Harvesting rain from a poly-tunnel general advice?

[Samuel1988]

Afternoon all,

I was wondering how can I collect the rain water which falls on the polytunnel?

Is there a product I can buy/make to help me harvest it?

Any tips/advice?

Many thanks,

Samuel

[darcyvuqua]

Hi

If you look on YouTube allotment diary has a cheap and effective way I will try and find it and post link 2 minutes


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[darcyvuqua]

http://youtu.be/AIyzCGB-Muc


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[Bill HH]

I have two observations about stick on guttering, for some reason things dont stick for long to poly tunnels and if I was doing it I would get a helper to push from the other side, I have noticed that good pressure makes a better job which lasts longer. Great tip about the tile edging.

[Kristen]

If you have vertical sides to your tunnel then maybe this:



otherwise I wonder if it is easier to collect it at ground level (using a drain along the side of the tunnel) rather than trying to fix a gutter on (never tried it though, so I don't know). A ground-level drain won't collect into an above-ground water butt though, so can't use gravity for irrigating the crops.

[Alison]

The stick on stuff is rubbish, I installed it first and it really didn't work at all. OH then installed normal guttering supported on wooden posts with some sheeting taped between the tunnel and the guttering, as shown below. Works really very well and the butts fill very quickly.

[bario1]

I attached guttering (just the smaller stuff you get from B&Q) directly to my tunnel hoops. Does mean puncturing the cover to get the bolts through, but seems ok if you strengthen the area first with repair tape. Works a treat!

[Alison]

I attached guttering (just the smaller stuff you get from B&Q) directly to my tunnel hoops. Does mean puncturing the cover to get the bolts through, but seems ok if you strengthen the area first with repair tape. Works a treat!

The other problem with that is that most of the water will run between the tunnel side and the guttering as the plastic bows in between the hoops. I guess you'd still get some flow but nowhere near all the roof run off which is why I added the polythene sheet between the guttering and the tunnel side, greedy me, wanted ALL the water


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[bario1]

No, I put repair tape from the poly to the inside of the guttering too. Not one drop escapes! My main reason for fitting the guttering was to stop the ground under the tunnel getting waterlogged - the rain harvesting and resulting irrigation system are just a bonus!


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[Bigmallly]

I used something similar to the tile edging strip but screwed it to battens (which are attached to the frame) inside the kite. Works just fine.