Rain Barrel Diverter | Rain Spout Diverter Unit

A rain water diverter is a simple gadget that is installed to ensure that when your rain barrel is full, no more water is channel to the rain barrel and this small gadget will stop water and channel water back to the old gutter system. This rain barrel diverter is a must as imagine the damaged you will have to boar of overflowing of water will create big problem and damaged to your foundation of the house.

The Y Down Spout Rain Barrel Diverter

This is the most common and best diverter unit, it is relatively simple and works wonders.
This is how a Y down rain barrel diverter looks like, very simply designed and could be easily available in the market. There are two sizes, the 2’ x 3’ and the 3’ x 4’, you buy what suits your gutter system. You can see that the diverter is Y shaped and the idea is that you can switch if off when your rain barrels are full and the gutter system and water will flow to the drainage instead.
There are many kinds of rain barrel diverter in the market and I am just highlighting to people on the importance of having this unit to prevent damages.

The Flaws Of Rain Barrel Diverters

There is no perfect products in the market, although I said that is advisable to have a rain barrel diverter installed, the limitation which I have come to see are that firstly there are two flaps attached to the rain barrel diverter (as above), so many people do argue that if you are serious about harvesting rain water, why do you need a rain barrel diverter, just add another tank or rain barrel. People argue that it defies the reasons, if one is serious in rain harvesting why are we diverting water back to our drainage?

Secondly, they are ugly. Most rain barrel diverter has many hoses and pipes attached to the downspout thus imagine having many attachments in front of your houses. Although many manufacturers are trying to limit the number of downspout now but they could still be easily seen from a distance because of their sizes.

So again, you might have to weigh the above pros and cons of rain barrel diverter and decide on yourself on whether or not to have one installed in your rain harvesting system.