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All waterbutts are full and overflowing

mchuamchua Posts: 210
in Problem solving
… every time it rains, and so are all my watering cans!  I got nothing else to fill up.

Apart from joining up several together, are there any other solutions?
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  • Pete.8Pete.8 Posts: 11,340
    That's usually the way it works - water butts are full during autumn and winter, then when you need rainwater in spring and summer they're empty :)

    You can buy kits to join several butts together.

    What is that that you see as being a problem?

    Billericay - Essex

    Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
    Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
  • philippasmith2philippasmith2 Posts: 3,742
    I have the same problem - 3 butts joined together in one spot and 2 in another . Unless you have space for a large holding tank to which you can pipe/syphon the excess to, I can't think of a practical solution.  Sod's Law - when we were desperate for rain earlier in the year, we emptied the butts.  Now extremely wet so less use for the water. and only so much needed for GH and indoor plants.
    Perhaps someone may be able to advise but otherwise, it's something we have to live with :)

  • mchuamchua Posts: 210
    What is that that you see as being a problem?
    They at the corners of the bungalow where the Dow pipes open out.  Just worried about them overflowing and creating standing water - which hasn’t happened yet, but thinking about how that would affect the foundations overtime.  I recently became a homeowner, the property is old (1950’s).  Maybe I’m just being pedantic.  :#
  • mchuamchua Posts: 210
    Omg so many typos!  “downpipes”
  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    The diverters are designed to let the water down to the drain once the butt is full. If you have just fed the downpipe directly into the butt then you need an overflow pipe to go back to the drain. 
    AB Still learning

  • PlantmindedPlantminded Posts: 3,580
    mchua said:
    Just worried about them overflowing and creating standing water - which hasn’t happened yet, but thinking about how that would affect the foundations overtime.  I recently became a homeowner, the property is old (1950’s).  Maybe I’m just being pedantic.  :#
    No, you're not being pedantic @mchua.  The previous owner of my property got someone to remove the lower section of the only downpipe at the back of the house and placed a plastic dustbin underneath it!  It was then in a semi-permanent state of overflowing according to rainfall.  The paving collapsed in that corner and the room inside was damp.  These problems were reflected in the asking price but it put many buyers off!  
    Wirral. Sandy, free draining soil.


  • mchuamchua Posts: 210
    Plantminded said:
    mchua said:
    Just worried about them overflowing and creating standing water - which hasn’t happened yet, but thinking about how that would affect the foundations overtime.  I recently became a homeowner, the property is old (1950’s).  Maybe I’m just being pedantic.  :#
    No, you're not being pedantic @mchua.  The previous owner of my property got someone to remove the lower section of the only downpipe at the back of the house and placed a plastic dustbin underneath it!  It was then in a semi-permanent state of overflowing according to rainfall.  The paving collapsed in that corner and the room inside was damp.  These problems were reflected in the asking price but it put many buyers off!  
     :( ok.  It just so happens that I’m having the roof repaired with new felt and battens.  These guys do guttering as well. Think I’ll do away with the water butt and have them redirect the pipes straight into the ground. 


  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Do both. Have new pipes connected to the mains drains but fit a diverter to the butt.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • dangermousiedangermousie Posts: 356
    Save the water butt! :) Install a proper diverter (on the left), or do this on the right...How to Fit a Water Butt Expert Guide - Anchor Pumps
  • McRazzMcRazz Posts: 440
    dangermousie said:
    Save the water butt! :) Install a proper diverter (on the left), or do this on the right...How to Fit a Water Butt Expert Guide - Anchor Pumps
    This!

    Easy to fit and only a tenner on Amazon.

    Just make sure you also buy two drainpipe brackets for above and below the diverter or your downpipe will go all wobbly

    Your roofing guys could do all of this for you. 


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