rain barrels
We haven’t been using our rain barrel system as much as we’d like with the soaker hoses, in part because of the low water pressure they would have even when full. So the other weekend we put together a test stand to see how much it would help. 
This stand is made from a single 4″x4″ x8′ post, cut into equal 24″ sections and two 2″x4″x8′ wood, two 24″ sections used as headers and five used for the platform itself (which is 24″x24″).
So the bottom of the barrel now stands at least 24″ + 1.75″ higher than it used to, closer to 26″ as there are rocks/boards under the feet of the stand to keep it a little drier.
Water pressure is given as roughly 1’=0.43 psi gives us about 0.93 psi, with minimal water in the barrel.
It seems to work well. In the past the soaker hoses could take up to 24 hours to empty the barrel. Now it is on the order of a few hours.
This barrel is hooked up to two others and now we must raise them to the same height to get the most out of the system. The other two have eaves feeding them from approx 80 ft^2 of roof/rain collecting area each, so they fill 600 litres pretty fast.
Some design notes.
The 4×4 legs were notched to accept an upright 2×4 so that the top is level and loadbearing. We’ve tried attaching 2×4’s to 4×4’s in the past with two #8×3″ screws but under the heavy load of the rainbarrel, they just sheared right off.
The top platform has two outside 2×4’s x24″ with two screws, one into the 4×4 and the other into the recently attached 2×4 crossbeam. Three more 2×4’s were added with a small, even gap between them all to form the platform.
Lastly, a 1×2 cross brace was added on two sides, helping to stabilize the whole assembly.
It is loosely tied to the chainlink fence for those times that the barrel is empty and the high winds come around, potentially blowing the barrel off the stand.