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fredsheldon wrote:Yes, all 6 will be together. I only installed a rain gutter on the backside of my house. If gravity does not do the job, I will install a boost pump to push the water to the end of the line. I was planning on just moving the hose from barrel to barrel as necessary. Of course my plan may change in the future. This is a trial and error process for me.

180 gallons with 1 inch of rain - what will a pump do?

I'm talking about the watering part of the operation. The hose to the last plant in the yard will be about 75 feet long. I may need to push the water to the end of the line if gravity doesn't do the job.

fredsheldon wrote:I'm talking about the watering part of the operation. The hose to the last plant in the yard will be about 75 feet long. I may need to push the water to the end of the line if gravity doesn't do the job.

If you're trying to avoid the pump, there are a few passive things you could do. Raise the barrels, you get 0.5 psi for each foot. Make your outlets in the garden start small and get larger as water exits, watering rates will be more consistent from start to finish. Use a narrower hose. Or the easiest/most efficient - Use an array of hoses, either with a splitter or connected to each barrel, so no plant is "waiting in line" too long.

Length of hose won't affect pressure (assuming there aren't lots of ups and downs). Pressure is what it is when it exits the barrel, and can stay near constant over any reasonable length. It's water exiting at a plant that drops the pressure, hence why multiple, narrow hoses is better than one large hose.

I was hoping to use a soaker hose but I believe that requires pressure to force open the small holes. I like the idea of multiple hoses, one from each of the 3 soon to be 6 barrels, all of different lengths. That way I just open all 6 valves at the same time and let them drain the tanks. I won't be performing this operation often, just when there is no rain for a long period and an ample supply of barrel water. I will not be using this water for the grass, only all my rose bushes which line my back yard.

Installed last 3 rain barrels yesterday and it rained 1/2 inch today which filled 2 of the 3 additional barrels. So it looks like I will be able to collect 240 gallons of rain water for every inch of rain
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I have a question for all you fluid engineers out there. If I attached all 6 water barrel's outlets together via a manifold, will that increase the water pressure available by a factor of 6?

Ever wonder why city water towers are so high?

[quote="pieceseeker"]Ever wonder why city water towers are so high? ]
I take it that's a NO

fredsheldon wrote:I have a question for all you fluid engineers out there. If I attached all 6 water barrel's outlets together via a manifold, will that increase the water pressure available by a factor of 6?

In theory pressure would be unchanged, but in application the manifold creates drag so you would lose pressure.

The only way to increase psi at the start of the system without decreasing capacity is elevation. After which psi is reduced by disruptions due to outlets, junctions, bends, etc. as well as water leaving the system.

Doing that is no sweat here but be warned that in some western areas it is flat out illegal to collect rain water. That was a frequent discussion on some of the email list I run. It varies from city to city. Fines can be severe...


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