Gravity-Fed Soaker Hose

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by Adobestock/lebaer
Some rain barrel users aren’t making the most of their free rainwater resources. Try our rain barrel setup to make use of the water that would otherwise overflow in a heavy downpour.

Learn how to create an inexpensive and more effective gravity-fed soaker hose to capture this great resource, free rain from the sky.

Water shortages are cropping up everywhere these days — sometimes due to drought, and sometimes just because we draw too heavily on the water resources in many areas, especially with increased development and population growth. As a result, there’s lots of talk about putting rain barrels under downspouts to capture rainwater for watering lawns and gardens. But the truth is that a couple of 50-gallon barrels don’t hold much water. Think about how long it can take to irrigate your garden, compared to the few minutes it would take to use your hose to fill one or two 50-gallon barrels. During an inch of rainfall, more than 900 gallons flows off of a house with a 30-by-50 foot roof. Why not make use of all 900 gallons?

Here’s a low-cost way to move the rain from your roof to where it will do some good, instead of letting most of it overflow and “escape” as soon as the barrel fills up.

  1. First, add an extension to a downspout from your house or garage to direct the runoff into a barrel or stock tank. Or cut off a downspout so that you can fit a barrel under it.
  • Updated on Mar 1, 2023
  • Originally Published on May 20, 2008
Tagged with: rain barrel, soaker hoses
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