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Mobile water butts?

JoeXJoeX Posts: 1,783
in Tools and techniques
Hi all,

I’m sure I’m not the only one with the challenge.  Essentially, the best place to collect water is right at the front of the house in the middle of the property where everyone will see it and walk past it all day.  And the rain water is needed in completely different places, the north and south corners of the garden, and in front of the patio.

So it strikes me that it would be useful to have water butts that can collect water in winter, and once full be moved to the space they are needed.  One challenge obvious being that they will be really heavy when full.

Has anyone done this?


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  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I've never even though about such a thing, but think it would have to be some sort of water tank on strong wheels, and you'd need smooth level paths wide enough to pull or push it along (plus lots of muscle, or machinery).
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited September 2021
    We used to have bowsers on iron wheels , with handles a bit like large wheelbarrow handles, for taking water to stock in fields too far away for a hose to reach. The barrel was suspended so that it stayed level as if on a gimbal and could be unclipped and tipped so it would fill the trough in the field. 
    A strong farm worker could just about push it on a tarmac driveway, but anywhere else it was pulled by an Exmoor pony or a Grey Fergie. 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • TackTack Posts: 1,367
    edited September 2021
    I fill plastic trugs placed on wheels (pot dollies) from the butts and drag them to where water is needed. I have good paths though. About 35 litre at a time, others are probably stronger. I realise this doesn't really address your unsightliness problem but watering is quicker for me than going backwards and forwards with a can, adding fertiliser to the trug is very time saving too
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    Not really answering your question but we have rain water from a garage roof and also a greenhouse. One goes into the pond and the other into a water butt. When the last one is filled it then siphons off and goes into another water butt.
  • didywdidyw Posts: 3,573
    Is there no way you could divert the water through guttering and pipes to a better water butt location?
    Gardening in East Suffolk on dry sandy soil.
  • bertrand-mabelbertrand-mabel Posts: 2,697
    We have 5 different water butts locations in our garden. They are in different locations.
    One is small with water from a small "shed" roof, another comes from the main garden roof.
    We don't need to divert what we are already doing as we have established the best sites for the gutters and overflowers and water butts.
    Our polytunnel also has guttering outside that collect the rain fall and this is collected in watering cans and or overflows to water the veg in the polytunnel.
  • JoeXJoeX Posts: 1,783
    bertrand-mabel said:
    One is small with water from a small "shed" roof, another comes from the main garden roof.

    I realise it would depend on the weather but how much water do you get from a “small shed roof”?
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    When I lived in West Yorks (in the Pennines) we had a 7ft x 5ft shed with a pent roof.  The water collected from that roof was usually sufficient for my gardening needs all year, in a smallish garden, unless we had a prolonged dry spell.  We had 40-45ins of rain a year.
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • JoeXJoeX Posts: 1,783
    Dovefromabove said:
    We used to have bowsers on iron wheels , with handles a bit like large wheelbarrow handles, for taking water to stock in fields too far away for a hose to reach. The barrel was suspended so that it stayed level as if on a gimbal and could be unclipped and tipped so it would fill the trough in the field. 
    A strong farm worker could just about push it on a tarmac driveway, but anywhere else it was pulled by an Exmoor pony or a Grey Fergie. 
    What I could do is similar - say a 50L water butt is something I should be able to lift.  If I put a diverter on the downpipe at the front of the building, but disconnect it.  Then when a storm is coming, wheel over a 50l water butt and attach it while it sits on the trolley.  Then wheel it off when full or the storm stops.  I suppose I’d then need to lift it up to shoulder height to poor it into the destination butt if it’s not the same one.  So maybe like 30-40l.   Unless some kind of pump or siphon would work.
  • steephillsteephill Posts: 2,841
    Assuming that levels work for you the best method is to set up a syphon system to distribute water where you want it.
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