IBC metal totes for storing/transporting firewood

[Diggin It]

There is an industrial plant near me that will give you all the IBC Tote tanks that you want for free.

And yet the one I have had a sticker on it with an 800 to call for pickup. Never called it, so I don't know if there is any charge to have them picked up.

 

[newbury]

Found 7 on CL priced at $40 each without the tank. I don't need the tank. Does that sound like a decent price?

My FEL will lift 1500 or so lbs. Will it handle a tote full of wood?

I've got two areas I split my time in - near Tupelo, MS and Washington, DC.
In Tupelo I find the totes and cages for $30 and up routinely (look on facebook, under totes).
In DC they are often $100 and up.
I've never looked for the cages alone.

 

[newbury]

<snip>
Heating with firewood is very inefficient from a handling view point. You cut the tree down, cut the wood into rounds, split them, stack them, move the wood into the house etc. You touch it way too many times. The cages let me move them from the sunny location on the south side of the barn to the winter storage spot next to the garage quickly and easily. I can move the entire winter's supply in an hour. It used to take a day or more using a wheel barrow!

I disagree - If heating is to keep the body warm think of it this way - You go out and work your butt off getting, moving, stacking, splitting, stacking, moving the wood. By then you have spent many hours not sitting inside needing heat!

 

[California]

Typical Northern California prices, copied from a CL ad, other vendors near identical:

275 Gallon dirty non-food grade-$50
275 Gallon dirty Food Grade-$100
275 Gallon CLEAN Food Grade-$150

Off-topic - I recently got a clean replacement liner for my watering trailer, $25. That was from a beer brewery where he had to return the bare cages to his mash supplier. He had a large number of naked liners for sale.

 

[aczlan]

I am fortunate, I have a friend who works someplace where they get rid of them frequently. They contain organic fertilizer, but since I am not using the liner, I don't really care. I cut them right at the top and bottom of the liner where the curve from the wall to the top or bottom begins. I cut around three sides and then I can fold the center section onto itself and the whole thing ends up being about the size of the top and 8 in tall. It fits nicely in a dumpster that way as I don't have any other use for them.

Aaron Z

 

[BoylermanCT]

Wish I had access to free ones! A scan of Craigslist in CT shows them for $125, $150 and $180.

 

[ultrarunner]

^^^ Yep, me too as they are what California posted around here...

 

[mikester]

I use mine for a water tank for a bunch of fruit trees in the lower part of my property. Found out it won't self support when full of water though, so I had to improvise with some 1/2 conduit.

Be careful - before you buy the totes with the liners make sure you know what was in them before use. Read the MSDS sheets. Some very nasty chemicals get stored in totes and the last thing you want is some known carcinogen in your water barrel or ending up in your well water.

Dont believe anything the seller says, read the label yourself.

FYI companies using these totes have to pay to disposed of the used tote. Hazardous materials are expensive to get rid of. Lots of unscrupulous sellers out there.

 

[DocDryden]

When I stack my wood in my baskets , I try to keep the wood tilted on a slight angle away from the center of the basket.
My hope is that any rain water that drips on the wood would just drip off towards the outside

 

[goeduck]

Be careful - before you buy the totes with the liners make sure you know what was in them before use. Read the MSDS sheets. Some very nasty chemicals get stored in totes and the last thing you want is some known carcinogen in your water barrel or ending up in your well water.

Dont believe anything the seller says, read the label yourself.

FYI companies using these totes have to pay to disposed of the used tote. Hazardous materials are expensive to get rid of. Lots of unscrupulous sellers out there.

I was told when I fell off the turnip truck that the only thing stored in these totes was harmless vegetable oil. You mean I was lied to? :confused2: :confused2:

You make a very good point :thumbsup:

 

[Diggin It]

The one I have was labelled as some kind of soap for settling coal dust. I flushed what was left a couple of times and got some suds, but not much. It's been filled and drained a couple of times now.

 

[joeyd]

I got mine at a surplus yard for $25 each and they kept the tank when I told them I didn't need them. I've been using them for 4 years now with no problems. I do cover them in the late fall before the wet weather and snow starts. I put a piece of 15# felt paper on the top then cover and wrap the sides with an 8x10 HF tarp.

 

[Jeff F.]

I left the tank in. I cut a hole on opposing sides for stacking and retrieving wood. I know I don’t get as much in but my equipment can still lift it.

 

[Oldoak]

I was told when I fell off the turnip truck that the only thing stored in these totes was harmless vegetable oil. You mean I was lied to? :confused2: :confused2:

You make a very good point :thumbsup:

Lied to? Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on what was really in them. And a label doesn't always tell everything if the totes had a history of a secondary use other than the original supplier.

I would say it all depends upon the source from which the used totes are acquired form.

 

[California]

I would say it all depends upon the source from which the used totes are acquired from.

I likely have the cleanest liner in this thread. I got it from a local craft-beer brewer. It had contained hops mash (thick pulp) and it was already immaculate with a very very faint beer scent. His supplier wanted just the cage back because they sent each shipment in new liners.

I had to buy that replacement liner because my original liner became brittle from the sun. That original tote had held liquid fertilizer, shipped to the farmer who gave me the tote, so it was harmless for watering new orchard trees.

I have another 650 gallon tank that I was going to set up at the back of the orchard for hose-watering a few new trees, before the year we planted 125 replacement trees and I built the tote trailer. The 650 gallon tank was $50 from a municipal water treatment plant and had held the chlorine (bleach) that is added to tapwater. They explained that bleach is so reactive that any residue would have become neutralized in the year since they retired and cleaned that tank. I rinsed it on lawn by the barn without harming the lawn, so what I was told seems accurate.

But the first tank I used to water new trees smelled nasty even though it looked clean when I got it. I rinsed that one many times before watering with it.

 

[3Ts]

I rinsed that one many times before watering with it.

What did you do with the rinse water? I've got a similar situation and haven't figured out what to do with the rinse water so right now, it's just sitting there unused.

 

[California]

What did you do with the rinse water? I've got a similar situation and haven't figured out what to do with the rinse water

Anything doubtful I pour on the grass strip down the middle of my driveway. So far I haven't hurt the grass, but damage there would be less of a problem than anywhere else.

 

[rhunt]

I purchased one of these and made a man-cage from it. Before I removed the plastic container, I accidently let some of the liquid that had originally been in it drip on my concrete floor in my shop. It started to eat the concrete! Flushed with water to de-activate the liquid before it ate a sizeable spot in the floor. The labels had all been painted over with heavy black paint so could not determine what was originally in it. Paid $50.00 bucks for it and was glad to get it. They make great man cages, all galvanized. Just cut a piece of plywood to fit the floor so as to have a flat floor to stand on. Bob

 

[otlski]

Wish I had access to free ones! A scan of Craigslist in CT shows them for $125, $150 and $180.

A few years ago, a fellow TBN member and neighbor pick up some at Toce tires in Torrington for $25 each. They came with the bladders with the residual remains of two-part tire sealer. So that had to be dealt with. He said to go when they are not busy.

 

[otlski]

Wintertime hint. I put mine up on 6X6s to prevent them from freezing to the ground. Only use the steel bottoms, no plastic.