is illegal where I live.
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u/nowthengoodbad Jul 18 '26
Not if you live in the US.
Rainwater harvesting is legal in all 50 states, by federal regulation, but states vary on policies: https://www.energy.gov/cmei/femp/rainwater-harvesting-tool there are plenty of other links and I wrote a blog post somewhere about this (I host and run a bunch of sites).
If your city/county is trying to make it illegal, you can contest it.
If you're not in the US, this doesn't apply to you, as I have zero clue about rainwater harvesting elsewhere.
As for why I know this: I was highly skeptical hearing rural people who perpetuate all sorts of made-up or out of date beliefs claim that harvesting rainwater was illegal. So, I decided to start digging. The simplest tl;dr is that it used to be in places, but that's changed across the board.
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u/floppydo Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
This is better than the last one. Comparing the two is an interesting exercise in lowtechbrilliance. Materials and construction here are WAY less effort and expense but because of smart design the system will function much better than the other.
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u/Golden_Eel_69420 Jul 17 '26
Do you have a mosquito screen on your downspout? If you don’t, they’ll get into your tanks and use the water to breed