Tried a rain barrel for the first time and got way more water than I expected

I set up a 50 gallon rain barrel off my garage downspout back in March thinking it'd barely fill up. After one decent storm last week it was overflowing within 20 minutes. I ended up having to hook a second barrel to it just to keep up. Has anyone else had their rain barrel fill way faster than they thought it would?

2 comments

2 Comments

susan_ward5d ago

Yeah but has anyone actually measured how much water they're wasting just from the overflow? I'd bet we're all dumping tons of usable water down the drain without even realizing it.

laura_ross5d ago

I read somewhere that a typical roof can shed like 600 gallons of water from just one inch of rain. That put it in perspective for me. My 50 gallon barrel filled up in like 10 minutes during a moderate storm here in Ohio. I ended up adding a 100 gallon tank I got off Craigslist for cheap, and even that gets topped off after a few rainy days.