garden news-putting a faucet on a rainwater barrell

GARDEN NEWS-PUTTING A FAUCET ON A RAINWATER BARELL

this is a rainwater tank donated to the garden by my daughter in law
she gave us two of them

the problem was the faucets were missing
the holes for the faucets were predrilled
the problem was that the holes dont fit the faucet spigots commonly used for these tanks

i needed a hole drilled 1 1/4 inches

we now have 4 tanks that hold 60 gallons of water 
do the math that gives us 240 gallons
we catch the water off our two chicken coops off approximately 160 square feet of roof space
again doing the math a 1 inch rain will give us about 80 gallons of water each
it would take 3 inches of rain to fill up all four tanks

just think about all the water we are letting run out onto the street down the drain and out to the ocean

we use the water to mainly water new seedlings or new plantings or when we mix our fish emulsion for foliar feeding our veggies
 

now this tank has a narrow lid so i couldnt reach down and bolt down the spigot from the inside
at the coutnry n i use to use these large bulkhead parts
i was able to find this kit online with the spigot and bulkhead connection made for smaller tanks


it includes a string pipe tape spigot the bulkhead connection
the bolt that tightens it is a reverse one
its lefty tighty and righty loosy instead of righty tighty lefty loosy


the hole needed to be enlarged to a 1 1/4 inch hole so i used this bit attachment


i carefully drilled the hole since i was only enlarging the diameter by 1/4 inch


then i dropped the string down from the top of the tank then pulled through the string from the hole i had just drilled 
see that yellow string with one end on the ground and the other end hanging down from the top

then i reached in with my finger after dropping down the bulkhead piece over the string and pulled it through the hole


then i screwed on the bulkhead nut making sure i went lefty tighty not righty tighty
yes i did it wrong several times
its hard to break old righty tighty habits

then i removed the string

 i use to have to do this on my 3000 gallon tanks at the country n
so this one was easy peasy 


this what the end result is
hopefully its a leak free connection

this tank will be connected to the blue y connector to its neighboring tank
these two tanks are connected to tanks under the downspouts of the chicken coop
now all we need is more rain
sitting next to these two tanks is a 60 gallon tank that captures any overflow if the tanks fill up

we also have two  60 gallon tanks that we will connect to guttering off a shed in our front area
so
we will have 420 gallon capacity for rainwater collection eventually
yes i am infecting the garden with the rainwater collection virus or rwc virus for short

my rainwater brother who also was infected with the rwc virus would be proud of this
im sure he is looking down smiling at us


below is the flyer for our annual fundraiser for the garden


it is renaissance themed but not a fair
food and drinks and music will be scattered throughout the garden
plus you get to enjoy the beauty of our garden at sunset and dusk

please donate and or join us for the event

the organicgreen doctor