Linking water butts at great distances

[MarkPelican]

You don't have to connect at the bottom. If you make sure that the hosepipe is well into the bottom of each butt the syphon will work. That way the taps are free at both ends. If you connect the hosepipe at the top of the lefthand butt then the problem will be that water will only flow to the other end when the left butt is full and I assume that you want the water at the far end.

[sagart]

Also bear in mind that filling a watering can from a butt can be slow. A good option is to fill (via plunging) from a wide open container such as a water butt cut in half (or other old barrel) which is connected to an adjoining butt.

A very welcome to the forum, dear Sagart.

A lidless butt?! A lidless butt is a death trap! (And it also encourages algae to grow in the water ...)
Please, always keep your butt covered.

I must say, that is one great thing about using the lidless barrel, you can fill the watering can in one big plunge. It overflows a lot (Ireland) so it never stands long enough to get algae, but every so often there's an insect Holocaust.


I can't imagine using the hose to find the level with my hands, it's 50m long and the last time I tried to carry it in my arms it got caught around my neck and I almost ended up hanging myself!

When people say connect the hosepipe without using the tap, would you just drill a hole with a hole saw and stick the hose in and then seal it with silicon or is that good enough? Or is there a better way

The first water butt will look like this:



The best setup for me I think would be both barrels filling to the same level, but this is not crucial.

[roitelet]

You can get plumbing fittings to connect the hose to the butt. I have used brass ones in the past but bought a plastic one and the flaming thing leaks and I can't get it to seal.

[Alison]

I must say, that is one great thing about using the lidless barrel, you can fill the watering can in one big plunge. It overflows a lot (Ireland) so it never stands long enough to get algae, but every so often there's an insect Holocaust

The concern is also animals drowning in open butts. It is a genuine possibility. Mine have removable lids so I just remove the lid and plunge the watering can before putting the lid back on. The one on your picture has a lid too so not a problem.

[ESBkevin]

You can buy a kit to link water butts, it has all the fittings ready to go (assuming the hose fits on). Buy the kit and store the short flexi hose so you can use everything else. Add hose clips (or twist iron wire around) and a bit of sealent for luck.

[Jay-ell]

SOS pipe repair tape is great for sealing pipes and fittings as it doesn't stick to anything but itself where it amalgamates into a single solid rubber layer rather than multiple layers like duct tape (which will eventually delaminate).

Pull it tight so it stretches and it conforms to every groove, notch and bump.

[MarkPelican]

I can't imagine using the hose to find the level with my hands, it's 50m long and the last time I tried to carry it in my arms it got caught around my neck and I almost ended up hanging myself!

When people say connect the hosepipe without using the tap, would you just drill a hole with a hole saw and stick the hose in and then seal it with silicon or is that good enough? Or is there a better way

Whatever you do you're going to have to carry the hosepipe to the other end .

Its very simple. Feed the hosepipe into the full waterbutt so that it fills with water. Then put your thumb over the end to stop it emptying out and walk to the place where you want the other butt. It should still be full of water (maybe you need somebody at the other end to make sure you don't pull the whole lot out. Then you can lift it up and down to see the level.

I drilled a hole at the top of the butt (there's usually a marker) and fed the hosepipe through there until it was firmly on the bottom. That way you establish a syphon with the two ends below the level of the tap so they never come out of the water. The butts are always at the same level of water.

The problem with taking the water from the top of the first butt is that when the weather is dry, your second butt will be empty but your first butt full so you'll have to carry the water from one end to the other.

It works, I know, I do it (albeit only over 20m).

[MarkPelican]

BTW with the setup you've got for the first butt, if you put the linking pipe above the level of your feed in pipe it just needs to be a tight enough fit to hold it in place. The water will never reach the level of the hole because the level of water in the butt is never higher than the infeed from the downspout.

[sagart]

The concern is also animals drowning in open butts. It is a genuine possibility. Mine have removable lids so I just remove the lid and plunge the watering can before putting the lid back on. The one on your picture has a lid too so not a problem.

If only a few rabbits could wander into it. They destroy everything here. There's also a big swarm of hares doing the same, and the odd rat. They even tear things out of the ground in spite, they just let the plant alone and I put it back in and then they tear it out again.

Whatever you do you're going to have to carry the hosepipe to the other end .

Its very simple. Feed the hosepipe into the full waterbutt so that it fills with water. Then put your thumb over the end to stop it emptying out and walk to the place where you want the other butt. It should still be full of water (maybe you need somebody at the other end to make sure you don't pull the whole lot out. Then you can lift it up and down to see the level.

I drilled a hole at the top of the butt (there's usually a marker) and fed the hosepipe through there until it was firmly on the bottom.

Sorry if I'm a bit slow, but the 'level' that you see, is this where the brim of the other butt should be?

Also, if I fill hose with water and want to insert into hole drilled in 2nd butt, do I have to thread it through while it is still full of water to establish the siphon and if so, how do you do this without taking your thumb off?

Also, I spotted this comment in another thread, http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1249330

Will this be a problem for me, the butts are about almost level as it is

[Jay-ell]

If you are connecting the butts at the top and want it to syphon from one to the other then you want the second butt a bit lower.

If you are connecting at the bottom and want the water to naturally find it's own level then you need to have the butts level. Your doodle earlier had it right, the top of the butts should be level. If they are a little out it doesn't matter as it only means that the higher of the two has a little less water as the lower butt would start to overflow first - not a big deal if it's not a big difference. Once you've found the level and marked that line of the fence you don't need to keep hold of the hose. Once you've connected the two butts and one starts to fill the water will run from one to the other.

I've found that syphoning can be tricky - at least for me - so I'm only talking about connecting at the bottom.

Of course you could always go for a laser level but the hose pipe is cheaper. It's surprising how something can look level but turn out to be quite a bit off when measured - it depends on what it's being compared to as the ground/fence may actually be sloping slightly but your eye compensates for that. Have you checked how level the fence actually is?

[Martin H]

The trouble with syphons is that they work for a while and then stop. I think it's because air gets in and blocks the flow. So if I had room for two water butts on flat ground I'd join them at the bottom.

Syphons are brilliant for temporary connections though. For example, at my allotment we have those dip tanks and the nearest one is a couple of plots away from mine. So I've got a water butt set up so that the top is level with the top of the dip tank. Once the butt is part-emptied, I untangle my hose pipe, which has a big stone tied to each end, and use this to set up a syphon from the dip tank into my water butt. It takes over an hour to fill the butt from empty, but I'll be doing other jobs while it's going. I don't need to worry about it because once the butt is full the syphon stops flowing on its own; if I take a canful of water out of the butt then it slowly re-fills without me doing anything.

So I like syphons and I've become quite skilled at getting this one started. But just as a temporary thing.

[Jay-ell]

The trouble with syphons is that they work for a while and then stop. I think it's because air gets in and blocks the flow. So if I had room for two water butts on flat ground I'd join them at the bottom.

Syphons are brilliant for temporary connections though. For example, at my allotment we have those dip tanks and the nearest one is a couple of plots away from mine. So I've got a water butt set up so that the top is level with the top of the dip tank. Once the butt is part-emptied, I untangle my hose pipe, which has a big stone tied to each end, and use this to set up a syphon from the dip tank into my water butt. It takes over an hour to fill the butt from empty, but I'll be doing other jobs while it's going. I don't need to worry about it because once the butt is full the syphon stops flowing on its own; if I take a canful of water out of the butt then it slowly re-fills without me doing anything.

So I like syphons and I've become quite skilled at getting this one started. But just as a temporary thing.

So how's do you start the syphon off as you have to get the water over the bumps in the hose where it goes over the tank and butt.

Ok at the butt end I can guess that you start the syphon working first then stick your thumb over the end and poke the hose into your butt but at the tank end it's going to take a lot of sucking to get it to rise those 6 inches to start the flow.

[MarkPelican]

Sorry if I'm a bit slow, but the 'level' that you see, is this where the brim of the other butt should be?

Also, if I fill hose with water and want to insert into hole drilled in 2nd butt, do I have to thread it through while it is still full of water to establish the siphon and if so, how do you do this without taking your thumb off?

The level is the level of the water in your first butt so depending on how full the first butt is, that defines how high the second butt has to be.

Quickly. I put the thumb of my left hand over the pipe and feed it quickly through the hole (which isn't a tight fit) and grab it and cover it up. I've also used the "stop flow" adaptors that stop the water flowing out of the pipe.

As regards the syphon action stopping. That's what you want to happen, the water levels will equalise and the syphon stop until you take water out of one of the butts when the syphon will start again (slowly).

[Martin H]

So how's do you start the syphon off as you have to get the water over the bumps in the hose where it goes over the tank and butt.

It would be easier to show than to describe, but I'll have a go.

First, I lay the empty hose out flat from source to target so that all of it is below the level of the water in the source tank.

Then I lower the end of the hose into the source tank so that the first metre or so is under water and hence full of water. OK I give in, words aren't enough, here's a picture:



Then I stick a finger over the end of the hose, still under water.

Now for the clever part. Keeping the finger over the submerged end of the hose, I whip the metre of hose that is full of water out of the source tank and over the side, then immediately release my finger. I need to get the part of the hose that is full of water, outside the tank and below the level of the surface. Like this:



The siphon starts to work immediately, with air pressure on the tank filling up the hose and making the water leak out of the other end:



Once the hose is full, it's a simple matter to put a finger over the target end to keep the water in and lift it over into the bottom of the target tank.

Water keeps on flowing through the hose until the water in the target tank is at the same level as the source tank.

[Jay-ell]

Thanks Martin, nicely described.