Tap a hole in plastic barrel?

[tommu56]

Use a bulk head fitting from us plastic or a myers hub (metal electrical fitting)

you will have to fish some of the parts in through the 2" bung and screw thm together.

link bulk head
Hayward® BFA Series Industrial Bulkhead Fittings - US Plastic Corporation

myers hub link
http://www.crouse-hinds.com/crousehinds/pdf/CH62318C-0077.pdf

i like the myers hubs because they are metal if that isn't a problem

tom

 

[Travelover]

turn the barrel upside down...now the hole you need is at the bottom

See? Now you know why I ask questions here.

 

[Travelover]

..................... Another trick would be to put a threaded fitting on a length of PVC and put it inside the barrel, coming through the barrel, and put a fitting on the new fitting to secure it and then unscrew the pipe that you used to insert the fitting. Piece of cake, if you know what I mean.

JJ, I'm a little slow, but this sounds interesting. I can't visualize what kind of fittings you'd use - would it be a flange?

 

[Tig]

I had a water barrel once. I let rain water in one hole and I stuck a 10' hose in the other. I had a clamp around the one end of the hose so it would not fall in the barrel and I would push the hose in up to the clamp and leave it that way. Nice and tidy. When the barrel was full and I wanted to use the water, I would put my thumb over end of the hose and pull it out. That way the hose would be primed and it would siphon off the water in the barrel. It was a simple setup.
It worked fine but it was kinda slow as any gravity feed system will be. Probably better if the barrel were elevated a few feet or maybe use a bigger hose and some sort of valve instead a thumb.

 

[J_J]

JJ, I'm a little slow, but this sounds interesting. I can't visualize what kind of fittings you'd use - would it be a flange?

Any fitting that would have a flange with a washer that you would place in the barrel and guide it to the hole in the barrel, using a removable PVC pipe. Then put another washer on the fitting coming out the barrel and then a nut to tighten. Leak proof and good to go.

Tig is right

The hose trick will work pretty good also. Just put about 8 ft of hose in the barrel, and fully submerge the hose and place you finger over one end and pull out about 4 ft of hose. As long as the surface of the water is above the exit point, the barrel will drain. If air gets to the water entry point in the barrel, you will lose your siphon effect.

I have done both of these, and they work.

A lot of the 2 in plugs in the top of the barrel, have a 3/4 in threaded plug also. If you lay the barrel on the side, it will also work for you. You will need to make a stand for the barrel if using in the side position. Just screw in a 3/4 spigot, and loosen the top 3 in threaded bung for air.. That barrel fulley loaded will weigh about 460 lbs.


http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/pr...SPlastic&category_name=21325&product_id=14667

 

[MikeD74T]

Go to a marine supply & get thru hull fittings.
Type: Thru-Hulls MikeD74T

 

[J_J]

Go to a marine supply & get thru hull fittings.
Type: Thru-Hulls MikeD74T

The above fittings would work fine. You just have to find a way to hold on to the fitting as you insert it from the inside of the barrel, use rubber washer on both sides for seal. You can grab the fitting from the outside of the barrel by using inside pipe pliers, that grip the inside of the pipe when you squeeze the handles.

 

[Travelover]

Thanks for all the good suggestions, especially the inexpensive ones.

I'm helping a group plant trees in a local park and my plan is to put the barrels on a small trailer and haul water to the site. I have a 12 volt pump with hose fittings that will hopefully push the water through a 100 or so feet of hose to water the trees initially. I'm not going to finish the project until I get back from vacation in the middle of April. I'll post back on what worked for me.

Thanks, again.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

We took a 55 gallon drum and laid it on its side. I didn't like how slow the faucets drained the tank as we used it to water our deer. We had a hole in the top (side of the barrel but it is on its side so the side becomes the top) and the hole is big enough for us to reach into the tank. We ended up putting a 1.25" ball vale off the end with a hose attached to that for filling tanks. I will take a pic of it later and post it for you. The ball valve attaches to a flange that we bolted on to the tank (I can get pics of that too). We put it in a 17 cubic feet lawn trailer that we pull behind the atv. I built a simple cradle to hold the tank in the trailer. We have been using this setup for 10 years so far. The only thing I would do different would be to build a hinged top door for filling so we could seal it and latch it closed for transport as right now we just fold the plastic but it allows some water to splash out and onto the driver from time to time.

 

[2manyrocks]

I've drilled a hole in the bottom of a 55 gal plastic tank and inserted a fitting like this. As I recall, I think I duct tapes the inside fitting to a stick or piece of conduit to get it started on the threads on the fitting. Then I twisted the outside fitting tight and pulled the stick out. The problem with this is having the fitting sticking out of the bottom of the barrel so my barrel has to sit on a frame instead of sitting directly on the ground. I use it for a sprayer rig on my tractor so it has worked in that application.

For all the trouble, I think it's better to lay the barrel on its side and use the two factory bungs. You would need a couple of wedges to keep it in place on the trailer and then strap it down securely.