What are Rain Chain Downspouts?

Rain chain downspouts, also called water chain downspouts, are designed to replace a downspout on your home’s rain gutter system. While the traditional downspouts do a good job of controlling the flow of water from your roof to the ground, they don’t have much curb appeal. Traditional downspouts are usually a square tube running along the side or corner of your house. Their purpose is to channel the water into a specific location on the ground and away from the house.

Rain Chain Downspouts, also known simply as Rain Chains, are an alternative to the traditional gutter downspout and are normally used to channel the water to a basin or a rain barrel. Rain chains were invented in Japan where they are commonly called “Kusari Doi”. They add a pleasing visual element above and beyond simple functionality making them an aesthetic substitute for the metal downspouts that serve the same purpose.

What are the Benefits of Rain Chain Downspouts?

Rain Chains can provide a number of benefits. Here are a few of my favorites.

Rain Chain Downspouts Benefits

• They are distinctive – Rain Chains catch one’s eye because they so different from the rectangular tube style downspouts on most homes.
• They are beautiful to watch when it rains – As the water rushes down the chain, it makes the chain move – jerking and vibrating as it goes.
• They can be used to provide an enjoyable water feature for your garden – Water cascading down the chain or through the cups can be quite relaxing to watch.
• Rain Chain Downspouts produce a soothing sound as water works it way from top to bottom – It can be very relaxing to sit on a deck, porch or patio to listen to the hypnotic rhythms.

Types

There are two basic styles of Rain Chain Downspouts:

• Traditional Chain

  These chains are typically made of copper and can develop a decorative patina as the chains age. Rain Chains can be made with other materials but you need to be careful. The last thing you want is a rusty chain hanging from your house. That is the reason copper is used most often.

  Chains may be made up of single links but you can also find a variety of more intricate decorative and functional designs with double links or more distinctive links that are not the ovals you may be used to seeing.

• Cup Rain Chain

  This style also originated in Japan. Japanese houses and temples used them as water collecting vessels. The suspended cups act to channel the water flow. On windy days there will be less splashing than you get with simple link chains. If the Rain Chain Downspouts are near a seating area or walkway, you may want to consider this style.

  Decorative cup rain chains are typically composed of a series of vertically stacked metal cups or funnels, each with a hole in the bottom. The cups can also be made to look like a variety of items like bells, cups, bowls, tulips, lotus flowers and many more. The water will glide smoothly from one cup of the chain to the next while the shape will prevent the chains from splashing onto your house.

What are Rain Chain Downspouts made of?

Rain Chains can be made up of various sizes of links and cups using many different patterns. Although chains do come in several other materials such as brass, stainless-steel and aluminum, the primary material used is copper. The key here is that the material must be non-corrosive. Rusting can contaminate water so it’s not acceptable for bird baths, re-use, or for watering plants. For appearance sake alone, you certainly don’t want a rusty chain hanging from your house!

Copper is the proper material for exterior use like a rain chain because it will not react with water to create rust like iron or steel will. Copper also has a more pleasing appearance and develops a pleasing patina as it ages. As a result of of its sturdiness and appearance, Copper Rain Chain Downspouts are the most commonly used metal in home and garden Rain Chains.

How do you install Rain Chain Downspouts?

They not only decorate your landscape they serve an essential purpose as well, making the roof runoff go where you want it to go. When properly installed, Rain Chains can be a beautiful and functional home accent.

• So how are Rain Chain Downspouts installed?

  It really is a simple procedure. Basically, you just use a simple, included, gutter attachment piece to hang the Rain Chain from the hole where the old rectangular downspout was before.

• Installation Kits

  If the hole in the gutter where the old downspout attached is oddly sized or shaped or was damaged during the downspout removal, there are installation kits to make this very easy to fix and more aesthetically pleasing. These installation kits can insure that water does not leak out and travel along the bottom of your gutters. This can ruin the effect of the Rain Chain by producing random drips in the wrong places.

• Gutter Adapter

  Sometimes you may need to use a Gutter Adapter. This is a larger than normal cup that hangs from the gutter (using the Rain Chain’s included hanger) and catches heavy runoff that might splash away from the smaller cups at the top of the Rain Chain. The adapter does a great job of directing the rain into the chain from a too wide gutter opening. These are usually copper and are quite attractive.