1000 liter IBC water tanks

Has anyone any experience of using these instead of the much smaller garden water butts?



The one I'm looking at is advertised as having had sweet glucose syrup in it previously, but fully washed out.

I have a nice space out of sight to put it which is also about two feet higher than the garden, which should help water pressure.

Is there a good way of connecting it up so once it's full the overflow goes back into the drain?

 

Hi,

You can use two drain pipe diverters or similar, one to fill it, and one in reverse mode, just below to act as the overflow.

The most obvious problem with a tank like that is it being clear will soon fill up with Algae and due to the small opening and its size /weight, will be very difficult to clean out.

Might be better going with a couple of the typical 200+ltr green butts...?

 

Would that be such a bad thing? I suppose I could paint the tank black if it was.

 

As long as its just for outdoor plants, not seeds and seedling in the greenhouse, it should be ok in that sense.

What you might find a problem is in the outlet delivery hose, depending on its diameter, it might get gummed up by the algae as it can form a thick mess.

Otherwise give it a try....

 

I've checked on the United Utilities website and 1000 litres would cost around £3.50 on the meter, that's including the waste charge, so it should be worthwhile in the long term. I hate putting the sprinkler on the lawn knowing the meter is just spinning round.

Anyone know what the water pressure will be like if the tank is full and then through a regular garden hose onto the lawn, 2 feet lower and 30 feet distance from the tank.

 

We use ibc's a lot at work containing resin, we get them in clear white or black, maybe worth while asking if you'd prefer black.

 

Well that's a lot of wasted time, effort and money. The water pressure is very poor so not up to doing the job I had in mind. It just trickles out of the end of the hose pipe so nowhere near good enough to run a sprinkler.

 

What's to stop you hooking up a pump powered by solar?

 

@CanadianLori mentions a pump would help, but to gain the pressure for a sprinkler you would need a strong pump that needs a lot more power than the typical the garden solar system.

A typical garden sprinkler is designed for mains water pressure of around 1 -2 Bar which means your tank needs to be 10 to 20 mtrs above your garden !

Alls not lost though, its sounds ideal for use with a seep hose.

 

I'll probably just scrap the project as another system would require further investment of time and money and like I posted up thread, 1000 litres costs around £3.50 on the water meter and there's no guarantee the tank would have any water in it just when you needed it.

 

I should have been clearer. I was thinking of a big pump run from an inverter which is powered by a solar panel. Not cheap but it'a moot point now anyway.

 

3rds for a solar panel, inverter, leisure battery and pump set up, I have one at the allotment, even have sockets and a travel kettle running off it.

Fancy? Maybe.. but my tank is only stacked on 1 pallet and I'm a sucker for a decent cup of tea. It's a God send when things get too dry and look thirsty..like myself.

 

plenty on FB Marketplace, £20-50 inc black and blue

 

How heavy are they when empty? Could a couple of people maneouvre them? I need to start capturing some of the rain we get here in South Wales, and they look great for taking rain off the greenhouse. I need something tidier for the house drain pipes, so will probably eventually get one of those fake terracotta ones that I had in my last place.