Conservatory Water Butt overflowing
Gibsy
Posts: 5
Hi all
I recently moved to a new house which I was pleased to discover has 3 water butts to collect rain water. I'm a big fan of water butts and want to keep them. One is causing concern.
It is attached to the conservatory with a gutter pipe going directly into it. There is no main down pipe which means the water can only go into the water butt. In the stormy weather we had this weekend I noticed the butt was completely full and has overflowed causing water to sit several centimetres deep.
The water butt is set up on bricks and set upon gravel at the end of a short paved path. The water has also drained away down the paving stones into the lawn which is now very boggy and flooded in other areas. I had already noticed that the lawn was very wet and I now I assume this is because the water butt has overflowed time and time again over the wet winter.
Does anyone have a suggestion about how I can safely divert the overflow, since I do not have the option of sending it to a down pipe? (The main house downpipe is behind a wall inside teh conversatory so I can't rig an overflow to that either). I did think about removing the water butt altogether but them I'm not sure where the water from the guttering would go!
I have some images below.
Many thanks!
Posts
This might be a sill question Gibsy - but have you investigated what lies beneath the bricks under the butt - is there any sign of a drain there?
The water might be draining where it's not wanted because of the lie of the land and it can't be taken into a drain (if it's there).
As a temporary solution I would fix a hosepipe to the outlet tap and run that into the nearest drain, leaving the tap slightly open in this very wet weather.
At a later date you could fit an overflow pipe near the top of the water butt (most of them have sites you can drill out to fit a pipe) and run that into a drain or ditch (or even a series of water butts if you have the space).
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Another water butt would be a good temporary solution but you will always have problems when they fill up (which they almost certainly will in winter). Basically any down pipe needs somewhere for the water to go - a water butt just collects some of that water until it's full. The long term solution would be (as Dove suggested) to put in an overflow pipe from the water butt which goes to a drain, ditch, soakaway or field drain.
I ran an overflow from a water butt to the base of a willow tree. Do you have an area nearby which could take the extra water?
Thank you everyone for the replies. I will have to investigate further what is under the butt. I can't see a drain but will check more fully. I've half emptied it for now and used the water on a drier part of the garden.
I will try a hose to overflow it for now. I think this may be my only option as the nearest drain is at the front of the house.
My year old water butt has started leaking from the diverter point at the inlet pipe. I've checked it and water spurted out of the connecting hose. Cant SEE any reason why the water is backing up so it comes through between drainpipe and water butt unless there's a blockage somewhere in the system that is preventing the water flowing past the fully filled butt. Also the level of water is uneven so the butt seems to have shifted - its full to the brim and above the water inlet level. Why is it above the level, that's not supposed to happen, excess is supposed to go down the wall drain pipe, isn't it? Could it be simply because the water butt is not sitting level? Any suggestions gratefully received!
Yes, it's because the level of the butt has changed so the inlet it not at the right height compared with the diverter in the downpipe. You'll have to empty the butt and reposition it, making sure you get the set up right - then it should be fine.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
thanks so much Dove - I suspected as much but nice to get my suspicions confirmed. Looks like it'll be water water everywhere tomorrow! xx