Gravity trickle or not?

Legacy_user

My water barrel tends to fill quickly, the trouble is if I'm not available to drain it off, any overflow seeps next door. I tried connecting my hose to the tap of the barrel and ran the hose to the bottom of the garden and simply drained it down. The thought occurred to me that if I had a spare hose and kept it in situ down the garden, bunged the end, drilled holes at varying distance along the hose pipe, it should act as a trickle sprinkler shouldn't it, or not. My concern is, as there would be no pressure other than drainage pressure, would this work?. The hose pipe would be lower than the barrel tap at all times.

alanobrien

Yes it will work if the hose is lower than the water butt.
i.e. if the hose is 1 metre lower then there will be circa 0.5 psi of pressure in the hose.

Lotus-eater

It will work, as long as the holes are big enough to allow water to escape through them for the pressure involved.

The problem you have, is that if you keep the overflow pipe connected below the tap the whole time, water will constantly escape, or if you have the pipe connected at the overflow point, the flow through the pipe may not keep up with the flow of water into the tank.

Better, I think, to have a free flow pipe connected to the overflow point and directed to the bottom of the garden, or even better, connected to another tank at another point, these will equalise to an even pressure if connected by a hose.

forgotmyname

Cheap overflow can be made from 22mm white plastic pipe, I think its the same pipe used on
toilet overflows.

Approx £2 for a tank connector, £1 metre for the pipe, 75p for bends & connectors.

Fit the overflow at least 6 inches below the top, The lower the better for flow but you dont want it to empty the barrel. 6" of water pressure will help, 8 - 12 would be better if possible.