Water Butts? Worth it?

Mark M

Mark M

Mark M

Soldato
Joined
6 Jan 2006
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Location
Newcastle upon Tyne
Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on water butts? I had previously read on here and other places that because water is so "cheap" that they usually arent worth it but as the cost of water is rising and most likely to continue then I thought it might be worth checking?

From memory I pay about £2.50 per m^3 of water (incl sewage charge etc) and a cheap water butt from Wickes holds 100l at a cost of £20. From google 1m^3 = 1000 litres so the cost per full water butt is therefore 25p if my maths are correct?

Average watering can is 10l so the cost per watering can is 2.5p which means the break even point is 800 watering cans?

If my maths are correct it still doesn't really seem worth it? Furthermore I would look at pumping the water via a hose rather than using watering cans so seems even less worthwhile?
 
Another fringe benefit is the prevention of water being dumped from garden shed downpipes onto the floor, typically by the base. Cannot be healthy long-term. Better to keep the area dry.
 
I thought you had to have all of your surface water going into soakaways rather than the drains to qualify for a discount? Maybe it depends on which water authority you're in?

I can't see how you could guarantee that you'd catch all, or even the majority, of the water in butts. What happens in the winter when there's a lot of water to collect and no reason to be watering the garden?
 
It still isn't going to sewer to be treated. It soaks into the water table.
I dug a soakaway for my house, the porch has a waterbutt, as does the garages and the greenhouse... 25% off iirc
 
My grandparents have got i think three or four, what must be a good 350 litre tank. They're all linked down the side alley as they don't use it. Certainly saves up a lot of rainwater for them, but i'd imagine it would take an age to refill if they were ran dry.
 
Also you're better to use rain water than tap water in most instances due to added chemicals in tap water.

I also use a can of rain water after washing my car as it doesn't leave rain spots on it. :)
 
Semple said:
My grandparents have got i think three or four, what must be a good 350 litre tank. They're all linked down the side alley as they don't use it. Certainly saves up a lot of rainwater for them, but i'd imagine it would take an age to refill if they were ran dry.
Click to expand...

Depends how much roof you're collecting water from and rainfall.

Think parents have at least 8 large butts around their house and garage and carport most daisy chained, a lot of surface draining off into them.

They can all fill up during heavy rain for a day.
 
I have three water butts that I got from my Gran's old house when she was moving, I've yet to install them but plan to do so soon, what I'd like to be able to do though is run some sort of irrigation system using the water from them, nothing big, just to simplify the watering of a couple of areas of the garden which in the past I have had either micro-irrigation or soaker hose in use directly from an outside tap. Does any one know if my existing irrigation stuff might work with the pressure from a water butt? I'm wondering if it will if I remove the pressure reducing thingy that currently goes onto the tap?
 
My parents had a 20,000 litre (estimated, it was easily 10x1x2m) open top tank down the side of the house, collected all the rainwater from the entire roof. Had a few fish in it so it was multi-purpose and the poo-filled water probably did the plants good. Just don't drink it :p

My mum got rid of it a few months back, had about 10 people rock up with a flat bed truck to take it away.
 
Nicely tucked away next to the garage.

DSCF1198sml.jpg


Industrial water containers work out a lot cheaper than garden water butts but you do need to accommodate the size.
Andi.
 
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