…… Rain barrel for drinking water

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xtreme_right

Veteran Member
Money’s tight so I’m trying DIY a few rain barrels. My question is if I use trash cans that obviously aren’t food grade plastic, if I then filter with black Berkys, will the water be safe to drink?
 
X

xtreme_right

Veteran Member
Reading up on rain barrels, it appears they are used mostly (only?) for watering the yard. I’m trying to rule out if this will work. If not, I’ll switch gears and look at storage barrels that are meant for water storage.
 
ShadowMan

ShadowMan

Designated Grumpy Old Fart
Will black Berkey filters with the after filters render the water "potable" from an asphalt shingled roof? The after filters remove a lot of chemicals the primary filters don't.

On the road, don't have laptop with me.
 
X

xtreme_right

Veteran Member
Asphalt shingle roof, so that’s the end of that. I’d love to drill a well but just don’t have the money.

Is there a way to sink barrels in the ground in the path of the natural water runoff and then pump it out and filter it?
 
F

Faroe

Un-spun
Water from a shingle roof might distill into a safer level of contaminants - not an expert. Rubbermaid type trash cans for drinking water storage were common when I lived in Venezuela. Nobody worried about it. We currently have a rain barrel that catches water off a metal roof. If I need the water, I won't be worrying too much about it. The mosquito larvae don't seem to be bothered.
 
BeeMan

BeeMan

Just buzzin along
You could use that rainwater, unfiltered, for flushing the toilet, watering plants, etc.
A summertime solution for water, as long as the electricity is on, is what I’ve done at my house: went up into the attic, where my AC units are located. There is a line that drains the condensation from both units that was directed to the toilet vent line, so that the condensate went to the sewage system. I cut both drain lines before the entered the vent line and capped them. They were 3/4” PVC and easy to cut, and caps and PVC glue is cheap.
I then tee’d the lines together and ran a new drain line out the roof eve and into a food grade 55 gallon plastic barrel on the back porch. We have a faucet at bottom side of barrel, use that water for plants and other outside stuff. Also have a couple of five gallon buckets and can carry that in to flush the toilet. Saves paying for a lot of water and keeps 20 or so gallons a day from going into sewage system. I know this isn’t what you were asking but it’s along those lines.
 
ioujc

ioujc

MARANTHA!! Even so, come LORD JESUS!!!
What you CAN do is build a watershed using a frame and metal roofing which drains into a barrel. This is easy to do>>>just build a lean-to frame and place metal sheets on it that lead down to a gutter and then drain off into a barrel. Depending on the size of what you build, the amount of water you get will vary, however even a small lean-to like this can deliver a large amount of water if it is raining hard....
 
phloydius

phloydius

Veteran Member
xtreme_right said:
Money’s tight so I’m trying DIY a few rain barrels. My question is if I use trash cans that obviously aren’t food grade plastic, if I then filter with black Berkys, will the water be safe to drink?
Click to expand...

Most plastic trash cans won’t stand up to the weight of the water pressure long term (they crack and break). Cheaper & better option would be to look for used 55 gallon barrels that contained food or other favorable items. The ones I bought used to hold pickles. Clean them well! I paid $10 each (delivered) but had to buy about 12 of them. Had them since about 2001, and they are as good now as they were then. I am sure they cost more now, but trash cans are expensive also.
 
C

Chicken Mama

Veteran Member
Of course you can drink rainwater that runs off of an asphalt shingles roof! We and millions of others with a cistern all have shingle roofs. We used the cistern for 16 years (after the previous owners used it for 40+ years.) We actually wish we could still use it but it started leaking into the basement and was beyond repair. But we've got one heck of an underground bunker now!
 
Z

zeker

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I use 3x 300gal totes to catch rainwater

i have no running water

at first I ran the rain water thru my berkey

but the filters quickly plugged $$$

i use a 2 ltr juice jug to scoop the rain water

and notice a film on the inside of the jug

thats whats messing my berkey

so i use the rainwater for garden/chickens/and dishes

I go to a friends place to fill 1 gal jugs for drinking/cooking

I do not buy 1 gal jugs of water
 
S

swedgemon

Contributing Member
I use 4 Liqui-Cubes, 275-gal food-grade, running rain water from a metal roof...1 inch of rain on 1,000 sq ft of roof provides 600 gallons of water in the cubes. The first 35 gallons of each rainfall goes to the yard. Drinking water goes thru a Big Berkey. Sad part is that in Iowa I have to drain the system when it gets cold. Liqui-Cubes came from a local recycler, $50, each...several wash-outs, then use black vinyl to completely wrap each cube.
 
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R

Rabbit

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I've got a 55 gal drum that had detergent in it, but for over twenty years it was used as a rain barrel. My thinking is anything that could leach out has already leached out. I bleached the thing out and put city water in it. Comments welcome.
 
hiwall

hiwall

Has No Life - Lives on TB
All our buildings have metal roofs. We do catch rainwater but only for use on the garden. As part of our preps I do have additional rain 'gutter' on hand so I could add to our catchment.

I do not use rain gutter and instead I bought thin 4" PVC drain pipe (cheap). I saw about an 1-1/2" strip length-wise from the pipes. That allows me to hook the pipe on the edge of metal roof and attach with self-drilling screws. The result is much more sealed than an open gutter. Also in the winter the snow and ice slide right off the roof like nothing is on there. I spray painted the pipes to match the trim and they almost disappear(other than the drop pipe). Way cheaper and better than traditional gutter systems.
 
J

Jazzman

Contributing Member
Lot of food grade barrels out of stock now, Emergency Essentials said they hope to have the 55 gallon in stock by end of the year
 
B

bobby.knight

Senior Member
We have a local company that fills up swimming pools.
They have water barrels from 50 gal to 160 gal that are BPA approved.
I have the 165 in my garage on a strong pallet filled close to floor drain.
It has the opening for a spigot.
I periodically empty and hose it out and refill.
Just need to check on prices.
 
B

bobby.knight

Senior Member
Also you can check with local fast food places that have the large containers that are BPA approved.
They use them for ice tea. My daughter worked at McDonalds and brought them home.
Also they used to have small aluminum trays that the danish rolls came on.
She brought a stack of them home. I cleaned them and used on grill. Worked great.
 
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B

bobby.knight

Senior Member
I just had a new roof put on 3-4 months ago and a rain barrel connected to a downspout.
Went to fill up watering can and found the water had a yellow color.
So I drained the barrel and each time it rained I check the color and it still has a yellow color.
At this point it may be worthless. I don't want to put on plants.
 
Secamp32

Secamp32

Veteran Member
BeeMan said:
You could use that rainwater, unfiltered, for flushing the toilet, watering plants, etc.
A summertime solution for water, as long as the electricity is on, is what I’ve done at my house: went up into the attic, where my AC units are located. There is a line that drains the condensation from both units that was directed to the toilet vent line, so that the condensate went to the sewage system. I cut both drain lines before the entered the vent line and capped them. They were 3/4” PVC and easy to cut, and caps and PVC glue is cheap.
I then tee’d the lines together and ran a new drain line out the roof eve and into a food grade 55 gallon plastic barrel on the back porch. We have a faucet at bottom side of barrel, use that water for plants and other outside stuff. Also have a couple of five gallon buckets and can carry that in to flush the toilet. Saves paying for a lot of water and keeps 20 or so gallons a day from going into sewage system. I know this isn’t what you were asking but it’s along those lines.
Click to expand...
Just remember that you can’t drink Ac condensation water.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We have a 650 gal black plastic water tank that sits on top of the ground in our backyard. Cary built a rain catchment system over it so that it's rain fed. The rain water comes off a metal roof. We also have two 55 gal plastic rain barrels (bought at Sam's) that are also rain fed right off our metal roof. I want to get another one of those. All our potable water is filtered through our Big Berkey system with the black filters. Also, have replacement filters on hand.

We also have large plastic storage containers filled with water. Problem is, the water tastes awful after it's been stored in them for any length of time. Probably would remove the taste if we ran it through the Berkey.
 
SouthernBreeze

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
night driver said:
Southern Breeze:

You ARE dumping the required 2-3 tablespoons of bleach into the storage barrels, right???
Click to expand...

The rain barrels and tank, or the water storage containers? No, not in the rain barrels or water tank. The water storage containers had bleach added when we filled them. They were all filled with community water, which we still have.
 
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