Water Butt issues

[TheClitterati]

Novice gardener here.

My keen gardening neighbour kindly installed my water butt for me.

I understood that once the WB was filled any overflow would go back down the drain pipe, but instead the WB is full, and all the overflow is just coming out onto the ground. Neighbour says this is OK. Surely this isn't how they are meant to work? We are having a lot of rain and I am worried about overflow of water so close to my house.

Any idea how I can remedy this?

Empty some water out of the Butt.

I've been doing that but it doesnt solve the problem of water run off.
The butt will fill again very quickly with all the rain we are having. And what if we have a lot of rain while I am not around to empty the butt?

Is it normal for ALL water to go into the WB and then simply pour all over the ground once its full? Surely overflow should be redirected down the downpipe?

I have several water butts, two f them have an overflow pipe that goes into the down pipe. The other butt is now near a down pipe so I have an overflow going into the soil nearby. Water butts do need an overflow especially if they are by the side of your house or you could create a damp problem.
You can buy a kit quite cheaply and plenty of YouTube vids will show you how to install it.

Could you link another water butt? Mine came with an overflow pipe to do this. Appreciate there might not be space. Is yours a slimline one (100L) or the large barrel 200L size?

I'm in the SE and have trouble filling my slimline water butt 😂

As per pp get hold of an overflow kit to redirect.

This kit comes with 1.5m of hose. There is the option to order a further section of hose:

here