Converting Our Wine Barrels to Rain Barrels

Back in November I found some Oak wine barrels on Craiglist for a pretty good price. We paid $60 for each of them - we bought 4 - one for each corner of the house. We kind of had thought about this project for a while. I had been researching it on and off for the last few months. The best sites I found to help with this project were ... The City of Bremerton #1, The City of Bremerton #2, and MC Conservation.

Anyways, the plan was to convert them to rain barrels to use for the garden over the summer months as it's pretty dry here and we have to pay for water. Makes sense to try and re-use Mother Nature's gift :) Up until this past weekend we haven't had the chance to set them up and convert them but my mom and dad were coming up for the weekend and so we made it a project :) I took some pictures of the process to post so that we can remember how we did it and so that if anyone out there is thinking of taking a similar project on they can use our ideas. So here goes ...

Here's a picture of my mom modeling the barrel before we got started.

STEP ONE: DRILLING THE HOLE FOR THE OVERFLOW

We had to drill a hole at the top of the barrel so that when the water filled the barrel it had somewhere to drain to. We used a 7/8 wood drill bit to make the hole.  It fit right between the two top rings of the barrel.The finished barrel will have a hose attached to this overflow so that we can drain the water away into the yard where ever we want it to go instead of it pouring out onto the corner of the foundation of the house.

STEP TWO: PIPE TAPPING THE HOLE

After we drilled the hole we had to use a PIPE TAP to thread the hole.  The pipe tap cost $30 but was one of the most important tools to this project.The pipe tap had to be held straight onto the barrels so that the threads were straight.  My dad bought the pipe tap one size smaller that the drill bit so that it didn't make the hole bigger for the spigot.

This is a picture (above) of the hole after my dad tapped it.

STEP THREE: ATTACHING THE OVERFLOW SPOUT

This is a picture (above) of the overflow spout that we used.

We had to put some tape around the threads before we used some really sticky caulking to seal the space around the overflow tap as we turned it. It was clear so it wouldn't show after the job was done. We added a little around the edges of the spout after it was on to make sure it wouldn't leak around the spout.

STEP FOUR: DRILLING THE HOLE FOR THE TAP

Between the rings at the bottom of the barrel we drilled another 7/8 hole for the tap.  We pipe tapped it again.  It was important to make sure that the hole was a good distance from the bottom of the barrel so that a hose or a bucket could fit under the barrel.  The idea is that the bottom tap be used to empty the barrel if it has to.

Again we sealed the threads on the tap with the tape and then the caulking again. This is SUPER important on the bottom because it's going to hold the weight of the water once the barrel is full. I think this would be the most leaky part if it was going to leak.

STEP FIVE: MAKING A HOLE IN THE TOP

One of the last things we had to do was to make a hole in the top of the lid of the barrel so that the downspout from the gutter has somewhere to drain the water into the barrel.  We had to make sure that there was a screen in the lid so that the debris from the gutter and the roof wouldn't end up in the bottom of the barrel and create a gross sludge.  It was tricky figuring out how far from the edge of the barrel to make the hole ... it was totally dependent on where the downspout ended up.

STEP SIX: FINAL INSTALATION

These are the last two pictures of the barrels all hooked into the system and ready for some RAIN.  We had to build a small base at the bottom so that we could fit a bucket or hose to the bottom.  It was also to create a bit of gravity so that the water would be able to push its way through the soaker hose that has to be attached.

To finish ... there are a few things we have to do before this project is totally done.  We have to attach a cheapy hose to the overflow spouts.  We are looking for a garage sale hose that we can cut into sections and not worry about how expensive it is.  We also have to paint the elbows we attached to the downspouts so they match back to the house again.  We also have to get a few soaker hoses to attach to the taps at the bottom of the barrel but they are pretty pricey and we have to wait till they are on sale.