# Water Butt help



## benj (Aug 12, 2008)

Looking to join the water butt brigade for the pre wash, wash and rinse processes.

Been looking at this kit which seems a decent deal? https://www.savewatersavemoney.co.u...standard-barrel-kit-200-litre-double-kit.html

Have some questions though

1) Is it worth buying a kit like this or will I just end up replacing the downpipe diverter to include a filter and taps to bigger bore? 
2) I have a nilfisk E140.2 which I don't think will work without a separate pump, is there a particular pump to use? Solar would be best if they exist as the butts won't be near a power source.
3) Is there a preference on filters and locations of them. I've read a few posts and seen setups with no filters to multiple ones.
4) Whats it like washing a car with cold water? I've only ever used hot. Is cleaning impacted at all?

Thanks


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## Jack R (Dec 15, 2014)

I got a very similar setup to that, although I have added another lever tap about a foot up from the bottom. I have a karcher K4 which I use on mine without a separate pump although I have decided that I will get one just to boost performance.
I have a filter built into my tap as well as another before in leaves the first barrel.
I don’t actually use mine very often to actually wash the cars with fully due to having 3 to wash so just use it to rinse off and help with drying, of which I use about a foot of water (approximately 20 litres) to rinse all three. As for the temperature I would always use hot as it seems to clean easier but unfortunately I don’t have luxury anymore so have to make do with cold.


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## LeeH (Jan 29, 2006)

I’m looking at this too, thanks for posting the deal. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro


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## Forsh (Jun 13, 2014)

I got a couple of blue barrels off eBay similar to these...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Recondit...960759&hash=item3d634c9e3d:g:Ht0AAOSw8thZn8hI

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/210-Litr...m=182784814676&_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042

and fitted them with proper tank connector and 1/4 turn valve from toolstation...

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Plumbing/d20/Compression/sd2697/Compression+Tank+Connector/p28657

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/Plumbing/d20/Valves/sd2696/Water+Lever+Ball+Valve+Red/p57047

I linked the butts by fitting 2 off these...

https://www.diy.com/departments/floplast-push-fit-waste-tank-connector-dia-32mm-grey/152668_BQ.prd

and a flexible waste pipe...

https://www.toolstation.com/shop/p22048


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## steelghost (Aug 20, 2015)

They don't show the diverter, the standard ones generally supplied don't handle very high volumes of water well. I discovered this because I am filling my water butts from the entire rear roof of my house, and when it rains hard there's a lot of flow coming down that pipe! The one I had (from B&Q) would simply fail to pass through all the flow and just soaked the wall it was mounted to.

You can see what I replaced it with in my thread about this. That said if you're filling the butts from a smaller area of roof you should be OK.

Regarding taps - the standard taps on a waterbutt are not great, they will (slowly) fill a watering can but that's about it. To (safely) run a PW off one you will definitely want to use a bigger tap and hose.


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