The Leak and Rain Barrel Plan
Price a leaked gallon at your bill's water and sewer rates, find leaks with a two-hour meter test, isolate the toilet, catch the drips, fix the biggest first and retest; then size rain barrels to a dry spell, not a year of rain, and count the gallons a season really uses
RainSave's Leak Drip Loss Calculator, Rain Barrel Calculator and Catchment Reference price a leak and a barrel with the same sum, gallons times a rate, but a gallon is not worth the same in both places. A leak runs every hour and most of it goes down a drain, so on many bills it pays the sewer rate as well as the water rate, and a bill quoted per CCF is per 748 gallons, not per 1,000. A barrel only saves the gallons the garden actually draws from it, a storm at a time. Writing this plan we fixed three things on the site: the drip calculator now uses the USGS drip size (it was about half of it), the rain barrel calculator now asks for one storm (a yearly total turned a 1,200 square foot roof into 347 barrels), and the Catchment Reference now says its yearly saving assumes storage for every storm. The Leak and Rain Barrel Plan works it through. In its example, water at $4.10 and sewer at $5.20 per CCF make $12.43 per 1,000 gallons; a two-hour meter test shows 15.6 gallons a day, $70.79 a year (only $31.21 at the water rate alone); the toilet's share, measured with its supply stop closed, is 9.6 gallons a day; a measuring cup shows the kitchen faucet's drops are 0.35 mL, 40% bigger than the calculator assumes; $18 of parts save $67.73 a year. Then one downspout's 400 square feet fills a 55-gallon barrel in 0.26 inch of rain, a 10-day dry spell needs 3 barrels (not 116 for a year), and a logged season shows those 3 barrels save $7.13 to $16.18. Every rate, reading and price is an example. Repairs stop at a toilet flapper and a faucet washer, O-ring or cartridge; anything else is a licensed plumber's. It quotes the USGS, EPA WaterSense, the Portland Water Bureau, the CDC and RoSPA: rainwater is not for drinking or for plants you plan to eat, barrels need covered lids and screens, overflow goes away from the foundation, and collection rules vary by state. Included: 24 printable pages with 7 steps, 4 working pages (bill and meter sheet, leak hunt log, downspout and barrel sheet, season log), drip and storm tables and a quickstart, plus a personalised sheet worked from the figures you entered in our leak and rain barrel calculators.
Look inside
Two full pages from the plan, exactly as printed. Click either to read it at full size before you decide.
What is in it
- Step 1: price a leaked gallon from your bill, water and sewer together, with per-CCF, per-1,000-gallon and per-cubic-meter conversions
- Step 2: the two-hour meter test with everything off, and where the main shutoff valve is
- Step 3: the toilet dye test, and the meter test repeated with the supply stop closed to measure its share
- Step 4: count and catch every drip in a measuring cup, fix the biggest leak first, and retest the meter
- Step 5: one downspout's footprint, the storm that fills a barrel, overflow away from the foundation, and first flush
- Step 6: barrels sized to a dry spell, rounded honestly, with the full weight, locking lids and screens
- Step 7: a season week by week for one to six barrels: gallons used, what each extra barrel adds, and what they replace
- Working pages: a bill and meter sheet, a leak hunt log, a downspout and barrel sheet, and a season log
- Reference: drips a minute to gallons at two drop sizes, gallons per storm by footprint, and units
- A personalised sheet worked from the drip rate, rate, footprint, storm and barrels you entered in our calculators
- ✓ 24 printable pages
- ✓ 10 sections, worksheets and templates
- ✓ A second PDF worked out from the numbers you enter
- ✓ No account needed, just an email address
- ✓ Instant download; link valid 7 days
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The plan picks up where the free Leak Drip Loss Calculator, Rain Barrel Calculator and Catchment Referenceleave off. Each tool prices one leak or one storm; the plan prices a gallon at your bill's water and sewer rates, finds the leaks with the meter, isolates the toilet, catches the drips, fixes the biggest first and retests, then sizes rain barrels to a dry spell and counts the gallons a season actually uses. Its repairs stop at a flapper and a faucet washer, O-ring or cartridge; anything else is a licensed plumber's. Barrel water is not for drinking or for plants you plan to eat. Every rate, reading and price in it is an example.