Fixing Broken Water Barrel
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Last fall I forgot to empty and flip one of our water barrels over for the winter. Once the freezing weather came along, the water froze, expanded and busted a hole in the bottom of the barrel. Since the hole was at the bottom of the barrel, I didn't notice until the first rain. I thought it was taking a long time to fill the watering can ;o)
This was the first water catcher we bought about 4 years ago or maybe more so I didn't want to just throw it out. I bought some 2 part epoxy, cleaned it up and sealed it back up. I wasn't sure it was going to hold, but we got a good rain that week and the barrel was full within 15mins and still holding ;o)
This time I won't forget to empty and flip it upside down in the fall during winter preparations. We don't have a place to store them, so storing them this way outside keeps them safe from freezing. We throw a couple firewood logs and/or rocks on top to keep them from blowing around.
After a few weeks, the epoxy seems to be holding and all looks good. No leaking at all! Now to repair the screen for the lid of the barrel that the dogs took for a Frisbee and chewed up ;o(
Tagged with: DIY Repair • Rain Catcher • Water Barrel
Filed under: Urban Homestead Plans
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We also left our rain barrel outside this winter, partially because I forgot and partially because I didn’t want to go to the effort of finding a place for it. I just made sure the spigot was open, so any residual water could flow out, and we didn’t have any problems.
I thought about leaving the spigot open but was afraid some water might build up and end up freezing? Glad you didn’t have any issues. I’m looking for some larger 250 Gallon food grade containers, the ones that sit in a metal pallet, for another water saving and semi auto watering project ;o)