Shed water system

Cmore

Member
Has anyone ever hooked up their Machine Shed gutters to, say a 400 gallon plastic water tank?
Not buried, but above ground at corner of shed. I souls pump out of it with a simple bilge pump.
How did it work? Would be drained in winter. Thanks
 
if you treat the water with bleach it will be useable you are putting dirty water in a closed container with temp changes just not ideal storage for water
 
I have one buried, and one above ground. The buried one drained itself by cracking from freezing top down then leaking into gravel sub-soil. The ground recharge is fine with me. the other is drained in winter, and used for garden water. It has a hose bib very near the bottom, and gravity feeds to the plants nicely. Jim
 
A Trooper friend bought a rural farm adjacent to a development with the promise from nearby town to provide water/sewer. They backed out when development site didn't sell, he was the only owner. He installed a gutter system on his large barn/shop and his house with several storage tanks. In the corner of his shop he had a ultraviolet filter system for sanitizing the water. He had the water tested by several companies, it was safe to drink, tasted fine to me.


His 2 girls, son, wife, and he lived there over 15 years, he never bought or ran out of water, even during our sever drought of 2010-2014.


I saw the system from across the shop once; it ran slowly but 24/7. Lights and humming sounds were all I saw.
 
I agree with GB, add a 1/4 cup chlorine every week as chlorine(bleach will dissipate over time.

There are many variables to consider;If you are in an area which receives snow and have a metal roof, snow sliding off roof and ripping the gutters down. Build a stand so gravity may be a helpful consideration.

I have had gutters on my machinery shed since it was built in 1995. The facer is 12" wide so the gutter can be set away from the drip edge and still have pitch to downspout. 72LF.
 
It's called a cistern. Lots of the older places around here had them, except they were built of masonry and were either in ground or, like the one in the house I grew up in, in the cellar.

Check your local laws. When I was out west I was told that it is illegal to catch and store rain water some places. Sounds crazy, but that is what I was told.
 
I have never figured out why people catch water in 50 - 100 gallon containers. I pay $1.60, at the most, for 100 gallons. I doubt if most people ever recover the cost of the drum much less all the time and hassle involved. I got better things to do, like take a nap.

I understand cisterns where you collect large quantities, When these were built people didn't have other sources. As soon as they did, most abandoned the cistern system.
 
i have a 1000 gallon poly tank on a trailer that fills off the pole barn gutter. i mounted a well jet pump on it and a 3500 watt generator. works real good. if i am burning off ditches orthe combine is in the field, the tanker is there in case of fire. use it for watering fruit trees too. i also can fill the tank from thecreek with a trash pump.
 

I've heard this too, further research suggests this may only be the case in Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma, and Colorado. Best to check however even if they look at you like you're crazy.
 
Might want to add a filter screen to keep leaves and other junk out of the tank and out of your pump. My parents had a concrete cistern for years. Dad used a layer of burlap sacks and stainless steel screen to filter the water.
 
I'm not sure how much we pay for water, BUT WE are very unhappy when we don't have access to CLEAN H2O, such as when the frequent Hurricanes occur.

My Hydrologist Expert's saying is: "Fights are over Whiskey, BUT Wars are fought over WATER." :shock:
 

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