shazzbat wrote:

"Ed" ex@directory wrote in message
o.uk...
The first water barrel (A) on my allotment is at the top of a slight
slope and is fed by rain water gathered from the roof of my shed. I
want to put in a second barrel (B) in a direct line (no bends
involved) from the first barrel and down a slight slope. Both are
fitted with taps, but I would always prefer to drain the water from
the lower barrel B as it is a little more accessible. How best to
connect these?

I have options to run a connection pipe from the upper barrel (A) to
the lower barrel (B) as follows:

1. Connect from top of barrel A to top of barrel B
2. Connect from top of barrel A to bottom of barrel B
3. Connect from bottom of barrel A to top of barrel B
4. Connect from bottom of barrel A to bottom of barrel B


Which would be the best option?


It depends whether you can put in a tap/isolator of some kind between
the two, otherwise -

1 or 2 will fill both tanks, but B will not start to fill until A is full.

3 or 4 will drain A into B and leave A empty.

Assuming the tanks can't be made level then the best way would be a
combination of either 1 or 2 and either 3 or 4, whichever is easiest,
but again a tap between the two will be needed.

No it won't.

Then when it rains, A
will fill first, then the overflow will fill B. Then in a dry spell, you
will empty B, then open the tap to let water flow from A to B. If you
only use 3 or 4, you will need to be there to close the tap when B is
full in order to fill A, and that may be difficult in times of little
rainfall.

Just join the bottoms of the two butts unless the difference in levels
is more than a couple of inches.

If it is, raise the lower one a tad.

1 is better than 2 because you won't need to seal against leakage at B.
3 is better than 4 for the same reason.

4 is optimum unless the levels are very different. You can get screw-up
nipples (oo-er!) with rubber gaskets to obviate any chance of a leak.

--
Rusty