How to Make a Rain Chain

Rain chains, which are believed to have originated in Japan, are now widely used as alternatives for waterspouts. Though rain chains were intended to be used as garden decor, copper ones are sometimes found as an attachment to rainwater storage devices. They come in a wide range of designs and patterns, like a chain of interlinked copper rings, which is hung vertically in place of waterspouts, or a series of copper funnels, bells or cups with holes in the bottom and connected by strings. Apart from decorating the area, these rain chains also produce a pleasant noise as rainwater trickles through it.

You can always replace a waterspout in your home with a rain chain. Rain chains are simple to make and can even be made at home. But before we proceed with how to make rain chains at home, it is essential to have a basic knowledge of soldering. Making rain chains, however, requires a fair amount of patience and sufficient time. Here are a few guidelines on how to make a rain chain at home.

• The materials needed for making a basic rain chain model are copper tubing, PVC pipe, a rotary cutting tool and soldering supplies. Fifty feet of ¼-inch copper tubing is sufficient for making an average rain chain, but you can change the sizes as per your needs. The width of the PVC pipe should be the same as the width of the copper rings. A pipe with a width of 2 to 3 inches is considered to be the best.
• Start with pruning the copper tubing. You have to cut and remove a 10 to 12-inch piece of copper tubing and keep it aside. This piece will be used to hang the rain chain from the hole of the gutter.
• The next step is to wrap the remaining copper tubing around the PVC pipe in a tight manner. You should do this carefully, in order to avoid formation of rings that are not uniform in shape.
• Once the wrapping task is complete, remove the tubing from the PVC pipe. The copper tubing will look like a spring, which has to be cut straight through one side of the coil. This can be done with the help of a rotary cutting tool and the result will be copper rings.
• The ends of individual copper rings should be soldered, so as to form a chain. Solder the ends of a copper ring and insert another ring into it, then join the ends of the latter. Continue this process and you will get a copper chain.
• Now, as the copper chain is ready, the next step is to hang it in place of the waterspout. Remove the waterspout from the gutter. Take the copper tubing piece reserved at the beginning. Slip the tubing piece through the top ring of the chain. Insert this piece through the hole of the gutter and keep it flat across the hole for the waterspout. This positioning ensures that the rainwater passes through the rain chain only.

Your rain chain is ready and you can enjoy its jingling on the next rainy day.