IBC as a water butt

[Browser]

Myself and Mrs B have always tried to have water butts for plant watering, and at ne time have three series-connected 200 litre jobbies and hardly ever ran out of water. Due to one thing and another we now only have two x 200 litre and I'd like to increase this.
We had an extension built a while back and it's created a corner in which a large tank could stand quite nicely, and I started looking at proprietary water butts with bigger volumes, quickly stopping when I realised how expensive they were (£300+ for an 800 litre one)!
Being as I'm a tightwad, I've looked at IBCs on Ebay, and there's a shedload of them for around £40 for a 1000 litre one or £65-ish for a 600 litre one (weirdly, smaller ones are more expensive?).
My questions are, in the interests of selling the aesthetics of locating and industrial container round the back of our house to Mrs B, can you take the cage off (I presume this is just to allow them to be stacked?) and can you paint them?

 

[gaz1]

ive bought 3 of them washed out

i would leave them stackable for extra flow of water and also connecting them together for better flow

as for hiding them there is other products out there which are fake but hide stuff rather well including read fence

 

[Browser]

Having looked around a bit it appears that most folk who want to hide them do so by timber cladding the cage so I'll probably do that instead. I can't see her going for having two stacked but you never know! In addition, received wisdom is that opaque (black-coloured) ones are (a) cheaper and (b) better at stopping algae growth so I'll probably pursue that route if the idea passes initial inquisition and interrogation

 

[merryman]

I suspect at least some of the strength of the tank is due to the cage. Rough estimate, a full 1000 litre tank will weigh 2000 lbs, that is an awful lot for thin plastic walls to stand. As gas1 stated, hiding the tank with fencing etc, is probably a better idea than painting (always comes off plastic in my experience).

 

[gaz1]

if you do get one make sure it has its taps and seals on it

heres the link for what i mean

http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/forum/threads/stuff-you-have-made-today.67127/page-18#post-935971

the ibc is a w 800mm x L 1200mm x H 1000mm

extra info use a water tank connector to connect to a different bore of pipe for feed also consider if using a stacked tank is a secondary filler tap to feed into top tank with drain off freezing pipes is not a good thing

also consider a through draft, bottom to top if using dark stuff as stops over expansion

 

[fixerupper]

Yeah 1000 litres of water does weigh a metric tonne 1,000 kilos ..and yes the cage does add to the strength...

 

[Ian James]

You may be best cladding it and possible putting a cover over it as I seen the plastic go brittle in the past due to UV rays possibly around 10 years the cage is a big contributor to the strength so I would not remove

 

[sardine]

Water in a clear container will go bad and turn green in the summer. Even tap water.

The reason army drinking water jerrycans are black plastic.

If you take the cage off an IBC full of liquid it will sag and may burst at the seams .

 

[brewdexta]

I bought 3 black IBCs for water butts. Apart from a bit of vegetation, were not hiding them, but two are behind the barn to collect water from the barn gutters. One will be next to the greenhouse when I get around to it. We have a drought at the moment, many farms are on spring water only and their spring tanks are nearly empty. My neighbour waters his cows in fields without natural water with IBCs, he's now taking them around to top up people's spring tanks.

 

[addjunkie]

I use two clear IBCs to water animals. Ones on wheels pulled with the quad, the other I use as a water butt, but does go a bit green if half full in a dry spell as it sits behind the barn in a small paddock.

One of these days Ill put one behind the green house after my solar pump from the stream was a failure.

You can buy all the fittings you need on ebay to use them.

Dont take the cage off.

 

[julianf]

600ltr are less common, so cost more.

Don't take the cage off.

If you want a cheap fitting, 25ltr carboy containers usually have the same thread on the cap - get one of those and fit a standard tank connector. The proper ones are about £15 or so.

 

[julianf]

Ps don't take the cage off, and try and find one with a plastic pallet. Wooden ones rot quite quick.

 

[RichardM]

Blunt object - FLT fork etc, you're not likely to hole one, more likely to knock the tap off.
If you're going to use it to fill watering cans etc, raise it up a little so the can is below the level of the tap!

 

[Wendelspanswick]

Funnily enough I've just fitted one of these to my clear IBC:
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.co.uk/ulk/itm/192550258817
It's a black plastic cover for £30 and it fits really well.
The reason I went for a clear IBC was that they are more common and it's easier to see if it's clean or you have a problem with algae.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

You could always weave a ebay cheap cammo netting over a cage to hide it.

 

[Browser]

Thanks chaps, it looks like I'll be able to blag an IBC from work as I've had it on good authority we can't seem to get them returned to the supply companies, even when they've charged for the things, so they end up separated metal from plastic, metal gets skipped and the tank lobbed in our bunker for burning. I've already found one placcy pallet, will hopefully unearth another or two around the place that I can gypsy switch for a wooden one on nights. Only slight fly in t'ointment is that the IBC is a clear one but I'm planning to wrap it in black builders poly (or similar) and then timber clad it for disguise so I hope this'll be enough to stop algae. Getting it round the back of the house will be interesting, might have to separate the tank from the cage, carry separately and then reassemble.

If you're going to use it to fill watering cans etc, raise it up a little so the can is below the level of the tap!

Any you discovered this how, pray? Don't tell me you.........nooooooooooo..............

 

[knighty]

the tanks themselves weigh naff all, most of the weight is the cage so there's not much point in separating them to move them

get a mate to help you, you could pick it up and throw it over you rbag gate/fence/wall/whatever?
(I helped a mate do this with 2)

 

[Browser]

I'm willing to try Knighty but No.1 son whilst the same height as me does not posses the same strength and being an Aspie tends to fret about whether he can manage things or not. Father in law could have ten years ago, not now. I do however have a new neighbour across the road who looks like he might be a strong chap so I'll give him a tap up I think

 

[knighty]

you could probably lay a couple of planks of wood as a ramp at the fence and push them up... but easier than lifting one straight up and no worry about it falling on your head :-)

 

[gaz1]

Only slight fly in t'ointment is that the IBC is a clear one but I'm planning to wrap it in black builders poly (or similar) and then timber clad it for disguise so I hope this'll be enough to stop algae. Getting it round the back of the house will be interesting, might have to separate the tank from the cage, carry separately and then reassemble.

dosnt matter if its clear just hide/cover it with anything as long as sun dosnt go through it

doing it in black will just speed up evaporation from the tanks just make a wood frame round it or netting and cover that up

2 people can lift it even the mrs can aid in lifting it