How to Install a Rainwater Diverter, Save Some Money, and Your Plants Will Benefit Too
In our area of the U.
K we have water meters.
Basically when we turn a tap on the meter records the usage and every six months we are billed for what we have used.
About a year ago with price rises on food, gas, electric and water we looked at what else we could do to save some money.
We had cut down our water usage by switching to showers instead of baths and fitted a duo flush water saving device to our toilet.
We then thought about water usage in the garden.
We like to see flowers in our garden from early spring through to late summer.
We worked out after a hot day, watering the flowers would use about 12 gallons of water.
Up until then we had harvested rainwater from our shed roof into a rain barrel.
If it had not rained for a few days we would then need to use mains water from the tap.
This meant having to go indoors to fill the watering can.
We knew that plants prefer rainwater, and we were paying to water them when the rain barrel was empty or low.
So we decided to purchase a rainwater diverter kit so we could collect extra rainwater from our house roof.
A rainwater diverter takes water from a down pipe which is attached to roof guttering.
It allows water to fill up a rain barrel and when it's full it diverts the water back down the drain pipe.
With this method you do not need to fix an overflow from the rain barrel into a drain.
We purchased a kit for £6 at a local store.
The kit comprises of the diverter, a 500mm piece of hose and a hose connector to fit on the rain barrel.
We had a rain barrel with a stand which we had picked up at a car boot sale and decided on a suitable position for it near a down pipe from the roof guttering.
Next we had to cut a 26mm hole in the rain barrel for the hose connector, this was easily done using a hole borer.
The connector was inserted into the hole and the back nut tightened.
We then had to take down a section of drain pipe that would have the diverter fixed into it.
This was just a matter of un-screwing a couple of clips.
A 30mm section of the drain pipe was cut away and the diverter inserted.
The drain pipe was re-secured to the wall and the hose pushed on to the diverter's connector.
The other end of the hose was attached to the connector we had inserted in the rain barrel.
The whole job had taken about one hour and ten minutes and was easily done with basic tools.
One last thing to check when the installation is complete is that your rain barrel tap is in the off position.
K we have water meters.
Basically when we turn a tap on the meter records the usage and every six months we are billed for what we have used.
About a year ago with price rises on food, gas, electric and water we looked at what else we could do to save some money.
We had cut down our water usage by switching to showers instead of baths and fitted a duo flush water saving device to our toilet.
We then thought about water usage in the garden.
We like to see flowers in our garden from early spring through to late summer.
We worked out after a hot day, watering the flowers would use about 12 gallons of water.
Up until then we had harvested rainwater from our shed roof into a rain barrel.
If it had not rained for a few days we would then need to use mains water from the tap.
This meant having to go indoors to fill the watering can.
We knew that plants prefer rainwater, and we were paying to water them when the rain barrel was empty or low.
So we decided to purchase a rainwater diverter kit so we could collect extra rainwater from our house roof.
A rainwater diverter takes water from a down pipe which is attached to roof guttering.
It allows water to fill up a rain barrel and when it's full it diverts the water back down the drain pipe.
With this method you do not need to fix an overflow from the rain barrel into a drain.
We purchased a kit for £6 at a local store.
The kit comprises of the diverter, a 500mm piece of hose and a hose connector to fit on the rain barrel.
We had a rain barrel with a stand which we had picked up at a car boot sale and decided on a suitable position for it near a down pipe from the roof guttering.
Next we had to cut a 26mm hole in the rain barrel for the hose connector, this was easily done using a hole borer.
The connector was inserted into the hole and the back nut tightened.
We then had to take down a section of drain pipe that would have the diverter fixed into it.
This was just a matter of un-screwing a couple of clips.
A 30mm section of the drain pipe was cut away and the diverter inserted.
The drain pipe was re-secured to the wall and the hose pushed on to the diverter's connector.
The other end of the hose was attached to the connector we had inserted in the rain barrel.
The whole job had taken about one hour and ten minutes and was easily done with basic tools.
One last thing to check when the installation is complete is that your rain barrel tap is in the off position.
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