Water butts and hoses

[Mickey]

Hi, I am going to rig up a few water butts to collect water off my garage where the rainwater currently falls to the ground (no drains), can anyone advise if my hozelock hose would work directly fitted to the first water butt? I’m thinking that there may be a problem with water pressure so may need a pump but perhaps the connected butts would provide enough pressure to enable me to feed the hose with sufficient to water.

Unfortunately my veg area is about 200′ away from the garage so I am looking for a way to lessen the number of daily trips I have to make with watering cans. I could put up a shed nearer the veg area and put the water butts there but I am at the same time looking to catch the waster water currently washing off the garage roof onto the ground.

Thanks for any advice, thoughts etc.

[Don Foley]

Hi Mickey,

If your asking if you connect a hose to the tap on the Butt/s will water flow, then yes. However you wont get enough pressure to spray water unless you add a pump to the system.
You could simply connect a hose to the Butt/s and run it to a Tap nearer your beds and fill your watering cans there.

Don.

[Mickey]

That made me chuckle! Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best Don 🙂 Thanks.

[Don Foley]

Your welcome.

[bluebell]

Alternatively you could raise the water butts so that the water has enough drop to provide reasonable pressure ?

[Rhys]

Mickey

I don’t know where in the country you are, but I have two butts rigged up in a similar situation to yours and to be honest they overflow in winter but don’t fill up quickly enough in summer. I don’t get anywhere near enough water from the butts to be able to water the garden, so I’ve tended to use it to water plants in modules, small pots as well as freshly sown seeds/transplants. I got them originally to use for tomatoes and I still water them from the butts up to final pot stage, but if you want to water gardens in the SE of England, you’d need butts containing up to 1000 gallons, I think.

If you’re in a wetter part of the country you may be in a better situation………

[tidy beard]

Hi Mickey,
You mention using several water butts. If the gradient of your land allows you could arrange them as in the illustration to get the water to your vegetable plot where you need it.

[tidy beard]

Mmmm. Sorry about that, let me try to upload the image again.

[Mickey]

I’m in South Wet Scotland ☔️, thanks for the ideas, I’ll probably link the butts by the garage as the veg area is a few feet above that level so perhaps running a hose under the ground to butts nearer the veggies may not work but it looks a good idea.

Thanks,
Mickey

[Don Foley]

Hi again Mickey,

I’m afraid the only way you will get water to your beds with your setup is to install a pump in the system.
They are not very expensive and fairly easy to install. You should be able to use the idea of a tap near your beds and have the pump being activated/deactivated by it. I haven’t done this but I imagine it shouldn’t be too difficult.

Don.

[Mickey]

Very timely Don 🙂
Judie & I have just gotten back in from linking some old hose together and testing it on the water butt we are planning to link to. We found that there was not enough pressure for the water to get up to the veg area, we looked at running it up first and then down but to no avail. For the time being I can run the hose to within 30mtrs or so and then fill up the watering can, future plans will probably see a pump installed.

Thanks,
Mickey

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