From: muratlanne@gmail.com   
      
   "David Billington"  wrote in message news:vgp536$1okf$1@dont-email.me...   
      
   A local farm supply has 2000 litre plastic screw top barrels that were   
   used to ship orange squash concentrate, they sell them for water butts.   
   I had a look at them as a replacement for my mother's galvanised steel   
   water butt that was beyond repair but they were too tall, taking the lid   
   off they still smelled of orange concentrate. I used a black 1000 litre   
   IBC container in the end. Another local guy used to sell smaller barrels   
   for water butts that had been used to ship vinegar in.   
   -----------------------------------------   
      
   I bought a blue barrel with attached lid for fire fighting water storage out   
   back. It had held coffee concentrate that still flavored water after several   
   soapy water flushes. Plastic fittings for the bungs are easy to find, except   
   for one that seals around a pipe reaching to the bottom, so I had to hang it   
   horizontal from shed roof beams.   
      
   The water refills the garden sprayers modified with sink spray hoses that   
   serve as brush fire extinguishers in summer and for showering with water   
   heated on the wood stove in winter.   
      
   I made bulkhead fittings to convert trash cans to rain barrels by lathe   
   threading the barbed end of a pipe to hose adapter. The o ring seal is on   
   the outside, the inside needs a reinforcing washer to spread the lateral   
   pull of a connected hose. For convenience the outside hose is a clear vinyl   
   tube long enough to reach and attach to the carrying handle, with an in-line   
   plastic garden hose valve on the end. The hose extension lets the barrel   
   hide in the bushes. The covering strainer is 1/4" hardware cloth formed into   
   a volcano shape, a cone with a crater in the top, plus landscape fabric or   
   window screen to filter roof debris and block mosquitos.   
      
   The fixed gutter downspout ends above barrel height to attach an accordion   
   flex tube to feed the barrel in summer and a straight down section in   
   winter. If you don't mind the appearance the flex tube works fine in winter   
   too.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)