🔨 resuscitating metal barrel water: polyethylene, clay, cold welding

Water - a very valuable and necessary resource, especially for truckers and owners gardens. It needs a lot: for drinking, washing dishes, washing and glaze. Water somewhere to be stored but not all can to equip the well or buy a large metal container. Many used for this purpose iron dvuhsotlitrovye barrels of oil, which will eventually fail. However, do not rush to dispose of leaky container. In this review HouseChief edition we will talk about how to give the old barrel with cracks and holes in the second life.

Iron barrel irreplaceable at their summer cottage
Iron barrel irreplaceable at their summer cottage

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  • 1 Use of plastic bags
    • 1.1 warning punctures
    • 1.2 Two is always better than one
    • 1.3 Advantages of using polyethylene
  • 2 Incorporation of cracks in the water reservoir
  • 3 As seal the hole in the metal cask
  • 4 A few words in conclusion

Use of plastic bags

A hole in a metal barrel, it's not a reason to throw it. The capacity can be used more than one year due to one rather simple means - plastic bags. It is not only easy, but also the most inexpensive option of restoration leaky containers. You will need to buy in hardware or home improvement store garbage bags volume of about 240 liters and weighing not less than 60 microns. It is necessary that polyethylene products exceeded the capacity for the volume and perimeter. The package may be more barrels, but allowed it to be less, but not more than 20-30 mm, since the polyethylene has the ability to stretch. As a result, the water will be stored in a dense polyethylene, and barrel design provides support for him.

The denser the package, the longer it will last
The denser the package, the longer it will last

It's worth knowing that is not enough to insert a plastic bag in a barrel and use the capacity further. There are some nuances that need to be taken into account that this method worked fine.

warning punctures

Polyethylene, it's still not a metal, and may break, no matter how tight it was. Therefore it is necessary to prepare the drum for re-use. The inner surface of a metal container must be cleaned of rust, loose paint solid pieces and burrs, which can damage the package. Barrel better handle brush on metal. While cleaning, check the surface of the palm container, and if land is no longer sharp, you can stop the process. Paint the barrel is not necessary inside.

Barrel is absolutely necessary to clean up from the sharp edges
Barrel is absolutely necessary to clean up from the sharp edges

After cleaning the inner surface of the barrel or instead of it, you can insure and use a cardboard or plastic. First, you need to cut out a circle corresponding to the inner diameter of the container, and a rectangle in which one side corresponds to the height of the barrel, and the second - its perimeter. So you can be sure that the sharp edges of the holes or cracks will not harm the plastic bag.

Two is always better than one

To be sure of the integrity of the restored capacity, you should use two simultaneous packet. It is necessary to enclose them one to one so that their corners on the side sealed completely coincided. Further, to arrange them on a flat and smooth surface from the bottom to the neck, thereby expelling air. Completely fail to get rid of it, but it's not scary.

Now we need to align the edges of the neck and seal the packages between a perimeter scotch tape at a distance of 100-150 mm from each other. Lower resulting double package in the barrel, the sleeve flexing edge (50-150 mm) to the outer surface of the metal container. Do not allow the packages were not in limbo, otherwise they will burst the weight of water. To wrapped edge is slid back into the container, it is necessary to fix a wide tape on the outer surface of the barrel along the entire perimeter.

It is desirable to select a large package to bend was more than 150 mm, and fixed with adhesive tape around the perimeter
It is desirable to select a large package to bend was more than 150 mm, and fixed with adhesive tape around the perimeter

Advantages of using polyethylene

When using packages for the restoration of the metal container, the water will be saved the entire holiday season, will remain clean and rust. This water can be used not only for irrigation, but also for washing and initial processing of vegetables. On winter packages it is recommended to remove, dry and stored in a folded state in a warm place. Polyethylene is lightweight, takes up little space and, due to their properties, can serve more 1-2 season. Same applies to the drums themselves. If you want them to serve you for many years, at the end of the season they need to be emptied, dried and stored in a dry shed.

Through the use of polyethylene in water will not rust
Through the use of polyethylene in water will not rust

Incorporation of cracks in the water reservoir

As we have said, the use of plastic bags - is the easiest and the restoration budget option leaky containers. But he was not the only one. Consider how the flow can be eliminated even in a metal cask.

The defective place on the outer wall surface of the drums to be treated with special glue or bitumen. Further, superimposed fiberglass flap or rubberized fabric, exceeding the size existing crack. The patch must be on top again well prosmolit or glue. For greater reliability on the inner surface of the barrel must fracture clean rust or paint process and also a resin or glue.

The hole is not exactly a sentence: we give a second life to a barrel
Patch of fiberglass and adhesive

If the crack has appeared in the bottom of the barrel, it can be repaired with the help of a clay solution. For this purpose, in a place where it will be installed capacity, it is necessary to dig a small hole slightly larger diameter barrel, and its pour the liquid clay. Thereafter, the empty container is immersed in the solution. When the clay is dry, it forms a fairly thick crust through which the liquid has almost emerges. Such a method will give a cracked barrel a few more years of life.

As seal the hole in the metal cask

Apart from a dense package of polyethylene, there are two methods available to close up a small hole in the garden barrel. To one of them require a bolt and nut, the two washers and the corresponding diameter rubber sheet. At the hole in the wall of the tank on both sides are superimposed rubber gaskets and washers, then threaded bolt and nut, this kind of patch is well clamped.

A simple solution to eliminate leaks - a bolt with nut, washer and rubber gasket
A simple solution to eliminate leaks - a bolt with nut, washer and rubber gasket

If the barrel formed a big hole, you need to take a large diameter bolt and washer cut from sheet metal. Gasket is perfect raw rubber, providing a good seal. Before gluing it is best to warm up, or to carry out work in a warm room.

Minor holes in the barrel can also be repaired with the help of "Cold weld". This two-component composition having excellent sealing characteristics and high adhesion with any well-cleaned surface. "Cold welding" is the perfect solution for the elimination of small cracks in the barrel. But for most guarantees, they should be treated and with the outside, and the inside of the tank.

Incorporation hole "cold welding"
Incorporation hole "cold welding"

Recommendation! Repair metal barrel for water in the country with the help of gas and electric - a meaningless exercise. The fact that the container wall is quite thin and, as a result, they simply burn through, the holes become larger and the barrel can be simply discarded.

A few words in conclusion

A hole or crack in a metal barrel for water, it is still not a sentence. Taking advantage of the advice given above, you can easily give the tank a second life. In an extreme case, if the barrel will not revive, it can always be used as a dumpster. If our data has been helpful to you, vote, please article and express your opinion in the form of comments. Or maybe you have your repair options barrel? Share with us your experiences.