Waterbutt - Connect to sprinklers and pressure washer? 24 August 2022 at 3:27PM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 10 replies 260 views

waqasahmed

I have neither a waterbutt, nor sprinklers or a pressure washer 

I was wondering if perhaps it'd be possible to use a waterbutt for that, and also if I could basically dump tumble dryer water into there too 

In addition, I was looking to see if I could perhaps more smartly use the water butt where it gets out through a pressure washer when washing the car. Obviously it won't be enough water for that, but was wondering if I could somehow automatically switch from the recycled water / rain water from the waterbutt, to a hosepipe

FWIW, my drive is at the front of my house and the garden is at the back.  Perhaps then I'd need two different waterbutts? One for the sprinklers and one for pressure washing? I'd also be looking to either mow the lawn manually or using a robot too, so I'd hope it wouldn't get in the way of the sprinklers? 

ABrass

You can. I've got a dirty water pump that I use with a water butt that I connect to a hose.

The difficulty is pressure. My pump can (apparently) deliver up to 166 ltr per minute, a hose delivers around 15 ltr per minute. The thing is that my dirty water pump only manages 0.7 bar of pressure, taps manage between 1-2.

When I use domestic mains water with my house I get a strong spray. When I use my pump I get a limp pathetic spray. Lots of flow but no pressure behind it. It's still pretty effective for watering plants instead of using a watering can when you really want to pour some water out.

Using it with a sprinkler would be a waste of time. You'd need to find a pump that's designed for higher pressure.

paul991

i have seen it  done with a old washing machine pump fixed to outlet and worked well if any thing too well

Brie

ABrass said:

You can. I've got a dirty water pump that I use with a water butt that I connect to a hose.

What exactly is the pump you are using?  I was thinking of trying to install a hand pump of some sort to help water the garden via the hose but can't seem to find something suitable.  The closest I've seen is the sort used on boats that work a bit like a bike air pump.  Looking for a MSE solution not something expensive high tech.

paul991

why  not  try a  garden pond type solar  pump not a  lot of pressure but free on a sunny day

ispookie666

You can definitely do pressure washer(Nilfisk). I have 2 X 250L barrels which store my waste RO water. I use it for pressure washing. At times I put a pump in and use it to water the garden. 

Ectophile

ispookie666 said:

You can definitely do pressure washer(Nilfisk). I have 2 X 250L barrels which store my waste RO water. I use it for pressure washing. At times I put a pump in and use it to water the garden. 

But make sure you buy a pressure washer that's designed to work off a un-pressurised supply.  My Karcher performs really badly when fed from a water butt, but other models in the range are designed to work like that.

jimjames

Brie said:

ABrass said:

You can. I've got a dirty water pump that I use with a water butt that I connect to a hose.

What exactly is the pump you are using?  

I can't speak for others but this is the type of pump I use to shift water around
https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb583pmp-400w-mains-powered-dirty-water-pump/65041

waqasahmed

paul991 said:

why  not  try a  garden pond type solar  pump not a  lot of pressure but free on a sunny day

I don't have a garden pond lol

Swan_Valley

We use a Water Butt pump that we bought from Lidl a few years ago. It was about £30, but I don't think they have them at the moment. However, others sell them, but at a higher price like this.

We can use it to pump water to the top of our garden (up 50ft).

It can also be used for washing the car and via a pressure washer for cleaning paths, etc.

waqasahmed

Swan_Valley said:

We use a Water Butt pump that we bought from Lidl a few years ago. It was about £30, but I don't think they have them at the moment. However, others sell them, but at a higher price like this.

We can use it to pump water to the top of our garden (up 50ft).

It can also be used for washing the car and via a pressure washer for cleaning paths, etc.

I've had another look see, and it seems like the best, and possibly greenest solution would be to install a rainwater harvesting system

So it'd be kinda like this 

https://smartwatermagazine.com/blogs/graham-mann/new-buildings-turkey-feature-rainwater-harvesting-systems?amp

Not using a water butt per se, but you do have a tank, and you can reuse it for "everything else" The downside is that you don't get you use it for sprinklers but the upside is you get to use it for more water intensive things. I put everything else in quotation marks, as you'll probably end up using some fresh water too.

It isn't very MSE but it is a lot greener