Abstract:
An automatic rain barrel is disclosed, providing the ability to easily use a mix of rainwater and water from another source for tasks such as watering landscaping.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to provisional application No. 61/381,220 for an Automatic Rainbarrel by George Sly, filed on Sep. 9, 2010. 
     
    
     FIELD 
       [0002]    This disclosure relates to water conservation using hybrid rain barrels. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0003]    Rain barrels are often used to collect rainwater for later use to irrigate landscapes or crops. They often will collect rainwater that has fallen on a roof or on a large hard ground surface, such as a paved parking lot or driveway. Many homeowners like the idea of conserving fresh water, and using rainwater for irrigation places less demand on wells or water supplies during drier periods. 
         [0004]    Rain barrels may be integrated with sprinkler systems but during dry weather, a rain barrel may not have water to provide a sufficient amount for the plants being maintained. In that situation, a homeowner unsure of the quantity of water available may use a different source, such as a well or water supply, to ensure an adequate supply is available, leaving water in the rain barrel unused. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0005]    The instant application discloses, among other things, an automatically filling rain barrel. If the barrel has insufficient water to complete a watering task, water from a well, municipal water supply, or other source may be used to fill the rain barrel sufficiently to complete the watering, which may maximize the use of the available rainwater. 
         [0006]    The automatically filled rain barrel may have one or more tanks of sufficient size to hold water for a watering task connected to one or more sources of rainwater. A low voltage valve may be used to control addition of water from a pressurized source, such as a municipal water supply. A valve, such as a float valve, may be used to control water level in the tank. The pressurized source may be used to augment collected rainwater to provide sufficient water to complete the watering task. 
         [0007]    The automatically filled rain barrel may also have a pump to pump water from the rain barrel to a system using the water. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  is an example of a system in which an automatic rain barrel may be used. 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  illustrates one possible implementation of an automatic rain barrel. 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is an example of a system  100  in which an automatic rain barrel  130  may be used. Rainwater source  110  may be a roof or hard ground surface used to direct rainwater to automatic rain barrel  130 . Pressurized water source  120  may be used to supplement any collected rain by filling automatic rain barrel  130  to a desired level. Automatic rain barrel  130  may be used to provide water to sprinkler system  140 . Pump  150  may be used to pump the water from a tank of the automatic rain barrel  130  to the sprinkler system. 
         [0011]    Pump  150  may have a pressure shut-off switch to prevent running dry. 
         [0012]      FIG. 2  illustrates one possible implementation of an automatic rain barrel. In this implementation, rainwater source  110  may provide available rainwater to Automatic Rain Barrel  130 . At a predetermined time, a timer  230  may activate an electric valve  210 , allowing water from pressurized water source  120  to enter the tank until float valve  220  reaches a predetermined level. This may ensure sufficient water to supply sprinkler system  140  via pump  150  for a water sprinkling task. 
         [0013]    In one implementation, a one thousand gallon capacity tank may be used to collect rainfall from a downspout from a roof. A pressurized water input from a municipal water supply may also be attached to the tank. If six hundred gallons of water are required to provide sufficient sprinkling for a lawn and the tank is full of rainwater, there is no need to add water from the municipal water supply. However, if the tank is half full, an extra one hundred gallons may be required to provide enough water to water the lawn. An electric valve may be set to operate via a timer, so that shortly before the sprinkler operation is to start, the valve will open to allow the pressurized water in. A float valve may then turn off the pressurized water when the tank contains six hundred gallons. This optimizes the use of the collected rainwater while providing a system that a homeowner may rely on to consistently water the lawn with the proper amount of water. 
         [0014]    In another implementation, the weight of the tank could be used to determine the amount of water contained in it, and activate a switch to open and close the electric valve as appropriate. In another implementation, the rainwater may be collected from runoff from a driveway. In yet another implementation, a tank may be an open tank catching rain directly. Other implementations may have multiple sources of rainwater feeding a tank. In yet another implementation, a source of water for the tank may be grey water; household wastewater (as from a sink or bath) that does not contain serious contaminants (as from toilets or diapers). In another implementation the tank water may be used to flush a toilet. 
         [0015]    In another implementation, multiple tanks may be used to collect water. Tanks may be adjacent to each other or spread out in several areas, such as various corners of a house. 
         [0016]    While the detailed description above has been expressed in terms of specific examples, those skilled in the art will appreciate that many other configurations could be used. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that various equivalent modifications of the above-described embodiments may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. 
         [0017]    Additionally, the illustrated operations in the description show certain events occurring in a certain order. In alternative embodiments, certain operations may be performed in a different order, modified or removed. Moreover, steps may be added to the above described logic and still conform to the described embodiments. Further, operations described herein may occur sequentially or certain operations may be processed in parallel. 
         [0018]    The foregoing description of various embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. It is intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by the claims appended hereto. The above specification, examples and data provide a complete description of the manufacture and use of the invention. Since many embodiments of the invention can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, the invention resides in the claims hereinafter appended.