Most water butts are supplied with a stand and can be placed on the ground in the corner of the garden. Depending on your requirements, there are a wide range of water storage solutions available that vary in terms of shape and capacity, enabling you to access the rainwater via a hose connection or tap for filling a bucket or watering can without drawing water from the mains system. The 1/2" Snaplock (Hozelock) option includes a washer (not shown) and a back nut which allows a male snap lock connection (spigot) allowing excess water to be drained directly to a hose with female snap lock connection.

These connectors make it possible to connect your water butts to any downpipe without having to worry about cutting it at the exact length.

e. the overflow pipe connected to the drainpipe and the connection to the drainpipe is lower than the connection to the water butt, then everything should be ok, even in torrential rain.

Water running down the downpipe generally sticks to the edge (surface tension) so runs into this gutter and down the pipe to the butt. Water butts are a great solution if there is a hosepipe ban in place or you simply want to save money on your bills. However, this water butt is only suitable for unrendered brick walls, and should be affixed to brickwork, not the mortar. In addition, it’s possible to purchase some diverters with adjustable rainwater shoes for easier installation, or products with an overflow function that enable collected rainwater to bypass the diverter and allow rain to continue down the drain pipe to avoid flooding problems in the event of your storage solution becoming full. This water butt’s water access tap can be placed in multiple locations, to suit the personal needs of the gardener.

Durable, rust resistant, and capable of holding 180 litres of rainwater, the Arthur Jack Water Butt delivers on both practicality and on looks. The second way is to use a rainwater diverter that has a similar design to a gutter bracket or downpipe joiner, then you can easily connect it to two sections of downpipe in the same way that a gutter union is connected. To fit the adaptor would have required cutting through the downpipe so replace the adaptor with a pipe joining piece and make a new cut lower down the downpipe for the adaptor. There are also silver and copper anti-microbial water cleaner discs which use industrial silver which is also found in water purifiers and other cleansing devices.

If you're connecting your downpipe directly into your tank or water butt you'll need to ensure you have some way of discharging flows when the level reaches the top of the tank otherwise water will spill from the tank in all directions! They generally have a capacity under 100 litres, so will need to collect water via a rainwater diverter. Ranging from terracotta plant pots to old refurbished whisky barrels, you can choose from a wide variety of butts that will fit seamlessly with your garden. The idea is that when the butt is full the water level in the butt will be at the same level as the "gutter" in the down pipe. Most water butts need to be set up with a drill, so if you're looking for drilling advice consider out guides to the best cordless drills, best drill bits and best electric screwdrivers.Those with small gardens may also benefit from having a water butt that mounts on the wall to reduce how much patio space it takes up. So either you need to lift the water butt up on some kind of stand so the water level when full is level with the downpipe adaptor (which looks like it would be quite high) or you need to move the adaptor further down the downpipe and run the hose through a hole in the fence. Made from frostproof and UV stabilised plastic it comes with a brass tap and is available in a wide range of colours, from muted milstone and black to bright orange and purple. Perfect for gardens with minimal free floorspace, mounted water butts, like the Pure Raindrop Water Butt, are lightweight and designed to sit on external walls in the garden.