What happens when the gutters put out more water than the Rain Barrel can hole? Can you leave the hose open and let it discharge somewhere?
1863086
Yes, there is a hole near the top. If water reaches that level, it goes out the hole, through a flexible pipe and away from your house. You need to purchase the overflow pipe separately if I remember correctly.
1863087
It overflows. You can obtain a diverter that lets the water flow out the down spout of the guttering system when the barrel gets full.
1863088
There are overflow outlets at the top of the barrel that will drain the excess. These are probably closed over when you get them so you can just punch or drill a drain hole the size that you want
1863089
Yes, there is an extra spout on the side at the top that you can hook up a hose to and divert the excess water from the full pot somewhere else. You could also leave the smaller drain hose open if you wanted to.
1863090
There is an overflow/drainage hole just below the top plate which takes care of extra wTee. No need to leaves faucets or hose open
1863091
There are two "taps" at the top of the rain barrel -- one is your inflow from the gutter and the other is the overflow outflow. Just hook a hose/tube to the overflow and drain where you want. The tube from the gutter and the overflow are NOT included but can be bought at any hardware store (the rainflow diverter I have attached to my downspout includes the inflow tube).
1863092
If the rain barrel fills before you use the water and is going to overflow then lay the hose down on the ground in the direction you could use the water or put the hose in buckets to carry to water other areas/plants. Probably you would be using the water as it fills and it doesn't get a chance to overflow. I keep water in the top for birds to drink & bathe.
1521023
The only shut off is the switch on the pump. It does not respond to whether or not the hose is off. It pumps a lot of water at a fast rate. I think it would empty a rain barrel in short order.
171812
Remove the spigot, it should unscrew. Replace it with a higher quality spigot that has a wider orifice or clean the old one out. I found the original spigot not up to the quality of the barrel itself. Mold or debris can easily clog it. It is designed to have the perforated top sit under a rain downspout. Rain easily enters the barrel while large twigs/leaves do not. The only thing I have seen is when there is a downpour the water will overwhelm the grated top and some will be lost over the side of the barrel.
1220587
Yes, apparently. As I recall, I read somewhere in the documentation that they consider the Looj to be safe in up to 8"(?) of water, so a flooded gutter should cause no issues.
1329546
There is a collar on the hose you attach to your garden hose that you need to open -- it's a valve that opens up the flow of water from the barrel. It isn't really obvious, and I kept closing it when I first attached it to the other hose. Also, since it is gravity fed, it won't push water uphill, no matter how full it is. Hope that helps!
1624029
Not unless you have a way to catch the rain and funnel it into the barrel. The top opening is not large enough to catch/funnel rain into the barrel on its own.
881857
It fills up so fast during a rainstorm the water only flows out of that pipe when it reached the top. You can use that overflow pipe to connect it to another rain barrel or other water storage device.
2027070
A gutter, NO, I think the rubber would swell and burst. A downspout, I have doubts as the swelling rubber would probably deform the downspout.
318160
I have four rain barrels and vented the first two because we thought they would need vents but after the barrel filled with water they would pour water out of the vents, the second pair of barrels were not vented but the filled to the top with out a problem so I feel that the vents are not needed !!
1140748
This is a submersible only pump (it is designed to be cooled by the water) - the intake is through a grill all around the base with no practical way to change that. If you lower the pump into your rain barrel with a garden hose attached to the discharge fitting you would then be able to move the water where you want it. This again assumes the pump will fit through your rain barrel access dimensions.
399459
yes, but don't place it more than a few (2 or 3 in) above the rain barrel. make sure to put an overflow outlet in the final rain barrel or if connecting them in series.(0-0-0- the 0 = barrels and the - = connectors or outlet/overflow)
1128290
I have only used it under a downspout. I would guess it would fill at half the rate of the rainfall--in other words, if your area received 4 inches of rain, you would only get two inches of water in the barrel. Chances are if you are getting enough rain to fill the barrel in an open space, you don't need the barrel for water conservation purposes. My two cents.
2154752
Some rain water will still go to the downspout but most will go to your rain barrel. I have my system set up so that when the rain barrel is full there is an overflow coming from the rain barrel with flexible plastic tubing that diverts the water where I want it to go so the amount of water from the downspout is minimized (one downspout is close to my house and I can not extend it very easily).
399458
I believe you could do that but the barrell will overflow unless you have a very tightly sealed lid. Don't know where the water would go after it is full. I presume it would probably fill up the supply line up to the diverter and then back out the downspout.
2165552
There is a mechanism inside that forces the water down the tube and into the barrel until it is full. Then the water backs up in the tube and down the downspout. It really does work. I even bought a diverter for a different rain barrel and it worked perfectly.
1624030
Yes you can, but you would have to move the barrel according to how hard the rain was coming down. I have 3 of these rain barrels all at the corners of my home with down spouts, but in front of my house I don't have gutters and I just use a large storage tub to catch the water - although the barrels are much more attractive and functional because of the house and spout. I live in Las Vegas, and these barrels were one of the best purchases I have made to help conserve water in a very dry region. Good luck, and keep up the conservation.
446911
Look into buying hardware cloth (a heavy duty mesh) at the local home improvement or farm supply store. I would attach inside the gutter at each downspout opening so nothing can climb up inside the downspout and access the gutter and roof, but still lets any water drain out. Keep the gutters maintained so leaves, etc. don't block the downspout opening.