How to Make a Rain Barrel System for Your Survival Garden
Originally posted by Christine Hennessey
Step 2. Procure the pieces. There are probably tens of different ways to put a faucet into the bottom of a barrel, but I went to Lowe’s and got this stuff and it has worked fine. What we have here is a faucet (~$6) that will accept a typical garden hose, some plastic plumbing fitting (~$1) that is threaded inside and will mate with the faucet (faucet outside the barrel, unknown plastic fitting inside the barrel), and a 4 inch x 4 inch piece of thick rubber (~$3) to be used to make gaskets to improve the seal.
Step 3. Make the gasket(s). Trace the diameter of your faucet’s threads onto the rubber. Next, drill out the hole for the gasket. Select a drill bit that is close to the size of your faucet’s threads. It’s better to go smaller than larger due to the fact that you’re improving the seal and it’s rubber. My faucet came out to be 3/4″and the 3/4″ hole is snug on the threads.
Step 5. Screw on the faucet. Since your hole is exactly the same size as your faucet’s threads, it should be a little difficult to get the faucet going. Remember to keep the faucet perpendicular to the wall of the barrel, and that the plastic is going to yield to the metal. Push firmly while you twist, keeping the faucet in the same orientation the entire time so you don’t end up widening the hole. Screw the faucet in all the way, stopping when it is in the correct orientation. Don’t go further and then back out to straighten; this will result in a drippy faucet.
Step 6. Get in the barrel. Screw on the gasket and the plastic fitting.
Step 8. Elevate! Just as water towers are elevated to increase pressure so that the water will come out of your tap (without energy-intensive pumping), the rain barrels will deliver better if they are elevated to increase pressure. Ours are going to have soaker hoses running down and through the garden beds. We’ll be able to turn on the faucet for about 20 minutes and the gardens will be watered to perfection.
We still need to build the awning that will drain into the barrels (increasing the surface area will collect more water), but now we don’t have to worry about mosquitoes, and we know they work!