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Water butt diverters

RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 536
in Tools and techniques
Hi all,

I have a standard £5 diverter, but wondering if it actually catches the maximum amount of water possible, or whether there are better ones?
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  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,391
    Most of the water running down a drainpipe clings to the inside, so if your diverter has the usual shape which catches all of that, with excess overflowing down into the centre of the downpipe below, the actual limit on the amount you divert will be the diameter of the small output pipe going into the butt.  The amount which can flow down that will nearly always be far less than the amount 'caught' by the diverter, so I don't think a different design will help, unless it has a larger diameter output pipe to the butt.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 536
    I don't have full bore flow into the water butt, not that I've seen yet! So probably not loosing any and as you say, it clings to the sides. So I'm most likely catching it all, just want to be sure!
  • GravelEaterGravelEater Posts: 124
    I'm currently in the thought process over which one of these 'gadgets' to buy.

    We've 68mm round downpipes so the Floplast RSV1 (square/round compatible) looks cheapish and cheerful.  I've sen these for about £9-15.

    The Guttermate diverter looked interesting, with the easy access to remove debris and a bit of a filter (optional fine mesh at extra cost).  Seemed a bit pricey and flimsy from what I read.

    I've seen those ones that are rubber and one drills a circular whole through the wall of the downpipe and shoves the rubber assembly in through that hole.  That seems like trouble waiting to happen in time.

    Either way I think I'd need a couple of extra clips/brackets to hold the downpipe in place.
  • dave125dave125 Posts: 178
    I bought the standard diverter which looked a little tentative so I pepped it up a bit. Basically I glued and sealed a piece of perspex in the bottom making that water tight. I then drilled the bottom to insert the pipe going to the butt and sealed the lot. I now get 100% of draining water from my down pipe. To be safe I drilled a nearby down-pipe and hooked the overflow pipe into it so no soggy butt base. It took about a year of getting round to it and half an hour to do.
    Luv Dave
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,669
    Ours came with the water butts from water company, unsure of make cheap and cheerful. From our bungalow roof goes into one whopper of s butt,then into the next with overflow system then into the drain if needed
  • StephenSouthwestStephenSouthwest Posts: 598
    edited May 2021
    Another option can be to just reroute the downpipe into the butt, and have an overflow from the top of the butt...
    You can also have some screening out of leaves etc by using a hopper - just put some kind of mesh in it, like on the left if this picture: https://us.v-cdn.net/6030279/uploads/editor/f1/czbcaxo3aqyi.jpg

  • RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 536
    I'll see how it goes this weekend, as it's supposed to rain quite a it Saturday.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,490
    edited May 2021
    GravelEater said:

    I've seen those ones that are rubber and one drills a circular whole through the wall of the downpipe and shoves the rubber assembly in through that hole.  That seems like trouble waiting to happen in time.

    I have one of those that came with a fancy butt and the right drill bit, which was handy. Unfortunately they sent a square rubber fitting instead of the round one, which I’m using while I wait for the round one. I was dubious regarding its functionality, and being a square fitting in a round hole it is not as effective at capture as it should be, but it did fill the 300L butt after 2 days of rain.

    I also have a bog standard 300L green butt on my garage, with the downpipe straight into a hole in the lid and an additional overflow tap on the side of the butt as @stephentame describes. It fills in an hour or two during heavy rain. I have fixed a short length of ordinary hose to the overflow tap, then converted it to a 25m seep hose where it hits a large, long bed. When the butt is full, the seep hose functioning, but the rain keeps coming to fast, excess water just spills out of the top of the butt and disperses into the ground. I am currently mulling over how to capture this excess as well...
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • dave125dave125 Posts: 178
    stephentame said:
    Another option can be to just reroute the downpipe into the butt, and have an overflow from the top of the butt...
    OMG, wish I'd thought of that. Would have saved a faff!
  • RoddersUKRoddersUK Posts: 536
    After a bit of messing about, I just put the drain pipe into the top of the water butt and put an overflow in.
    Def catching 100% of the water now  :D
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