jdegraff

Will I ever pay off my Rain Barrel?

In 2021, I purchased a rain barrel through Maine Water’s Rain Barrel Discount Program. I always had rain barrels growing up because we lived in a part of the country that experienced intermittent droughts. Here in Maine, we do not (usually) have that problem, but it’s still good to save water when possible. Adding a rain barrel to your home also allows you to add another water source closer to your garden.

Rain Barrel looking good in 2024
In 2022, I installed an electric pump. Ended up being too powerful as it was possible to empty the barrel in just a few minutes.
A couple layers of standard window screen makes a great filter for leaves, bugs, and other large debris
The flexible downspout extender is easy to attach in the Spring, and replace with the original downspout in the Winter
The spigot that came with an unusual size, so I recommend upgrading to a standard 5/8 inch spigot

I paid around $100 for the rain barrel, including shipping and some of the after-market enhancements. I was curious to see how much money I was saving using the rain barrel compared to Maine Water, so I did a rough calculation to find the break even timeline.

During the May-October growing months I use about 10 gallons a day, or 300 gallons a month. Maine Water charges $5.4639 per 100 Cu Ft of water, about 748 gallons, meaning a gallon of water is $0.0073. After crunching the numbers, these two graphs show that it will take around seven years to break even.

Even with a seven-year break even timeline, I would still recommend adding a rain barrel to your home. The Maine Water program makes everything very easy, and you can save money by sourcing your own food-safe barrels and plastic fittings.

jd