What kinds of screens do people use for rainwater
catchment? We don't seem to get the balance of stopping leaves and not
promoting blocked lines.
I haven't done it but I was planning to do it some years ago so I did
the research. What you want is not a screen; you want a diverter. The
first rain that falls on a roof must go into a wash barrel with a
small drain hole in the bottom. Rain fills that barrel with the dirty
stuff that washes off the roof and then the water lifts a float that
opens a valve that allows the now-clean water to go into your fully
enclosed water container via a pipe between the two barrels. The wash
barrel resets itself after the rain by slowly emptying through the
little drain hole, carrying the crud with it. There are various rain
gutter deflectors that will keep out leaves but allow the runoff to
fill the barrel.