# Water Butt tap fixing



## caretaker (22 Apr 2015)

*I have one slim line water butt behind my greenhouse and decided to get one more simple so far.
I found one for £10 but it has no opening at the top except 2 bung holes.
First hole I manage to put a drain pipe from my workshop roof to collect the rain water, this works ok.
This is where it gets tricky, as the 2 butts are of different size old butt has a tap on it, I would like to fix a tap on the new butt.
I said it is going to get tricky, how will I fix the new tap, there is no way I can put the nut on inside as there is no lid.*


----------



## Chrispy (22 Apr 2015)

Syphon the water out though the hole in the top, use a proper garden tap screwed to the side of the shed.


----------



## Phil Pascoe (22 Apr 2015)

:? How do you start/restart the syphon?


----------



## lurker (22 Apr 2015)

Suck it and see


----------



## blackrodd (22 Apr 2015)

Cut a hole in the top and get yer arm down there!
Rodders


----------



## Chrispy (23 Apr 2015)

phil.p":16qgpvhw said:


> :? How do you start/restart the syphon?


Easy, once there is some water in the butt connect a hose to the new tap turn it on raise the other end of hose and fill with water, when you're sure it's full and no air locks put thumb over end and turn off tap, remove hose and test, it should work fine until it runs out of water that is!


----------



## Phil Pascoe (23 Apr 2015)

lurker":vwggn1ue said:


> Suck it and see



If the tap is lower than the butt (which it needs to be) I wouldn't want to have to lie on the ground to suck the tap.


----------



## Eric The Viking (23 Apr 2015)

Probably not a great idea to actually suck it in this case, as all sorts of "stuff" will be washed off your garage roof into the butt (mainly from pigeons, which aren't called 'aerial rats' for nothing).

Materials: 

a decent length of clear 3/4" or 1" piping, say about 10ft, from a farm supplier, 
a funnel, 
an old wire tea-strainer or small kitchen sieve, 
some cable ties, and 
four basic coathooks (I assume it's close to a wall, otherwise you might nead a board as well to fix to):

It helps if the water butt is up on breeze blocks, otherwise you can't syphon out the bottom half.

Method: 
Arrange the pipe so it reaches the bottom (minus about 3" to allow for the crud that always accumulates down there), fix one coathook close to the butt, very slightly above it, and tie off the pipe so that the end in the butt can't escape easily. Fix another one upside down near the bottom of the butt and a bit further away from it, and tie off the hose there next. 

That's yer basic syphon, the next bit is the 'tap': 

Take the pipe on, up again to a normal-way-up hook, close-to but slightly above the level of top of the tank, AND ABOVE THE FIRST HOOK slightly. Allow enough pipe length for it to go back down to the height at which you want to fill watering cans. Don't tie the pipe off on the hook this time as you need to unhook it in operation. 

Finally fix a last coathook, upside-down (probably) and about four inches above the top of any watering can you want to fill. 

Make a 1" loop with a cable tie. Tie this tightly onto the pipe, about 9" from the open end, as a hanging loop, and to keep it in place when you're filling cans (fourth coathook!).

To set it up you need the funnel: hook up the loose end of the hose to the highest hook. Pour tapwater in until it's as full as it will go. It should settle out with the U nearest the tank full and the level in the hose will be at the level of the water in the butt (It doesn't matter if the last loop ends up full or empty). 

Operation is simple: put the end of the hose in the watering can. If it's been recently used, that will start things going. If it's dried up a bit, the last "n" may have emptied, so unhook that 'n' and lay it on the ground (which will restart the syphon without any extra effort).

To stop the flow, just lift up the end of the hose and hang it up, and replace the last loop on the same hook. It should stop when the end is level with the top of the water remaining in the water butt. The 'double-U' is so you can almost always restart the syphon without fuss.

No taps, almost no maintenance (occasional jug of water if the syphon does empty), and cheap.

Finessing it: 

1. The tea strainer stops crud getting into the watering can and blocking the rose. 
2. Depth gauge: cable-tie a split wine cork or a scrap of expanded polystyrene round a garden cane at the end as a float (should go through one of the holes) (you might need slightly more than one cork). 
3. Anti-malarial: As ours is close to the house, I usually put a tablespoon of engine oil in our water butt at the start of the season as it floats, and suffocates mosquito larvae (I expect there's some cooking oil you could use instead).

I'm only slightly joking about Malaria (apparently it is heading north as the weather warms, and they do get occasional cases round Heathrow from mosquitoes that are carried in planes), but I hate having breeding sites near the house, as chasing them round the bedroom at 2AM is hopeless now I need glasses permanently.


----------



## caretaker (23 Apr 2015)

Chrispy":1sv02izg said:


> Syphon the water out though the hole in the top, use a proper garden tap screwed to the side of the shed.


That seems to be the answer I will do that.
Thanks for all the help
Reg


----------



## Phil Pascoe (23 Apr 2015)

For the cost of a bibcock, a back plate and a hose tail you could just about buy another butt - with a tap.


----------



## nanscombe (23 Apr 2015)

Off the wall suggestions coming up ...

1) I would think about mounting a water butt tap onto separate plate, plastic or aluminium, using the nut provided.

Make a hole in the butt large enough to accept the back of the tap.

Affix plate to the butt using self tapping screws, putting a seal of mastic between the butt and plate.



2) Get yourself a fish tank siphon for a couple of quid.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-8M-Aquarium ... 0927854126

3) Cut the top of the water butt off so you can get inside to install the tap, then fix it back together. If it's above water line it wouldn't need to be watertight.

4) Cut off lid, install tap (as 3 above) and make a new, possibly wooden, lid for it.


----------



## Jonzjob (23 Apr 2015)

Drill a thread tapping size hole near the bottom, buy a decent metal butt tap and just screw it in. If the butt isn't paper thin it will work and if you want the braces to go with the belt then just smack some silly-cone around the threads of the tap as you screw it in. Simple solution 8) 8) me-thinks 

All 3 of ours came with the tap, all be it cheepo plastic thing, replaced with metal ones, and a fixing that goes in line with the draipipe down pipe. Once it's full it stops filling =D> =D>


----------



## DrPhill (25 Apr 2015)

At risk of diverting this thread a little, though it seems to have gone quiet.....

I want to join up a few water butts. Each butt will have a tap. the tap will have a pipe attached, which will join into a common pipe to feed a tap. 

What pipe should I use, and what fittings? I like the idea of the metal taps and matching fittings. Has anyone on this forum done similar?

Phill


----------



## blackrodd (25 Apr 2015)

Wickes do these kits, any good for you?---

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Garden ... /c/1000759
Regards Rodders


----------



## Lons (25 Apr 2015)

I did it once years ago using a plastic tap / plastic nut on the back. There was no lid but a hole in the top for a drainpipe. Couldn't get my arm down so got a length of thin wood drilled a hole just large enough for the nut snugly and put a couple of thin strips of gaffa tape on the edges, drilled a tight hole through the butt directly below the top hole, shoved the stick / nut down and got my missus to turn the tap so it threaded on to the nut. Was fiddly but managed it and when tight just wiggled the wood off. Tap was facing up but just eased clockwise until correct and it never leaked in the years we used it.

Drawback was that I had to use a couple of bends on the drainpipe as it now had to come to the front of the butt however off a shed so ok. 
*However in hindsight, I would have cut a large hole in the top for access and made a lid!* :lol: 

cheers
Bob


----------



## DrPhill (26 Apr 2015)

blackrodd":1lg1dzyh said:


> Wickes do these kits, any good for you?---
> 
> http://www.wickes.co.uk/Products/Garden ... /c/1000759
> Regards Rodders



Thanks Rodders,
Interesting selection, and I may end up using this style of connector but it is not what I had in mind. Perhaps I should describe what I had in mind.......

The standard style for linking water butts is at the top, so that one flows into the next, but that only solves the 'filling problem'. I also have a 'dispensing problem', in that the area where the butts will go has limited access, so pushing to the furthest in the row with a watering can will not be easy. 

My idea was to link the taps with piping, so that the butts all empty to the same point. Fortunately the storage point is a few feet above the usage point. The arrangement would empty all butts at the same time (maintaining the head of pressure for longer) and also allow the butts to refill at the same rate. 

I could use the linking kits at the bottom of the barrels but that would require two holes at the bottom of some barrels - extra risk of leaks. Having a tap in each barrel would mean that I could isolate one, or even turn them all off if I wanted to add another without losing all the water.


----------



## Eric The Viking (26 Apr 2015)

Regards cutting holes, linking barrels, etc.: You really don't need to use fixed piping. If you link the barrels with a loose U of hosepipe it will still work just as well as a pipe (best to use a large-ish bore though, and avoid it being crushed), but you can link near the bottom just as well as at the top as the pressure is really low - 32ft of water is one atmosphere/bar. Old inner tubes make good washers - you can make whatever size you need, and they rarely perish because they're clamped-up. Even window putty works too as mastic, as it's such low pressure.

The one thing that puts me off taps is that you really need the rotating "cone-valve" valve type (like the ones on beer barrels and older gas taps), as they usually have a much smaller bore restriction than traditional screw-down-washer taps, and are less likely to leak (as long as the flow is reasonably clean. We have a plastic one on our water butt, which I've never managed to stop dripping. The problem is mitigated because it's up on breeze blocks, over a gully (it's fed from the corresponding drainpipe). 

Aside: I was in our local Wickes last Saturday, sadly. The young chap in the building materials section didn't know what Portland Cement was (convinced it was a trade name). 

The place always depresses me: bored/ignorant/rude staff, poor range of materials, little choice and poor quality. I wanted some 6mm studding - only in 500mm lengths (why???), and twice the price of Toolstation (same owners) which in turn is seriously expensive to start with.

I'm sure people don't realise how much %age profit comes from the small items (to be fair, B+Q is worse in that regard).

We are so used to paying inflated prices, or seeing the price hidden in general builders' costs...


----------



## Phil Pascoe (26 Apr 2015)

Swmbo found the fittings she wanted (I was in hospital) at B&Q - £3.98 each. I told her not to buy them, to go to a locally owned place. She moaned like hell, but went there. Ten for less than £14. She's getting smarter all the time - that was the last time at B&Q.


----------



## woodpig (26 Apr 2015)

I've not seen a water butt without a lid, do you have a link? Might stop the slugs drowning in mine...


----------



## blackrodd (26 Apr 2015)

DrPhil, you only need one linking pipe, at 2", or 3" up from the bottom for sludge or crud.
4 barrels in a line will need a short pipe each, at the front, an elbow on each end pipe and a tee on the centre ones,
Joined together across the front, and fit one bib, tap where you like in the run of pipe.
The water will find its own equal level in each barrel, and you will need an overflow equal to you're expected flow rate on any one barrel at the top.
HTH Regards Rodders


----------



## nanscombe (26 Apr 2015)

I guess that if you were linking water butts together you could try replacing any (leaky) taps with tank connectors and treat the task as a plumbing job and use pvc plumbing pipe, connectors and taps instead.

At one end of any pipe you could fit a hose type tap fitting with a jubilee clip, or a proper tap, to connect a hosepipe to.

Screwfix - Straight Tank Connector 21.5mm Pack of 5 £3.29


----------

