Water Butt moving away from down pipe

amystars

Hi,

I have a water butt currently set up on the right of my property. I am wanting to completely re design my garden and want to move this to the left where i will have my compost bin and storage.

The problem is that I only have a down pipe on the right.

What would be the best way to remove and cap off the right side and then where would I put the pipe on the left? Can it go into the gutter or does it have to be on the down pipe?

The other problem is that I have a pegoda across the back between the top gutter and the doors and window so If I run a pipe across, I need to have a new hole high up on the pipe and a 5.5M pipe across if it cannot go in the gutter.

Is that possible?

Or does anyone have any other ideas?

I have provided a drawing below.

THanks!

Fairygirl

You'd have to get a downpipe put in on the left side, and then attach your water butt in the same way as it was in the original site. Where it [the downpipe] would eventually feed into, would depend on the ground, and whether you can have it connected to the rest of your drainage system. 
I'm not sure you could feed it directly from the gutter, but that might be a possibility with the correct fittings. Probably a lot cheaper too. 

I don't think the other option would be viable. 

Pete.8

There was a thread on the forum a year or so ago along similar lines.
I recall this type of system was suggested - 
https://www.save-rainwater.co.uk/

I know nothing about it, but it may be worth having a read

If you type rainpod into the search bar at the top of the discussions page you'll get some results-
e.g.
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/comment/2288441#Comment_2288441

amystars

Thanks guys for both of these answers, so it looks like a long pipe is out and Would need something new installing on the left side, so that at least clears that up.

I had a quick look at the rain pod so may have to take another look.

It seems I either have to install another down pipe or look at what the rain pod can offer

Thank you

Amy

KT53

You would need to fit a additional downpipe on the left hand side.  You can't remove the one on the right because of the 'fall' on the gutter which currently feeds water to the right.

You could get the gutter refitted to fall to the left but then you would also have to install drainage to get excess water away. 

What looks like a simple job quickly gets more complicated.

steephill

If you have space under the door for a run of pipe then you can just use a longer length of pipe between the current downpipe diverter and your new location on the left side. The important thing is to make sure your butt inlet is at the correct height for water to flow from the diverter. It doesn't matter that it flows down, along then up as long as the levels are correct.

amystars

KT53 said:

You would need to fit a additional downpipe on the left hand side.  You can't remove the one on the right because of the 'fall' on the gutter which currently feeds water to the right.

You could get the gutter refitted to fall to the left but then you would also have to install drainage to get excess water away. 

What looks like a simple job quickly gets more complicated.

I realised about the drainage after posting so I would agree that option isnt really worth it. Thank you though for pointing that out as it is a pretty important thing that I had overlooked initially.

amystars

steephill said:

If you have space under the door for a run of pipe then you can just use a longer length of pipe between the current downpipe diverter and your new location on the left side. The important thing is to make sure your butt inlet is at the correct height for water to flow from the diverter. It doesn't matter that it flows down, along then up as long as the levels are correct.

I did wonder about this however how does the water then flow up into the water butt. Can it do that?

ALso, the other option is to move the diverter up the pipe and run the hose along the top of the pergoda I have and then down that side which i mentioned originally, However i wasnt sure if a 5.5M pipe was too long and how you move the diverter and block up the old hole.

Would that work?

Thanks A

JennyJ

I think if the diverter is higher, it won't shut off the water flow when the butt is full so the butt will overflow (assuming it's a regular one that's open at the top with a lid, not a fully enclosed tank). There's a diagram on this webpage https://www.easymerchant.co.uk/blog/how-does-a-rainwater-diverter-work/  - the diverter stops diverting water to the butt when its reservoir fills up to the level of the inner pipe. That level has to be the level you want the water to reach in the butt.

steephill

Try this experiment. Make a U shape with a bit of hose pipe and pour water in one end. It will fill up the pipe then pour out the other end as long as the other end is lower than end where you poured in the water. That is exactly what would happen when you just connect a longer hose between the diverter and the butt. As long as the hose doesn't go any higher than the diverter then water will always flow.

Diverter kits usually come with a short length of corrugated plastic pond hose which you can buy in longer lengths. It is more rigid than garden hose and can be fixed against walls with brackets to give you a more solid system.

amystars

JennyJ said:

I think if the diverter is higher, it won't shut off the water flow when the butt is full so the butt will overflow (assuming it's a regular one that's open at the top with a lid, not a fully enclosed tank). There's a diagram on this webpage https://www.easymerchant.co.uk/blog/how-does-a-rainwater-diverter-work/  - the diverter stops diverting water to the butt when its reservoir fills up to the level of the inner pipe. That level has to be the level you want the water to reach in the butt.

Yes its that type with the lid,

I think I may have to see if I can find a tall thin one so that it sits back to the wall as this one sticks out a lot, and probably keep it where it is