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.

--
To reply see 'from' in headers; lose the domain, and insert dots and @
where common sense dictates.

"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

said...

"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.

Bricks. Come to think of it I think my mother's existing waterbutt is
on bricks. There's a pipe near the bottom of the tank with a tap on it
for removing water from the bottom.

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.

Piece of corrugated something or other, could well be roofing asbestos
from when the garage was re-roofed some years back. It seems to work,
anyway.

--
To reply see 'from' in headers; lose the domain, and insert dots and @
where common sense dictates.

In message , Mary Fisher
writes
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.

My garden slopes upwards away from the house. Tired of carrying cans of
water up the garden I've mounted two barrels next to the gutter
down-pipe but raised higher than usual (and need to be another 6-9
inches higher with hindsight). Then I have another barrel at normal
stand height off the ground 2/3 of the way up the garden (around 35ft
away). The three barrels are connected by two syphons made from lengths
of hose.

While watering the strawberries this evening it was a nice feeling that
the water filling the can was being brought uphill by gravity.

d
--
dave or stella @ stejonda

In message , Sena
writes
To get the vessels under the taps you need
the butt to be on a suitable - and strong - stand. Water is heavy.

Bricks. Come to think of it I think my mother's existing waterbutt is
on bricks.

each of my butts has a beer crate (used to get home delivery and then
bricks and a paving stone. Been fine outside for ~7 years.

d
--
dave or stella @ stejonda

"dave or stella @ stejonda" wrote in
message ...
In message , Mary Fisher
writes
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.

My garden slopes upwards away from the house. Tired of carrying cans of
water up the garden I've mounted two barrels next to the gutter down-pipe
but raised higher than usual (and need to be another 6-9 inches higher
with hindsight). Then I have another barrel at normal stand height off the
ground 2/3 of the way up the garden (around 35ft away). The three barrels
are connected by two syphons made from lengths of hose.

While watering the strawberries this evening it was a nice feeling that
the water filling the can was being brought uphill by gravity.

As long as you're doing something and you're happy with the aesthetics of
the device and it works that's fine.

In some ways I'm idle, I admit it :-)

Mary

In message , Mary Fisher
writes

I believe that the design, production and encouragement to use these
butts is one of the best environmentally friendly moves of our time.

Especially as the ones made by Blackwall products are made from recycled
plastics.

d
--
dave or stella @ stejonda

Mary Fisher writes

"Sena" wrote in message
et...
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.

Much quicker to dip the can than to wait around for it to fill from a
tap. The requirement then becomes for it to be not so deep that you
fall in when scooping up the last water from the bottom!

--
Kay

"K" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher writes



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.

Much quicker to dip the can than to wait around for it to fill from a tap.
The requirement then becomes for it to be not so deep that you fall in
when scooping up the last water from the bottom!

That way lies back trouble ... :-(

Mary

Mary Fisher writes

"K" wrote in message
...
Mary Fisher writes



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.

Much quicker to dip the can than to wait around for it to fill from a tap.
The requirement then becomes for it to be not so deep that you fall in
when scooping up the last water from the bottom!

That way lies back trouble ... :-(

Back trouble comes from lifting with your body bent forward. If you're
upright when you lift, no problem. So a standard water butt on a couple
of rows of bricks works well for me - about chest height, so I'm not
bending as I heave the watering can out. But I do have to be careful
when I'm balancing on a tree branch bending down into the butt trying to
get out the last few inches of water ;-)
--
Kay

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Sena" wrote in message
t...
said...
,snip.


I believe that the design, production and encouragement to use these butts
is one of the best environmentally friendly moves of our time.

Mary

Handbags at dawn.
I can't see the connection between saving water and the effects on the
environment.
I agree water is precious in that it is essential but it is not in short
supply.
The means of distribution and storage are poor and any attempt to rectify
the problem would impact on the profitability of the suppliers.

"Rupert (W.Yorkshire)" wrote in message
...

"Mary Fisher" wrote in message
t...

"Sena" wrote in message
t...
said...
,snip.


I believe that the design, production and encouragement to use these
butts is one of the best environmentally friendly moves of our time.

Mary

Handbags at dawn.
I can't see the connection between saving water and the effects on the
environment.

Um, I don't think I mentioned *saving* water. It's the USE of water which
has an effect on the environment.

If we don't use tap water when we don't need to that saves a lot of
processing which is not environmentally friendly at any stage although the
processing is far better now than it used to be.

If we use roof water to grow vegetables (or even flowers) rather than it
just running into the drains that saves a lot of processing ... see above

Mary
I agree water is precious in that it is essential but it is not in short
supply.
The means of distribution and storage are poor and any attempt to rectify
the problem would impact on the profitability of the suppliers.

In article , K
writes
Back trouble comes from lifting with your body bent forward. If you're
upright when you lift, no problem. So a standard water butt on a couple
of rows of bricks works well for me - about chest height, so I'm not
bending as I heave the watering can out. But I do have to be careful
when I'm balancing on a tree branch bending down into the butt trying
to get out the last few inches of water ;-)


Actually I'm pretty strong but trying to lift a full Haws can of water
from lower than halfway down the 350gll butt we have is incredibly
strenuous! I can only just lift it!

I do have or will when it arrives, one of the siphoning gadgets shown on
Gardeners World a few weeks ago. This should mean I can get the water to
travel down a hose pipe to water the potatoes at least.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

Janet Tweedy writes
In article , K
writes
Back trouble comes from lifting with your body bent forward. If you're
upright when you lift, no problem. So a standard water butt on a
couple of rows of bricks works well for me - about chest height, so
I'm not bending as I heave the watering can out. But I do have to be
careful when I'm balancing on a tree branch bending down into the butt
trying to get out the last few inches of water ;-)


Actually I'm pretty strong but trying to lift a full Haws can of water
from lower than halfway down the 350gll butt we have is incredibly
strenuous! I can only just lift it!

That surprises me, because you are a lot stronger than I am! My watering
cans hold between 1.5 and 2 gallons - are you trying to lift out more
than I am?

The lifting from lower down isn't the problem for me - that's much the
same as lifting off the ground. It's the last bit, lifting it clear of
the butt at about shoulder height, which I find hardest, and I have to
do that however full or empty the butt is.

The only problem I have with a nearly empty butt is that to reach the
can I have to let my feet come off the ground, so I have to be very sure
my CG is on the outside of the butt, not on the inside!


--
Kay

In article , K
writes

It's the last bit, lifting it clear of the butt at about shoulder
height, which I find hardest, and I have to do that however full or
empty the butt is.


Ah yes, sorry, have just gone to check, re-enactment confirms it is when
you get to shoulder height!

Have a standard large Haws can.


The only problem I have with a nearly empty butt is that to reach the
can I have to let my feet come off the ground, so I have to be very
sure my CG is on the outside of the butt, not on the inside!

I lowered a bucket in as it has a longer handle!





--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk