Drainage Superstore is proud to offer a range of rainwater diverters from brands such as Lindab, Brett Martin, Hargreaves and Alumasc, to work with your roofline drainage system. Choose from a number of different styles to fit in with your current rainwater system, and rest assured that whichever product you choose will not only perform well but also be of the highest quality. Grey water should be used as it is produced and storage avoided.If left potentially harmful organisms might multiply and it will certainly smell most unsavoury. One design feature that I particularly appreciated was the child-safe, spring-loaded fastening clip on the lid . Some of the other water butts that I tested required a screwdriver to open the lid, so the fact that you can peek inside this one without any tools required is a bonus.

The weather was forecast to be dry but very windy, so I was dubious about whether or not the water butt would stay standing. Turns out, I was wrong to doubt it – it may not seem very stable, but it held up to windy conditions for about a week before it started to collect rainwater, after which it became even sturdier. There are some things that you can do to help to make the water you collect in your water butt go that little bit further: Plants need the most water in hot, dry and windy weather, which is usually when water companies are least able to meet demand. Plants are most vulnerable to shortages of water when they are first planted when their roots have not yet established into the deeper, moister layers of soil. Newly planted shrubs, trees, herbaceous perennials, seedlings, annuals and vegetables will all need watering to be managed carefully until their roots establish. Once plants have established, keeping your soil healthy by adding organic matter should help to minimise the need for watering.Drill a hole in the side of the water butt, 8cm down from the top. The hole needs to be just the right size to fit the connector fitting of the diverter through. Fit the connector piece in place by pushing it through the hole you just drilled and screwing the supplied washer and nut on.

It’s easy to see why this water butt appeals to such a wide range of people. It’s sleek enough to sit inconspicuously in the corner of small gardens, yet it’s also slim enough to be lined up in a row of connected water butts to contribute to a larger water storage system. It’s one of the best water butts if you’re after a slimline design.

What water butt to choose?

Basic diverters, also known as water butt connectors. These offer no filtering capability. This type of diverter can often throttle the flow of water and does not offer a high capture efficiency. However, the basic diverters we offer do not suffer from these problems. Climatic change projections suggest an increasing proportion of rain will fall in winter, so it may become cost effective to build in rainwater storage when constructing new homes. This usually involves sinking a large tank somewhere in the garden, pumping water out for use in the garden or for domestic tasks such as flushing toilets. There’s no denying that most of the water butts available on the market look pretty drab and boring, but the Sankey 150l Beehive Water Butt shows that this doesn’t always need to be the case. An instant attention-grabber, this water butt is easy easily one of the best water butts in terms of aethetics.

Water butts come in a range of sizes. Naturally, having a small water butt is better than none, so even a 100 L model can be useful, especially in small gardens. Do these features make this Strata model worth buying? Well, I put this water butt to the test and identified it as one of the best water butts if you’re after a great value model – read on to find out why! If you have the space you could consider connecting several butts together with a linking kit to increase the amount you can store. When one butt is full the water will automatically flow into the next. Keeping the water fresh Use the water frequently, as replenishing the water with freshly collected rainwater helps to dilute the stored water and keep the water clean While the space-saving nature of slimline water butts is great, those of you who are looking to collect larger quantities of rainwater will need a water butt with a larger capacity, which is where the Harcostar 227 Litre Water Butt Kit comes in. It was designed to channel rainwater from the roof of a house, so this is exactly what I did with it. Here’s how it performed:

The results in the all too common hosepipe ban restricting water usage in your garden. Installing one or more water butts to save rainwater is the best way to create a ready supply of free water for your plants, protecting you from having to go without when there is a ban in place. To be fair, once the water butt fills with water, it doesn’t budge. However, its smaller capacity also means that it’s more likely to sit empty and unstable at times, compared to larger models. Large capacity water butts can take up a fair bit of space, which is why the Charles Bentley Ward 210L Round Plastic Water Butt Set, which promises a compact and easy-to-use design, may catch your eye. But is it worth buying? Keep reading to see why I’ve chosen it as the best medium water butt. Attach the diverter to the water butt with the piece of pipe supplied. Fit the lid onto the water butt and wait for it to rain! Thanks to its beehive design, it certainly looks impressive, but how does it compare to the more traditional designs out there? I put this water butt to the test to find out.

Water butt connecting kits are available if you want to install more than one water butt to a downpipe.

Putting in a water diverter involves cutting through the downpipe of the guttering. In most cases, these pipes are plastic and the job isn’t too difficult. However, be aware that if you have metal pipes, the job will be more complicated.