Best Water Butts UK 2026: Choosing by Size & Type
The water butt is the half of ban-proof watering everyone underestimates. With nine hosepipe bans in force, stored rainwater is what keeps a drip line legal — and the right butt is chosen on capacity and outlet height, not brand.
How to choose
Some links on this page may earn BestBuilders a commission at no cost to you. It never changes what we recommend — every range here is the same published pricing our cost guides use.
| Type | Best for | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Standard 100–210L | Most gardens; can-filling | The default; pair with a stand for tap clearance |
| Slimline / wall | Narrow side returns, small patios | Less capacity — link two if feeding drip |
| Large 300L+ | Vegetable beds, drip irrigation | One winter of rain fills it; site it on the biggest downpipe |
| Underground tank | New landscaping projects | A landscaping job, not a purchase — price it with the works |
Specialist ranges and current prices: Water Butts Direct carries the widest UK selection, including linked and slimline setups.
From butt to ban-proof system
A butt on its own waters by can. Add a drip line — gravity-fed from a raised butt or driven by a small butt pump — and the garden waters itself legally through any ban. The full setup is on the ban-proof watering guide; installed drip pricing (£500–£1,400 for most gardens) is on the irrigation cost guide.
Water butt FAQs
Work from your beds, not your roof: a couple of containers and a small border are fine from 100L; a family garden with vegetable beds wants 200L+; and serious drip irrigation is happiest with two butts linked, so one refills while the other feeds the line.
Yes — that is the ban-proof setup. Drip irrigation fed from stored rainwater is exempt under the standard Temporary Use Ban framework, unlike the same line plumbed to a mains tap.
For can-filling, yes — you need clearance under the tap. For a pump-fed drip line, less so, but height still helps a gravity-fed run. Most butts sell the stand separately; count it in.
A sealed lid (also safer with children), a rinse-out each winter, and using the water rather than storing it for months. First-flush diverters keep the worst roof debris out.
Sources & methodology
Price ranges are the published installer and retail pricing used across our gardening guides; BestBuilders does not yet hold enough quote history in this category to publish averages of its own. Hosepipe-ban rules follow the standard Temporary Use Ban framework — confirm against your own water company's exemption list.