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How to prevent leaking butts.

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JayG:
Now that I've got your attention I should point out that I am of course referring to plastic water butts.  ;)

I've got a pair of square-ish 'compact' 100L water butts connected to my greenhouse gutters, and noticed that one of them was leaking. Turns out that over the 6 years I've had them the lugs on the black plastic bases which are supposed to help keep them in position had created dents in the butts which are now starting to split and cause leaks.

I've sawn off the top of the lugs with a hacksaw to try to save the butts from further damage, although obviously the horse may have already bolted...

As for the split, any sort of repair paste or glue for polypropylene is very expensive, so I used a miniature electric soldering iron to 'weld' the split together, using a tiny piece of PP cut from the 'pontil mark' in the centre of the base to reinforce the weld. Up to now it's not leaking, but time will tell how successful the repair has been - worth a try given that replacement butts would cost a minimum of £40 per pair.

Mine are marked Sankey on the bottom, with a 'PP' indicating they are made from polypropylene. Yours may be made from a different material, and the base better designed, but given that it's a fairly simple modification it's probably worth a look to check that yours aren't going to fail prematurely.

8doubles:
A nut and bolt with a couple of washers and a squirt of silicon sealant has always done the job for me.
Being a hoarder there is alway stuff in the shed to ' make do' ! :)

Lardman:
I used pink grip to fill and seal a split in mine 3 years ago, so far so good.  It may be better to cut a patch from some other plastic (fizzy drink / water) and stick from the inside - depends on the scale of the damage.

Paul Plots:
JayG I have been considering my leaking butts for more than 2 years. I have three large blue drums (it might even be 4). They were once joined together with pipe of some sort but when we bought the bungalow they had been disconnected from each other and not carefully so each was left with a jagged / torn hole where once there had been a neat connection.

As I had two green water butt to put into service the blue one were put to one side.. Now I have more time and want to re-site the blue butts and bring them back into use. I may well give your technique a go. I had thought about trying various glues and patches.... It's another job that needs doing.

(Getting there slowly)

JayG:
Paul: it probably hardly needs saying that if you search for 'weld plastic' on Youtube you will find several instructional videos, although one or two of the practitioners appear to be considerably more cack-handed than others!  :ohmy:  :lol:

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