Rain barrel plumbing

[Equestrienne]

I've installed 8 (90 gallon) rainbbarrels in four locations around my house, due to the various pitches on the roof. I was told I could hook them up to my existing drip systems which were perfectly balanced for city water pressure..... NOT... The drip system doesn't get enough gravity pressure for the higher parts to get a fair share, and the barrels take forever to empty. By doing this, I lose all the advantages I had from the timers. I'm struggling with all of this and am very dismayed given that it took all spring to get the system completed and tuned up. Apart from all that, for which I can't really formulate a good question (I've been researching various pumps), the question I can ask is that since the city water is a backup for empty rain barrels, what is the best back flow prevention to avoid filling the barrels with the city water when it comes on?

 

[WorthFlorida]

You have a loaded question and I think your asking is when the rain barrels are empty and you need to switch to city water supply????..... For one if you have city water, your household drinking water, and you connect to an irrigation system, you need a backflow preventer anyway. You do not want any water from the ground surface to get sucked into your domestic water. Zurn makes a lot of models and something like shown below is needed.

As far as the irrigation problem and it is a drip type, just run another set of drip lines from the city water supply. It keeps it simple and you do not have to mess with a backflow valve that probably cost more than another set of drip lines. For the barrels that need a pump for the higher elevation of your yard, use fountain pumps. There low cost, take little power, low GPM and perfect to feed a drip system. It's the classic KISS formula.