We found the 50-gallon food grade plastic barrels at a surplus store for around $15.00 each. The barrels were bright blue in color and didn't look very good in our woodland setting so the first step was to paint them brown so they would blend in with the house. The next step involved constructing the fittings and placing them in the barrels - not as easy as it sounds!
My husband wanted the spigots to be as near to the bottom of the barrels as possible in order for us to be able to drain as much water as possible. This made the task of fitting the hardware more difficult because of the curvature of the barrel. My husband had to construct the fittings and most of the necessary parts. The barrels are connected with overflow pipes that allow excess water to be diverted to the next barrel in line. The first barrel has a screen at the water intake to keep out pine needles and other debris. We also wanted to prevent the possibility of a small animal or bird falling inside and drowning. We placed our barrels on a raised platform in order to allow us room to place a watering can underneath. This step would not be necessary if you installed a fitting that would allow a garden hose connection. For our purposes we wanted to use a watering can rather than a hose.
