Great video, looks like it was a fun project. I like being a 50 year old kid with stuff like this. Thanks for sharing!

I am using your design except for my diverter, I raised the intake pipe higher than the barrel so when the barrel is full the excess water will come out of the air vent pipe. It so simple and works like a charm.

Left a comment on your other video about collecting debris before water goes into rain barrels. Asked how you're stopping junk from making it into the barrels and the PVC along the bottom. Found this video. Thanks. But! I bet you're getting finer mud into the PVC and maybe into the barrels as well. Perhaps the position of the barrels (upside down) might aid in self cleaning, but I'm suspecting you've had issues with mud. It's been 7 years and maybe you're not looking at this video any longer. If you do reply I'll be watching.

You said the diverter does collect a lot of 'stuff'. That's what it's supposed to do right. Seems to me it works fine. It's easy to imagine all that stuff in the bottom of your rain barrel along with all the stuff that wouldn't get diverted without your ingenious diverter. As to having to clean it out, well yea! Wait till you have a composting toilet. Good video and good job.

Great I will use thanks

I've just purchased a rain barrel, I am an automation engineer by trade. I plan on making a 2.0 version of your design. I will record my design (I plan on incorporating a first-flush, along with an auto-draining feature as well). Thanks for posting!

@BenBrandt22

5 жыл бұрын

Cool! Sounds like a fun project

@matthewjohnragland

3 жыл бұрын

@@Stealthbobber06 kzread.info/dash/bejne/qWigqraKc9KpodY.html I've since added 2 more barrels and a flojet pump

Hey Ben, great design! I just bought four rain barrels yesterday and and in the research and design stage. I am definitely going to use your design idea for the rain inverter. thx for sharing... I also see that your screen got clogged up pretty bad. I seen a video on KZread that a guy used a woman's panty hose as a filter/screen so I am going to have a 3" PVC tube added between the diverter and barrel and have the panty hose inside the tube as a big filter and it will not need changed often. Thank you again for a very informative video! 😊

@BenBrandt22

9 жыл бұрын

Thanks Randy E, sounds like you're making good progress on your design. Glad you enjoyed the video and best of luck.

brilliant, you took the best ideas of all the videos I liked and slammed them all together. If you were to make a first flush please post it...I will be sitting right here waiting...

@BenBrandt22

7 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I have a half-baked idea of adding some form of first flush to this design, but I'm not sure when I'll get around to trying it out. Thanks for watching.

nice idea. I was thinking of using a float to stop filling the barrels. this looks much easier. thanks.

Exactly the problem I saw on most divergents. Not enough water collected. This is a good idea.

great video i was imagining a similar one and saw yours it's helped me alot.

@BenBrandt22

5 жыл бұрын

Happy to help

simplest way to keep debris from collecting there, is to keep it from getting there at the top of the downspout, with a filter there, just a domed screen at the top...removable for cleaning...you'd not have to take the assembly apart anymore...just 10 seconds on a ladder, tap tap, it's cleaned.

Love this design. Have you updated it since?

I like it

Thank You!!

ever considered a sand filter inline before your tanks?

Some inground pools have built in surface skimmers along the edges. If you could engineer something like that with an auto clean/dump of the debris, that might work wonders.

Rain water harvesting must

interesting! Thank you.

@BenBrandt22

8 жыл бұрын

+Oma Am Thanks for watching

can you please post the detailed parts list? Especially the sizes/dimensions of PVC adapters, T, couplings etc

@davidcarr5734

5 жыл бұрын

The main body is a Sanitary Tee H x H x H - PVC DWV, 4" x 4" x 2". The base of the diverter (that he had to enlarge with the hole saw) is a PVC DWV Flush Bushing, 4 x 2-Inch. The outputs to the rain barrels and to the drain are standard 2" PVC pipe.

I'm curious, did you make any changes to your system? Perhaps a second screen to filter more? first flush? thank you!

@BenBrandt22

7 жыл бұрын

+Maurice Gatdula Thus far I haven't made any changes. I have a few ideas, but for the most part it's been working well enough that I haven't felt the need to rework it yet.

How does the gravity fed water from the roof overcome the static pressure in the barrels and actually fill them? Did you ever come up with a second edition? Thanks

@jerichojoe307

Жыл бұрын

Water will always seek its own level pressure is overcome by a simple vent hole drilled in the lid of the rain barrel. The weight of the water forces air out the vent equalizing pressure. Rain barrels are never completely sealed they are always vented if they are bottom filled. If they are top filled no venting is required because air will escape through the same hole that the water comes in through. Yes this causes restriction and slower flow during heavy rains where the pipe will actually be full of water; but the pipes are almost never completely filled with water. They are drains not hoses, so even if top filled a vent is preferred to ensure full gravity flow and equalization of pressure. Pipe diameter and venting is your answer. And now we know. And knowing is half the battle........G.I.-Joe

You don't need that top section to make the water miss the downpipe as water clings to the walls of a vertical pipe.

I'd let water flow from diverter to the barrels without any filter. Once in the barrels, debris will sink to the bottom. All you have to do is to clean up the barrels once a year. But you have to cut open the top of the barrels for easy excess

The diverter should have been about 2-3 feet long allowing the dirt to sink ,then once its full the water start overflowing to the tank. afterwards you simply open a valve at the bottom to flush the dirt

@BenBrandt22

8 жыл бұрын

Thanks, yes that would work well. I've been considering something like this to act like a "first flush" system, so I'll have to give this a try eventually.

you are very smart. perfect idea!

@BenBrandt22

8 жыл бұрын

Thanks!

I have this same upside down system. I'm using a similar diy diverter. My problem is when I get a torrential rain the diverter can not reverse quickly enough. It's not sending water down the downspout fast enough to keep up with rain flow. This causes one of the barrels to top out above the air vent which creates an automatic Bell siphon and once that starts I have no way of stopping it until the Barrel's empty out down to the battle that started the siphon and then once it drops below that siphons then it equalizes all over again I'm now trying to find out how I can prevent the barrels from self siphoning during rainstorms where the diverter cannot backflow fast enough

@fern9234

Жыл бұрын

Wouldn't a small vent hole on the top of the rain barrel solve this issue?

So with your barrels upside down how do you vent the air that’s in the top half of the barrel? And why is the pick up from your downspout below the top of your barrel? Does this only give you 50% full in your barrels? I haven’t built mine yet I’m just watching and learning so that’s why I’m asking the questions I’m a beginner at this thank you

@fern9234

Жыл бұрын

There are vent tubes in each barrel. He shows it in the his first rain barrel video.

I suspect that with high flow rates such as a real rain, that most of the water will be going straight down rather than the rain barrels taking on water. That filter is a real constriction when the volume of water is ramped up.

@BenBrandt22

7 жыл бұрын

Maybe so, but after over a year of use, any restriction is hardly noticeable. We've never had much of an issue filling all four barrels.

How does the water with only gravity feed push water up into the barrels?

@BenBrandt22

6 жыл бұрын

The water level naturally stays the same across the whole system.

@Ed19601

5 жыл бұрын

That' s true, but only if the air pressure in your barrels is equal to the pressure outside, in other words: if they are open (if only a little) at the top. I presume yours are

How about a filter around your downspout so no dirt falls in. Honestly I do not really see the use of a diverter here, can also lead your water directly in your rainbarrels, with an overflow pipe back to the municipal drain

make it cyclonic ?

Good video, and great engineering ideas! A first flush diverter would probably solve your debris problem between the diverter and the tanks.

@RADARTechie

9 жыл бұрын

B Cook Also, I would stain/paint the bracket holding the diverter. Wood, even treated, wont last long if theres much moisture, especially where the water might pool between pvc/wood.

@BenBrandt22

9 жыл бұрын

Thanks B Cook, "first flush diverter" is a new term to me. Will have to do a little research on that concept.

@BenBrandt22

9 жыл бұрын

B Cook True, though knowing me I figure it will be changed before wood rot becomes an issue

How to filter rainwater ,isit drink

This is a really interesting solution. Everything I've come up with when thinking about this involves floating tennis balls to stop the flow.

@elainepitt7373

6 жыл бұрын

Zach M 7

@freddylorenzo6517

4 жыл бұрын

I still don't understand: U are diverting the water from the "basin" to the tanks. wouldn't be better to divert the overflowed water to the tanks? the fact that the height of the two inches PVC creates a barrier to the dirt and pebbles from the roof shingles, cleaning the water, yes?

You just a first flush and your screen won't get very dirty.

As promised, here is my version of a 2.0 design: kzread.info/dash/bejne/qWigqraKc9KpodY.html

Just put all the water in the barrel. Put a screen on the barrel that can be cleaned and prevent misquitos. And then put an overflow drain on the barrell. No point in making all that jazz with pvc. I bet that wasnt cheap. It seems like a good design tho

I appreciate your ingenuity. However, you essentially made a mosquito hatchery.

@lrmurri4

4 жыл бұрын

Please enlighten us how they get into the barrel. His demo is awesome and very detailed, so your comment needs to be explained as well as his demo

@BenBrandt22

4 жыл бұрын

I guess they could fly up the vent tube, but that seems unlikely and has never been an issue for us. If you build one and are concerned, a little screen over any open tubes would suffice.

@markreyman9899

4 жыл бұрын

Linda Murri seems like the top of the diverter is open and collects water for mosquitoes to lay eggs. Perhaps mosquito hatchery was a bit hyperbolic. I think the system is awesome and kudos to him for crafting a homemade diverter. It just appears that when he cleaned it out at the end, there was a decent amount of standing water in the diverter. Mosquitoes don’t need much.

@markreyman9899

4 жыл бұрын

Ben Brandt gotcha. It just seemed from your video that the top of the diverter was open and that mosquitoes could enter there and lay gags in the water that doesn’t drain inside the diverter. Or perhaps I’m missing something. I like your use of the pvc conduit and sanitary T. Looking to do something similar.