These rain barrels are built from mostly recycled materials in the true spirit of reuse and conservation. I use as many recycled materials as possible so our barrels will have some cosmetic imperfections. Some people wear our barrels like a “green badge of honour”.

Drop me a line if you are interested.

Rain Barrels

While I really do feel sorry for the inconvenience that residents will have to go through this summer, I have to admit I find this rather exciting. You see, ever since the ban was imposed, rain barrels have been flying off the shelves of local stores. Could this be the big event that makes rain barrel use in residential areas the norm rather than the exception? With so many new people installing barrels it would be interesting to see how many of them continue using them once the ban is lifted.

Anyways, my inbox has been filling up with people asking about my rain barrels so I had better build a few and do my part to keep gardens green in Barrhaven

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Last year the rain barrels I have installed were rendered useless by the amount of rain we received during the summer. There was no need to use them since it seemed to rain almost every second day, but the in 2008 we were very glad to have them as the they sustained our garden through a number of dry spells.

This year I have been receiving quite a few emails from people who are also feeling that this will be the year that a rain barrel will be necessary. BuildABarrel.com usually lies dormant from September to mid April but this year I received my first email on March 3! The City of Ottawa has been in touch regarding some of their upcoming water conservation projects. I am going to try to do some sort of presentation with the City in June, detail to follow.

It looks like it is going to be a busy summer.

“this past weekend the city of Hamilton offered subsidized barrels to residents (present a water bill upon pickup) for $35. As far as I know they went through several hundred, maybe even close to 1000 barrels.”

That is pretty cool!

This teacher is looking for 2 things (in the Calgary area):
1 - Volunteer opportunities where the students would build rain barrels and learn about water conservation practices and techniques.
2 - Tours of a working organic farm.

If you know of such opportunities send me an email and I will pass along your contact info. We also hope to have a post about the experiences detailing how other teachers can provide a similar experience for their own students.

1. Buy the gray barrels that contained olive, pickles etc. They are easier to work with and blend in with the landscape better then the white barrels.
2. Make sure that the lid screws on/off with relative ease.
3. Make sure that you really wash the barrels well with soap and/or a pressure washer. Getting the olive brine out make everything smell just a bit better. Even after washing it will usually take 2-3 fill and drain cycles to really get rid of the smell. Having to clean them is really the worst part of using a recycled barrel.
4. If you are putting the barrel in your car and it is on it’s side make sure that the lid is on tight otherwise rancid olive brine may drip into your car (I learned this one the hard way).
5. Make sure that you inspect the barrel you are buying. Check for cracked lids and stressed seams.
6. When drilling the holes for your tap test the size of the drill bit on something other then your barrel. If you drill the hole too big the barrel is useless as a rain barrel but with another 100 holes you could make a great compost bin.
7. When installing your barrels make sure that they are elevated off the ground. 10-12 inches usually does the trick. This gives you a little bit of water pressure.
8. Double screen the intake for the barrel. One layer of screen for the bug and one for any junk that comes down the downspout. (Leaves, sticks and acorns and small animals)

This year we have a few goals that we hope to accomplish:

1. We want to get instructions and maybe even a video up that will show how we go about building our rain barrels.
2. Add more pictures with each post. The visuals can be so helpful.
3. We are going to try some minor modifications to improve the way we go about building batches of barrels. It is all about efficiency and time right now as in I am not very efficient and do not have very much time. The design we have been using works really well but I want to find a way to build them faster.
4. I really want to try and see what we can do to enhance our yard. Last year it was goldfish in the barrel, which we will be doing again this year because it was fun. This year will it be drip irrigation, a water level gauge…
5. I want to show the kids that building and doing things for the environment can be both fun and rewarding.
6. Add a Twitter feed to our site. Not sure what the angle will be for this yet

I think that is enough for one year. Keep in mind, I have 3 kids, a full time job and run 2 additional web sites so this may be a bit ambitious. Check back over the course of the summer to see how far I was able to get.

What a waste!

Anyway, our philosophy at Yellow Dog Rain Barrels is that we aim to make doing the environmentally right thing affordable. Our barrels aren’t pretty, which is why we use our REALLY cute dog, Gracie, to help us advertise, but they’re wonderfully functional.

We went from making 6 or so Yellow Dog Rain Barrels to purchasing over 100 55 gallon food-quality recycled barrels at a time from gotbarrels[at]gmail.com within about 2 months. Our product line has expanded to meet the increasing demands of our Toronto market, where smaller backyards and condos are more common than the ‘typical’ rain barrel backyard.

Our primary goal continues to be to provide a good rain barrel at a good price. We make a point of donating lots of our Yellow Dog Rain Barrels to charitable groups such as our local doggy daycare that is raising funds for the Farley Foundation, an organization that  provides financial support to seniors and disabled persons to care for their dogs, community-based fundraisers and any other project that catches our eye.

At this point, we are a pick-up only operation. This might be somewhat limiting for us as a company, but we really enjoy making something out of what would otherwise be waste; so, we’re not too worried about expanding. Besides, here at Yellow Dog, we’re of the opinion that, when the time comes, the solution will present itself.”

Leaving the lid off the barrels has  lead to a couple interesting  problems that I had not really thought about when we started out. The biggest problem is that much of the debris from the roof has been making its way into the barrel.  When I build our rain barrels I always put double screening on the intake, a fine window screen to keep the bugs out and a stronger, wider screen to reinforce the bug screen so that if larger object landed on top the screen would not break. I have always thought of the screen as a way to keep bugs out but it is equally important for filtering the water so that you don’t end up with what I expect will be a big lump of sludge at the bottom of the barrel.

Another problem is that animals can get to the contents of the barrel if they really try. Ordinarily I don’t think that there is much that a raccoon would find interesting in one of these barrels but I suspect that once they find out that there is a fresh fish market in the backyard they may at least poke their nose in to check it out. Hopefully if one falls in he know how to swim.

If you are in Ottawa you know about the snow storm that we had at the end of October.  It turns out that the lid good for keeping snow out as well. I have a stick by the barrel to break ice but I did not have a plan for scooping out slush and snow.  This is important because we are feeding them now that the bug season is over so we need to keep some surface area to drop the food in. I am sure that this will become more of a challenge once winter really rolls in.

The plan for the winter is to move a few more inside to live in a regular tank and to tend to the remaining few outside by breaking ice and dropping in fish food daily.

We have 3 habitats  set up:

1 - A regular 220L rain barrel that has been emptied and filled a few times this year with 6 goldfish in it.

2 - A perfectly clean new 60L barrel with 5 goldfish in it.

3 - The kids fishbowls

I have also heard that the can survive the winter as well. I have my doubts about if they will survive an Ottawa winter but we will see.

It will be interesting to see which ones are happiest.

But with all of this progress there is a down side. I am really beginning to hate olives! You see, the barrels that we use are reclaimed plastic barrels that are used to transport olives over from Spain. When we get them off the lot they may have been sitting out in the sun for days, even weeks. When you finally open up the barrel you get a blast of hot olive stench in your face. By the time I finish cleaning them all I can smell is olives. My dinner smells like olives, my kids smell like olives, all I can smell is olives! That is why I hate olives!

We have found that the best way to clean them out is some good eco friendly, phosphate free dish soap, a couple of shots with the hose and a good scrubbing. Then let them sit out in the sun for a couple of days to let them air out.  Don’t forget the threads in the lid.

The initial cleaning is important because otherwise your first barrel full of water will be a bit yucky and you may develop a dislike of olives just like I have (if you don’t already hate them)

These rain barrels are built from reused 55 gallon (220 L) food grade olive barrels. We use new mesh screen to reinforce the water intake and have aluminum window screen on to to keep the bugs out. We use all recycled parts except for the brass spigot and the connector for the overflow assembly.  For pictures see one of our previous posts

Please keep in mind that these barrels are made from used barrels and may not be cosmetically perfect. We do guarantee that the barrels are structurally sound and suited for use as a rain barrel.

These barrels available for pick in the Ottawa area. We will deliver to Kanata, Stittsville, Barrhaven, Nepean and downtown Ottawa for a small fee.

Drop me a line at chris@buildabarrel.com. These tend to go quick.