Water Butts are a great addition to any garden – collect rainwater and use it on your garden – all it will cost you is the price of the water butt.
Not only that, you will be helping the environment!
Check out our picks for the best Water Butt below:
Be Green 100l Rainsaver- Price: £
- Capacity: 100L
- Material: Recycled
- Affordable standard water butt
120L Oak Effect Water Butt- Price: ££
- Capacity: 120L
- Material: Recycled
- Wonderful Water Butt that will blend into your garden
Jacobean Dark Oak Ale Barrel- Price: £££
- Capacity: 238L
- Material: Polymer
- Indestructable - very realistic wood effect
Terractotta Effect Water Butt- Price: ££
- Capacity: 150L
- Material: Recycled
- Unique and attractive garden water butt
1. Be Green 100L Capacity Mini Rainsaver Water Butt
Contains everything you need to get going.
The water butt is made from recycled plastic and is packaged in simple plastic sheeting.
So not too much wastage there.
The connector pipe and tap are included and fairly easy to apply if you just follow the instructions carefully.
The lid is a firm fit and quite difficult to get off…
..(which from past experiences, is definitely a good thing!)
Its a slimline, tall water butt with 100L capacity – so perfect for light garden watering.
The 3 part stand is also a particularly study and will not buckle under the weight as it is strengthened with angled stiffeners.
The tap is also hosepipe connector compatible.
Includes:
- 100L Water butt
- Strong Lid
- Stand
- Connector Pipe / Diverter
- Tap
2. Dawsons 210L Water Butt & Complete Kit Including Watering Can
If you’re looking for a butt with a large water capacity, this one has it at 210L.
Complete with a very sturdy stand, tap and downpipe filler.
The lid is also a little more advanced with a tightly fitting lockable lid.
I am impressed that this set comes with the appropriate stand. Some other water butts retail at the same price as this one but do not include a stand.
This Dawsons set also comes with a convenient 6.5 litre watering can for free. You may already have a watering can, but from experiences of how long it can take to fill a can from a water butt, having a second watering can is very useful. You can leave one can filling up whilst emptying another other one.
The feeder kit from the drain pipe is also included, so all in all, a good beginners kit.
3. Cloudburst Water Butt Kit 200L
An excellent quality all round water butt.
With a huge 200L capacity it will certainly save on your water bills.
As with the others, everything you need to set it up is included.
Just take you time and get the feeder hose at the right height on the drain pipe to ensure maximum water collection.
This water butt has a unique barrel wood grain effect in the other plastic to make it more visually acceptable in a garden.
Its made of recycled plastic which is good to hear.
The lid is also child safe – even better!!
The unique shape is slightly wider at the top than the bottom for better space saving.
The widest point at the top is about 70cm diameter.
Includes:
- Everything you need to set up
- Stand
- Diverter Kit
- Tap
4. Wooden Barrel Effect Water Butt 50L / 120L / 240L
This style of water butt is much more attractive that the traditional green plastic water butt.
The task effect barrel blends into your garden and creates a feature instead of being a necessary but unattractive garden object.
The barrels are available in a variety of sizes and styles on Amazon, I have listed the options below with links to each product option instead of adding images of each and overcrowding this article with too many images.
- A single barrel 50L water butt
- A pack of two 50L barrel water butts
- One 120L Oak effect water butt
- One 240L Oak effect water butt
Regardless of size, each water butt barrel is made from the same durable PE plastic which is high quality, thick, long lasting and weatherproof.
The nice thing about it being plastic is that it will not split, like a wooden barrel would eventually if it was left outside in the elements all year long.
Each water butt also comes with a tap and child safe lid.
The one downside to these water butts is that none of them come with a stand. – Some people make a stand from slabs, wood or another strong material.
(You can use a basic black plastic one like the ones that come with most standard water butts. But you don’t have to.)
However if you want a stand that is in keeping with the design of the oak barrel, there is one available.
The matching oak barrel effect water butt stand is available on Amazon in a 50L stand and a 120L stand. There isn’t currently one for the 240L water butt.
You can view the matching water butt stands here.
With the 240L water butt, the width at the top is quite large, it is possible to dip the whole watering can into the butt for quicker filling like a dunk bucket, depending on the size of your watering can of course.
(Perfect for the impatient gardener.)
There is no rain diverter kit and one tap included but these can be bought for not a lot of money, there is this complete down pipe diverter kit for example on Amazon for less that £10 with free delivery for example.
5. GRAF 300L Amphora Terracotta Effect Water Butt
An extremely unique shaped terracotta effect water butt.
But this water butt looks so unique I think we can forgive it for the significantly higher cost than other water butts.
There is no stand included, but it could look great of a raised platform of bricks or a wooden frame.
The water butt can be used on any stand capable of holding the 300L weight (you won’t find that many) or you own custom built stand.
If you didn’t want to use a stand you could away have the water butt standing on the ground as the tap hole is a little way off the ground anyway. Enough to get a watering can underneath. (As seen in the image below.)
The tap is supplied and is a good quality brass tap.
However you will need to purchase the water butt filler down pipe attachment separately. (These are very cheap to purchase.)
It is a little top heavy when empty, and couple risk falling over, however, once there is some water inside, it becomes very heavy and definitely sturdy.
This water butt is weather resistant and shatterproof thanks to the durable plastic.
At 300L you are not compromising capacity for design features. you will definitely have enough water to do your whole garden.
This makes the GRAF a great water butt to integrate into any garden to start saving money on water bills!
It also acts as a decorative feature of the garden.
It blends in like a terracotta pot, instead of standing out like a big green monster.
A nice focal feature in the garden. I really like this water butt, but it would take some consideration regarding the price as to whether I could part with this much money for a water butt.
6. Ensure Organics 180 Litre Water Butt Premium Rainwater Collection
Another great looking premium water butt!
It’s so nice water that someone has thought about water butts in more detail and redesigned a collection of them to compliment and become a feature of the garden.
This is much preferred to a green plastic tank!
As they are such a key part of most peoples gardens, the design features really make a difference.
This Ecosure water butt is available in a range of colours and styles, from grey, to terracotta effect to black, orange and even bright blue!
They are probably the most expensive water butt, priced for lite capacity. It holds 180 litres of water and costs just over £200.
You may have gasped when you saw the price, I know I did! However, when I sat and contemplated it for a few minutes, I started to accept that this was the price to pay for a very nice looking, large capacity water butt that is combined to be a planter on top.
It comes as seen in the first picture with the addition of an easy twist brass tap.
The only downside to this attractive water butt is that it doesn’t come with a stand, and you may want to raise it off the ground. (This could be a home made brick stand or a regular black plastic stand which can be bought for around £15.)
However, you could also use it placed directly on the ground, the tap height is raised from the bottom and therefore you can fit a watering can underneath the tap. Even if the water butt is standing on the ground.
Also, the down pipe filer kit is not included and the holes are not pre drilled for one. You may see this as a positive or a negative.
(On one hand this is a good thing because you can customise where the hole is placed to suit your garden, but on the other hand, it requires a little DIY job to get it set up to use.)
This isn’t exactly an impulse purchase and costs a lot more than your standard green plastic water butt. However, it does give the effect of a very expensive terracotta or marble planter and fits right into your garden as an attractive feature, especially if you can have some greenery in the top planter section.