On Sat, 4 Sep 2010 09:28:05 +0100, Stan The Man wrote:

a normal hose will likely be sub-optimal as it requires more than
gravity pressure to send the water down its full length ...

Eh? My 50m hose works feed by gravity alone and from an outside tap
on a long convoluted 15mm pipe run from the tank. OK the tank is in
the roof space so about 20' of head compared to only a foot or so for
a butt but water will find its level.

Are there any figures on the leakage rate for leaky hoses and at what
pressure and unit lenght? Just a maths excercise after that if you
know the area of the roof that is being drained by the down pipe and
assume say 1mm/hr rain fall.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Aha ... that explains why so many contributors give the impression of never having enjoyed plants.

On Thu, 2 Sep 2010 23:27:05 +0100, "'Mike'"
wrote:

'Could' you, I mean is it possible physically, to cut into the gutter and
fit a downpipe AND is there a drain nearby? If so you could fit one of those
gismos which diverts water into the waterbut, but when it is full, water
automatically diverts back to the drain.

'IF' you have a gutter and 'IF' you have a drain

Mike

I have a gutter but no downpope, no drain. The downpipes on both sides
are 2 doors away, not even next door and my neighbours are not
gardeners.
Is there any way I could shut off the downpipe when the butt was full?
It's bothered me for years.


Pam in Bristol

Pam Moore wrote in
:

On Thu, 2 Sep 2010 19:49:11 +0100, "'Mike'"
wrote:

A remark by someone saying that they were on a water meter and that
their beans were not doing too well made me think. How many of you are
on water meters and DON'T have water butts?

Rain water is FREE.

Forward planning?

I'm on a meter, and I don't have a water butt.
The problem is, I'm mid-terrace and have no downpipe. Even if I had
one added, I've no soak-away for excess winter water.
Any ideas folks?


Pam in Bristol

In 1976 or thereabouts we had a servere drought in the UK and were advised
by the water people to use our 7" of bathwater allowed to water the garden
and we still do that now sometimes with a little bit of exterior plumbing
and patience.
You you can regulate the amount in your water butt, if you use one for this
purpose only.

I think the bath or shower would have to be upstairs though to get any
pressure.

Part_No

"Pam Moore" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 2 Sep 2010 23:27:05 +0100, "'Mike'"
wrote:

'Could' you, I mean is it possible physically, to cut into the gutter and
fit a downpipe AND is there a drain nearby? If so you could fit one of
those
gismos which diverts water into the waterbut, but when it is full, water
automatically diverts back to the drain.

'IF' you have a gutter and 'IF' you have a drain

Mike

I have a gutter but no downpope, no drain. The downpipes on both sides
are 2 doors away, not even next door and my neighbours are not
gardeners.
Is there any way I could shut off the downpipe when the butt was full?
It's bothered me for years.


Pam in Bristol

I feel that you are on a looser here Pam because of the two down pipes being
two doors away. I would imagine that your bit of gutter is at the highest
point of the run i.e. water entering the gutter from your bit of roof,
either goes left or right looking for a downpipe, the chances are that very
little water is in your bit of gutter.

And no, not as far as I am aware is there a way of fitting a tap in a
downpipe. In any case the joints are not 'waterproof' and if a tap were
fitted just above the butt, water still in the pipe would leak out through
the joints unless all joints were sealed.

Another thought, but might not be worth the expense, are there any drain
runs going across the back of your house? If so a junction called a 'rodding
point' could be fitted and a drain put in for you. I had to do this when we
re-organised the house and moved the kitchen to a larger room turning it
into a farmhouse kitchen and giving us a fabulous garden room where the old
kitchen was.

Just a few more thoughts

Mike
--

....................................
Today, is the tomorrow, you were worrying about, yesterday.
....................................

On 4 Sep, 09:31, "Pete" wrote:
wrote in message

Whilst I do have a soakaway near the butt, I have toyed with the idea
of directing the overflow around the garden in leaky hoses. Has anyone
tried this? Do the ones that look like porous rubber leak fast enough
for a downpour, or would it be better to drill decent-sized holes in a
real hose?

One snag with that idea is that you would only get your leaky hose operating
when the *ground is also being watered by the rain !

I did think of this, but digging spuds after recent downpours I found
that the earth was still dry a few inches down. Therefore if I ran the
leaky hose through my fruit bushes it should do them some good,
especially as the leaves will have deflected most of the rain away
from their roots.

Chris

On 4 Sep, 12:49, "'Mike'" wrote:
"Pam Moore" wrote in message

...





On Thu, 2 Sep 2010 23:27:05 +0100, "'Mike'"
wrote:

'Could' you, I mean is it possible physically, to cut into the gutter and
fit a downpipe AND is there a drain nearby? If so you could fit one of
those
gismos which diverts water into the waterbut, but when it is full, water
automatically diverts back to the drain.

'IF' you have a gutter and 'IF' you have a drain

Mike

I have a gutter but no downpope, no drain. The downpipes on both sides
are 2 doors away, not even next door and my neighbours are not
gardeners.
Is there any way I could shut off the downpipe when the butt was full?
It's bothered me for years.

Pam in Bristol

I feel that you are on a looser here Pam because of the two down pipes being
two doors away. I would imagine that your bit of gutter is at the highest
point of the run i.e. water entering the gutter from your bit of roof,
either goes left or right looking for a downpipe, the chances are that very
little water is in your bit of gutter.

And no, not as far as I am aware is there a way of fitting a tap in a
downpipe. In any case the joints are not 'waterproof' and if a tap were
fitted just above the butt, water still in the pipe would leak out through
the joints unless all joints were sealed.

This assumes that normal downpipe bore is required. A butt should fill
eventually with a much narrower pipe which could be properly sealed,
but make the tap removable for rodding out the roof debris which will
inevitably clog it.

Also, does the OP have any smaller roofs available? After all, many an
allotment butt fills from its tiny tool shed. I have a small butt
which fills from gutters on a tool bunker and raised cold frame.

Chris

wrote in message
...

Also, does the OP have any smaller roofs available?
...............................................

With all respect to the OP, we really need photos of the situation. We can
only 'assume' "this, that and the other". Is "this", is "that" do you have
"this?" etc etc etc.

I feel the OP has described things well especially with the comment that the
downpipes are two houses away in each case ;-(

Mike


--

....................................
Today, is the tomorrow, you were worrying about, yesterday.
....................................

"Gordon H" beans were not doing
too well made

I have had a water butt for a number of years, I also have a water meter
for the last two years, it halved my bill.
--

I do not have a water meter and do not want one even if it halved my bill.
I don't want to worry about every time I turn the tap on, or how much it
costs to run the water down the garden for my chickens.
Or if I want to water my garden.
If I had a water meter I'd be very concerned about every drop. I pay plenty
for my water supply as it is and because of that I expect to use it as much
as I want (which is not a lot, tbh)
but the idea of it being metered is not for me.
You get into the realms of how much a shower costs, or a bath if you are
metered for water.
Tina

In message , Christina Websell
writes

"Gordon H" beans were not doing
too well made

I have had a water butt for a number of years, I also have a water meter
for the last two years, it halved my bill.
--

I do not have a water meter and do not want one even if it halved my bill.
I don't want to worry about every time I turn the tap on, or how much it
costs to run the water down the garden for my chickens.
Or if I want to water my garden.
If I had a water meter I'd be very concerned about every drop. I pay plenty
for my water supply as it is and because of that I expect to use it as much
as I want (which is not a lot, tbh)
but the idea of it being metered is not for me.
You get into the realms of how much a shower costs, or a bath if you are
metered for water.

Not really my experience.. It's just like electricity or what have you.
We use what we want, but we don't waste it, but then we wouldn't leave
taps running unnecessarily, anymore than we would leave lights on.

Out water use has been very stable over the years I notice. We seem to
average about 60 m^3 every six months - this hasn't changed much from
moving house, or adding an extra person to the household.
--
Chris French

Stan The Man wrote:

I was shocked to discover during the drought of 2006 that no water
company or local authority makes any attempt to recycle run-off water
from roofs, roads, etc. It flows into the drains and out to sea.

An extraordinary waste of a valuable resource during drought periods --
and such hypocrisy.

Are you sure that the route out to sea is not via rivers from
which water is being abstracted?

AIUI, these days it is not permitted to run surface water to foul
drains, it must go to soakaways.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

In message , Christina Websell
writes

"Gordon H" beans were not doing
too well made

I have had a water butt for a number of years, I also have a water meter
for the last two years, it halved my bill.
--

I do not have a water meter and do not want one even if it halved my bill.
I don't want to worry about every time I turn the tap on, or how much it
costs to run the water down the garden for my chickens.
Or if I want to water my garden.
If I had a water meter I'd be very concerned about every drop. I pay plenty
for my water supply as it is and because of that I expect to use it as much
as I want (which is not a lot, tbh)
but the idea of it being metered is not for me.
You get into the realms of how much a shower costs, or a bath if you are
metered for water.
Tina

Trust me, - you don't!
I use water in the same way I always did, but I no longer feel that I am
paying for the water used by the lady at number 18, who uses a hose pipe
to swill down her paved front garden, and even the pavement in front of
her house.
She has OCD, the only time I went in her kitchen I was almost overcome
by cleaning fluid fumes. ;-)
--
Gordon H
Remove "invalid" to reply

In message , chris French
writes
In message , Christina Websell
writes

You get into the realms of how much a shower costs, or a bath if you are
metered for water.

Not really my experience.. It's just like electricity or what have you.
We use what we want, but we don't waste it, but then we wouldn't leave
taps running unnecessarily, anymore than we would leave lights on.

Out water use has been very stable over the years I notice. We seem to
average about 60 m^3 every six months - this hasn't changed much from
moving house, or adding an extra person to the household.

My average use over the 18 months I have had a meter is 1.073 m^3 per
week, so that would be approximately 28 m^3 in six months, but I am a
single household, and I have never wasted water, even before I had a
meter fitted.

When I discussed it with a neighbour who already had one, he said "What
you should do is to continue with the same habits, don't try to
economise or you will become paranoid". :-)
--
Gordon H
Remove "invalid" to reply

I'm very pleased to hear it :-)

I've been wondering what will happen to meter charges once all the people on low usage, currently paying more than their fair share of water charges, move to meters.

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...

AIUI, these days it is not permitted to run surface water to foul
drains, it must go to soakaways.


Depends on the age of the property, I believe.
It would certainly apply to new build and modern dwellings.

Regards
pete
www.thecanalshop.com