"Sena" wrote in message
t...
said...
Hello,
I would like to buy some water butts. Where is the best (cheapest?)
place to get them? Is the water company the cheapest? They seem to
sell them for about £35. I think in B&Q and such places it is £24 for
the butt, £10 for the stand, and the diverter is on top of that, so I
guess the water company is £10 cheaper but obviously there is a big
wait.
Big placcy dustbins? Old water tanks being removed from houses? The
latter's what my parents used to use, anyway.
The ideal is a large capacity one with a tap at the bottom to fill smaller
vessels such as watering cans. To get the vessels under the taps you need
the butt to be on a suitable - and strong - stand. Water is heavy.
Then you need a proper, well fitting but easily removed lid. Ideally it will
have holes/slots to let in the rain. The lid is to keep out foreign bodies
and daylight - which will quickly encourage algae to grow.
The best butts have a gizmo (a 'diverter') which diverts water from the fall
pipe from the roof gutter to collect the water. When the butt is full the
water goes down to the drain and doesn't just overflow onto the ground.
Proper butts can be connected with properly fitted hoses so that when one is
full the water will go to the next, and so on.
Modern butts are well designed and far, far better than a dustbin (I know, I
have one) or any other tank which will fill with water, have to be baled out
and will overflow - possibly where you don't want it to overflow.
Been there. Wouldn't again.
My 'overflow' dustbin will be replaced a.s.a.p., the dolly tub will stay
because it's part of the family but it's fraught with problems (and algae
and mosquito larvae and the occasional drowned bird), the other 'barrel'
outside the greenhouse will stay because it's the right size for that
position and Spouse has fitted it with a hose from the gutter and a properly
fitting lid. I don't mine baling water from that with my small watering can
for the greenhouse.
I believe that the design, production and encouragement to use these butts
is one of the best environmentally friendly moves of our time.
Mary