How Long Before A Water Butt Saves Money?
Discussion
Hi,
I like the idea of installing a water butt for environmental reasons and cost saving but question how much they actually save financially when water costs are relatively low per litre.
For example, if I use 25 litres of water per day on the garden in the summer and buy a water butt for £50, how long would it take to break even? I feel like it would take years at 25 litres per day...?
Thank you
I like the idea of installing a water butt for environmental reasons and cost saving but question how much they actually save financially when water costs are relatively low per litre.
For example, if I use 25 litres of water per day on the garden in the summer and buy a water butt for £50, how long would it take to break even? I feel like it would take years at 25 litres per day...?
Thank you
Metered water down our way is over £5 a tonne. Including waste water charge, which you might avoid?
We can get through 50 litres every other day easily, that's 10 small cans or 5 big ones.
Our main 200 litre water butt refills with a minor shower, I think it cost about £30 7 years ago and now it leaks.
It's amazing how rarely it's actually empty, even in so-called dry spells in spring and summer.
Such is the West Country.
I'd guess it's vaguely paid for itself, but the big bonus is that it takes 5 seconds to dip the can in the butt rather than waiting for the tap to fill it.
To get the best value you have to sort your guttering so the butts catch as much as possible and fill with every little summer shower.
A 1000 litre IBC we got for £15 is a much clearer proposition.
We also run a pumped irrigation setup from the butts.
There are other bonuses, like I can pump a hose from it to clean a mountain bike when there's a hosepipe ban.
If you can get used industrial plastic barrels, they can be cheaper and last longer. But they are sods to transport!
They may also need cleaning!
And they look a bit stark on the patio as they're usually bright blue.
We can get through 50 litres every other day easily, that's 10 small cans or 5 big ones.
Our main 200 litre water butt refills with a minor shower, I think it cost about £30 7 years ago and now it leaks.
It's amazing how rarely it's actually empty, even in so-called dry spells in spring and summer.
Such is the West Country.
I'd guess it's vaguely paid for itself, but the big bonus is that it takes 5 seconds to dip the can in the butt rather than waiting for the tap to fill it.
To get the best value you have to sort your guttering so the butts catch as much as possible and fill with every little summer shower.
A 1000 litre IBC we got for £15 is a much clearer proposition.
We also run a pumped irrigation setup from the butts.
There are other bonuses, like I can pump a hose from it to clean a mountain bike when there's a hosepipe ban.
If you can get used industrial plastic barrels, they can be cheaper and last longer. But they are sods to transport!
They may also need cleaning!
And they look a bit stark on the patio as they're usually bright blue.
We have x5 210l water butts at the back of our garage, all fed by what the roof catches and then daisy-chained
Like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outdoor-Rainwater-Black-C...
They fill really well when its good rainfall; I've also connected an old hosepipe to them that runs from the bathroom at the back of the house, so when we have a bath and the water butts need additional water; it gets syphoned into them
Works well!
Like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outdoor-Rainwater-Black-C...
They fill really well when its good rainfall; I've also connected an old hosepipe to them that runs from the bathroom at the back of the house, so when we have a bath and the water butts need additional water; it gets syphoned into them
Works well!
GasEngineer said:
If you include the 90% sewerage charge my water is 0.0047 pence per litre (up from 0.0040 pence last year).
So if I've got it right; you'd need to harvest 10000 litres in your waterbuck to break even.
Do you mean £4.70 per 1000 litres?So if I've got it right; you'd need to harvest 10000 litres in your waterbuck to break even.
10,000 litres is about right, paying full whack for a 200 litre butt and diverter kit.
Our house and garage have about 100 sqm of roof draining into butts.
That collects in theory, 1000 litres for a cm of rain. In practice the first mm of rain probably just evaporates off the roof.
Even a really dry month in Devon tends to have a couple of cm of rain
One butt with a high throughput can pay for itself fairly quickly.
Multiple butts that don't turn over may not pay for themselves any time soon if you pay proper money for them.
My cousin in Kent probably has longer drier spells and might not get the turnover?
But plants are expensive, watering them in the best, most convenient way makes sense.
I think when my leaking water butt is next empty, it might begin a new life as a planter for a shrub. I'll saw it in half.
So at least I'll recoup some value from the poxy thing.
The weakness of these things around the tap is piss poor design that someone should be dunked in a water butt for, but what's guaranteed for 7 years these days?
Thank you all for the replies, it’s very interesting. Seems pretty definitive regarding cost saving. Our outside tap is at the front of the house so with what everyone has said I am thinking that convenience could be a factor too as I wouldn’t have to fill up at the front of the house to water the back garden.
danb79 said:
We have x5 210l water butts at the back of our garage, all fed by what the roof catches and then daisy-chained
Like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outdoor-Rainwater-Black-C...
They fill really well when its good rainfall; I've also connected an old hosepipe to them that runs from the bathroom at the back of the house, so when we have a bath and the water butts need additional water; it gets syphoned into them
Works well!
Thank you for this. I was interested in the idea of using water from the bath/shower but couldn t get my head around making this work easily...how is the hosepipe connected to your waste water?Like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Outdoor-Rainwater-Black-C...
They fill really well when its good rainfall; I've also connected an old hosepipe to them that runs from the bathroom at the back of the house, so when we have a bath and the water butts need additional water; it gets syphoned into them
Works well!
DavePanda said:
You won't save money but rainwater is generally better for plants than tap water, especially if you have very hard water. There's also the benefit if like me you add plant food directly to the water butt so its ready mixed for future use.
Yes. If you put comfrey and/or nettles to infuse you get 'free' liquid fertiliser.SP_ said:
Huzzah said:
I use one for convenience sake.
What's wrong with the tap?GliderRider said:
SP_ said:
Huzzah said:
I use one for convenience sake.
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