One essential accessory is the rain diverter kit which is is used to effectively direct rainwater from a downpipe into your water butt. Insert the diverter into the slot. The design of the rainwater diverter assures that your water butt will never overflow as any excess water will continue to flow into the downpipe.

Connect the tank connector for the adapted into the top of the water butt (one washer inside, one washer outside). Attach the rainwater diverter to the downpipe where you have cut it off. Attach the piece of pipe you cut off to the bottom of the diverter. There are some things that you can do to help to make the water you collect in your water butt go that little bit further: It is not necessary to have the inlet to Butt 2 below the outlet from Butt 1. In fact, it could be above it if you wanted. It is just necessary to make sure that the inlet to Butt 2 is below the brim of Butt 1. Ultimately the water will find the same level across all connected containers. I am guessing that you might have thought that water cannot flow uphill. It doesn’t really flow uphill; it just fills up from the bottom simultaneously with the water filling up Butt 1. Each water butt comes with a threaded hole in the side and a tap to fit, so it’s a case of screwing one into the other, nice and tight.These water butt connection kits include a 1-2 metre length of very flexible hose, and all the fixtures and fittings necessary to make a secure watertight connection to each water butt– plastic bolts and rubber washers. Connected in this manner (as illustrated above), when the first water butt ( Butt 1) in the chain is full, water will start to flow into the second water butt ( Butt 2). It is essential that the water outlet from Butt 1 is below the height of the rainwater/greywater input (arriving from the diverter), and that it is also a couple of centimeters above the water input hole of Butt 2. Place the water butt on its stand and using a spirit level, level it with the bottom of the hole and align it with the water pipe and draw a line. Use a watering can rather than a hose pipe as this will significantly reduce the amount of water you use

You can either cut off the downpipe and place the water butt directly below it, with the cut-off pipe going through a hole in the lid, or you can install a rainwater diverter. This is often a better option as it means that an overflow pipe is not required, and it gives more flexibility for sitting the butt. Camilla Sharman has worked in publishing and marketing for over 30 years and has covered a wide range of sectors within the business and consumer industries both as a feature, content, and freelance writer. Your plants will certainly thank you for installing a butt, as rainwater is much better for plants than tap water. A water butt can be fitted to any downpipe where there is space to sit a container either directly underneath or nearby. They are easy and cheap to fit and can be an attractive feature in the garden. Choosing a Water Butt As a business journalist, Camilla has researched articles for many different sectors from the jewellery industry to finance and tech, charities, and the arts. Whatever she’s covered, she enjoys delving deep and learning the ins and out of different topics, then conveying her research within engaging content that informs the reader.

Water Butts: The Basics

Water butt connecting kits are available if you want to install more than one water butt to a downpipe.

Further water butts can be added to the chain in exactly the same way. Five 200 litre water butts connected in this way would give around 1,000 litres of water storage capacity for far less than the cost of one 1,000 litre water storage tank. Let's not forget the old faithful watering can that's found in just about every garden in the UK - we feature several types of plastic and gavanised metal cans to cater for all your trips from you butt to your flower beds and greenhouse.The morning and evening are the best times to water your plants as the water doesn’t evaporate in the heat of the day before it can reach the roots There are various accessories which can support your water-harvesting efforts - a submersible electric pump, for example, will allow you to get more pressurised water from your container.

Attach the diverter to the water butt with the piece of pipe supplied. Fit the lid onto the water butt and wait for it to rain!All water butts should be sold with a lid, both for safety and to keep the water fresh by stopping leaves and other debris from falling in. If you have young children, look out for water butts that feature a child-safe lid. More and more homes are now fitted with a water meter, which means that they are now charged by the amount of water that is used rather than a flat rate. Although we think that we have plenty of water, with the dense concentration of population in the U.K., particularly in the South East, we have less water per person than most Mediterranean countries! There are also plenty of cleaning accessories available for cleaning the interior of a water butt. The products available to buy for reducing smells, scum, algae, harmful bacteria and green water come in liquid or tablet form. There are also silver and copper anti-microbial water cleaner discs which use industrial silver which is also found in water purifiers and other cleansing devices. These tablets can destroy fungal and micro-organisms and are also safe to use in ponds, fish tanks, horse troughs and bird baths. Downpipe plastic or mesh guards are excellent accessories which will stop leaves and other debris getting into your water butt. There are very easy to install and feature flexible slats to enable you to adjust them to fit the width of any downpipe opening. The design of a watering can can mean that much of the water doesn’t reach the roots where it is most needed, so be careful with this