Ice Water Butt demolition

**Mell** · 31-12-2010, 10:54 PM

ouch expensive ! Mine are all set so that there is expansion room approx 1/5th tends to be about rght

**Hole Digger** · 31-12-2010, 10:59 PM

Thats bad luck Dan,ive got the blue 45gallon ones they've got ice bulging out of the tops but they haven't burst,i wonder if the bevelled top has stopped the ice constricting and put too much pressure on the outer wall of the butt.

**vegmandan** · 31-12-2010, 11:36 PM

I know what you mean but the others that burst are tapered from bottom to top so the ice should just squeeze out.
Cheap nasty Homebase quality me thinks.
I'm with you, I need some blue barrels.

**TonyF** · 01-01-2011, 09:46 AM

You can still use the water butts, use them as ring pot or if they're split longwise, use some paddling pool tape to repair them, then use them as pots, it's what I've done tho mine were damaged otherwise, they're a cheaper option for huge plant pots.

For an expansion thing either drop a cheap tennis ball in the water and let it float there or a piece of polystyrene which will absorb the pressure.

**Patchninja** · 01-01-2011, 09:59 AM

Dad always used to have balls floating in the butts! Now I know why!

**WrexTheDragon** · 01-01-2011, 10:05 AM

Lost two galvanised watering cans and it looks like I may have a small leak in my water butt.
Will have to wait, as its o still frozen solid.

**Mell** · 01-01-2011, 11:10 AM

Reuse as strawberry planters drill lots of big holes in them.

I have balls in mine to minimise the freeze but even they turned to ice. head room is the better preeventative in such extreme weathger IMHO

**WrexTheDragon** · 01-01-2011, 11:30 AM

I will try and flatten the bottom of the cans and solder it back. If not then it will be planters.

**Dottie** · 01-01-2011, 12:20 PM

I've got the large freebie blue barrels that once contained de-icer at Heathrow, and more recently the water board were giving away large white barrels, to allotment plot holders.

When I did my wander around the plot the other day, I noticed that there was still a big lump of ice in the barrels, but I hadn't considered that my watering cans would be ruined. I leave a plastic watering can in many of the barrels, to make life easy when watering plants close to the barrels. However having read the above posts, I'm thinking my watering cans could well be ruined? I'll have to wait for the ice in the barrels to defrost, so I may not know the result for a while yet.

**Aberdeenplotter** · 01-01-2011, 04:32 PM

A very hard lesson. We should all be draining down our barrels before winter

**Alison** · 01-01-2011, 05:19 PM

Originally posted by Aberdeenplotter View Post

A very hard lesson. We should all be draining down our barrels before winter

I collect most of my water over winter

Tend to give them a clean out in autumn but if they are properly constructed then they shouldn't burst as they're not pressurised and as the water expands it can rise back to the point where it enters. None of the lids on mine are air tight so again, space there. It sounds like some of the cheaper ones are not suitable for the temperatures over winter which is a worry although my IBC and Wickes / B&Q ones seem fine - thankfully.

**Mell** · 01-01-2011, 05:34 PM

Originally posted by Alison View Post

I collect most of my water over winter

.

Me too !

All mine are fine I have all sorts, but all except the open ones have head space. I've 2 thin plastic ones wilko, 3 or 4 blue thick ones and a white one that is pretty thick, plus a black one that I have no idea of its origin

**Dottie** · 01-01-2011, 06:35 PM

Head space sounds key, as I popped down to the lottie earlier and even 2 old plastic kitchen bins have not burst. They were frozen solid last week, but today all the ice has melted and no damage.

I'd actually gone down to see how my watering cans were doing, as I'd left them in the water barrels. Again all watering cans were fine, so even though they had been in a container that had frozen, no damage to the cheap plastic watering cans.

**Snadger** · 01-01-2011, 06:37 PM

I have a 1000 litre cube and about a dozen blue and green water butts. All have ice in them but non have split as far as I can see. I need the water for my chooks during the winter as the piped water to the site is switched off.
Even in the extreme cold spell we've had I've managed to chip my way through the ice (which was on the sides as well as top and bottom) and get enough water for the chooks.
The hole in the middle was so small at one point I had to use a pint glass to get the water out and fill there container. I could only do it for so long though until my hands were too numb to grip!

With the water that I harvest throughout the winter I can usually do without using the standpipe during the summer, apart from filling the kettle of course!

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