Got these old ice cream tubs from a local ice cream place. $1 for a dozen. I wanted to increase my rainwater storage (currently have 2 rainbarrels). Realized I could stack these guys up as much as I needed. A few drilled holes and a spout off a cracked kombucha kit and bam. Homemade rainbarrel.
This is part of a set of daisey-chained barrels so I had to keep it to 3 tubs for height reasons. All told it only adds about 8 more gallons of storage but every bit helps. You could stack as many as you wanted though, within reason.
I kept it simple but you could also add additional sealing between the bottom-lid connection to limit loss that way. I will add a few extra pictures in the comments.
Nice recycling. You might want to paint/wrap them in something opaque before they become algae central!
Are they sturdy? Water weighs a lot so it’s always good to be mindful of the forces that come into play
As long you stay below 110 gallons, you should be fine legally.
Maybe some specific state, county or city, but definitely not a general rule in the US.
Most of the Western USA has some form of ordinance for it, but it applies to other arid parts of the world as well.
Quick question: How much water does this provide? Can you fully water your garden with this? And also: Is a good rain day able to fully refill it?
Trying to get some realistic estimates about what to expect from rain collection, and I find this idea pretty cool!
So this is 3 of these stacked up together. Each is 11.4 liters. All that equates to about 9 gallons. Thats enough to water my gardens probably 1.5 times. I have a lot of garden beds though. If you just had a small one you could do more.
My total setup is 116 gallons (but thats with two large rainbarrels too) which lasts me a long time.
A good rainstorm would fill this setup very quickly.
Radical! I need to remember this for my garden. Finding a large water container is so difficult on a budget. But if I can make one, that’s cheaper and saves something going to landfill. hmm…
