Rain barrels provide you with fresh rain water that can be used to irrigate plants around your house. This is ideal because you are using clean fresh water, saving energy by not using city water or well water, and managing your gutter system better. Using rain barrels will add to the look of your home and promote green living!
How Do Rain Barrels Work?
Rain barrels are used in conjunction with your gutter system. They sit directly below a downspout that is usually piped in with a diverter. A diverter allows you to select where the rain gets carried to; either into the rain barrel or your regular gutter system. When directing the flow of water into the rain barrel, you are capturing fresh, clean rain water that has not been contaminated by the ground. You are also not using any energy to collect this water! A typical 55 gallon rain barrel is used. You can use as many rain barrels as you have room for at your house. Once the barrel fills up, you will have maximum pressure at the water spicket on the barrel. Then you simply hookup your garden hose to it, and start irrigating your plants.
Why should I buy a rain barrel?
You can save a substantial amount of energy costs if you use a rain barrel regularly. The more plants and rain barrels you have, the more you will save. Rain barrels are great because they require minimal maintenance and cost nothing to operate to collect water. Whether you live on city water or have a well, imagine paying nothing in energy costs to water your plants! Keep in mind it does have to rain for the rain barrels to work.
Rain barrels help reduce energy usage, water runoff waste, and allow you to hold onto water during droughts. If it rains a total of 1 inch, then for a 1000 square foot house, you could potentially collect up to 621 gallons of water! It does not take much rain to fill up a 55 gallon rain barrel.
If you have any questions or comments about rain barrels, call Classic Gutter Company, Inc. at (708) 450-9666 today!
