Rain barrel diverter diversions

It turned out that deciding how to get the water into the barrel was a major issue.

There are two main issues:

• Open or sealed barrel system?  A sealed barrel system uses watertight connections everywhere.  An open barrel system usually has water entering through the open top of a barrel.
• Diverter or open barrel top?  Should water enter the system through the top of a barrel, or through a tube from a diverter?

There are many kinds of downspout diverters available.  After wading through the characteristics of many, it became apparent that there were a few different types:

• Offset diverters - usually a Y-shaped downspout with a lever for manually selecting whether to send all the water to the water barrel or down to the ground through the rest of the vertical downspout (or a new replacement for the rest of the downspout).
• Automatic diverters with automatic overflow.  A single tube goes to the rain barrel.  The barrel must be of the sealed type, so when the barrel is full the tube will fill with water and all water will then go down the downspout.  There is one exception to the "sealed type" rule: If the barrel is connected to the diverter through the side of the barrel, an automatic diverter which is installed at the same height as the barrel's opening can work.
• Diverter and overflow tubes.  One tube goes from the diverter to the rain barrel, and an overflow tube comes from the rain barrel to the downspout.  If the overflow tube is below the level of the rain barrel's overflow, this can work with an open barrel system.

Decision: Open barrel system

I wanted to keep the intake both simple and allow maximum capture.  So I decided to simply cut the downspouts above the level of the barrel and put in new elbows, directing the water away from the house and toward the open top of the barrel.  All the water will be aimed at the barrel, and I'll deal with the overflow in the barrel and on top of it.

That means that I will use a design where there is a wide opening in the top of the barrel.  So it will be an open barrel system instead of a sealed barrel system.  The exact aiming of the downspout can be adjusted by adding a short length of downspout, or a short flexible downspout extension.