[Weather] dual drains -- was Re: conversion help

[claude felizardo]

What about two sets of drains similar to the condensate drains in an air 
conditioning unit?  A relatively small drain into a small pair of 
buckets for counting light rain, then an "overflow" drain into a larger 
bucket for counting down pours.  Does anyone make anything like that?  

You could have concentric drains with a raised larger opening in the 
middle surrounded by a circular depression with small holes or slits.  
Light rain fall would flow into the outer ring and down to the smaller 
set of buckets.  Heavier rainfall would swamp the smaller opening and 
overflow into the larger center drain into the larger buckets.

The funnel is more complicated but I think it would handle both cases.  
Maybe a crude ASCII art diagram would help...

\       /
 \     /
  \/ \/
 
Alternatively, maybe you could have a single smaller opening at the 
bottom and then one or more larger openings a short distance above the 
bottom for the overflow drain with possibly an overhang to minimize 
drops from falling directly into the larger opening.  Perhaps nested 
funnels?


\      /
 \..../\
  \  /  \
   \  /\ \
    \/  \ \
    /    \ \
small     big

The bottom funnel drains to the small buckets with the overflow going to 
the bigger buckets.  Just size the lower opening to prevent the smaller 
buckets from over filling and use a screen near the top to keep the 
debris out.

Claude