| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| tawny owl |
Water butts, recycled juice containersAnyone know where I might be able to get really big juice containers for use as water butts? Have Googled, but only come up with the Natural Collection (all its links are broken), and the Green Shop in Hereford (no sign of them on its site).TIA Tawny |
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| Bugs |
Taaa daaa www.thetankexchange.com
but how you get hold of them before they have been tarted up and priced up, I dunno... anything else you could use? I'm interested too. |
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| judith |
I'm racking my brains, but I can't remember where ours came from - I'll ask OH this evening. We do have a spare, but getting it to Hampshire might be a bit of a problem. | ||
| tawny owl |
I'd just spotted this one too, but aren't they dear? I mean, I can get a 190 L water butt from Bournemouth & West Hampshire water, complete with lid, tap, stand and water diverter for 30 quid including delivery, and here they are selling a used container with no stand or diverter for 27. As for the giant tanks, 163 quid, ouch! You certainly don't save water to save money! |
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| tawny owl |
Ye-es - big as our van is, I think we might struggle. Thanks for the implied offer though, and any info most welcome. |
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| judith |
You do if you are on a water meter 
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| tawny owl |
Woo-hoo! I've found some on ebay! | ||
| wellington womble |
Jack's in colchester used to sell them, but I don't even know if they are still there - Tahir might know - it's his neck of the woods(ish)
Also, try the local council, ours sold off a load of water butts and composters cheap in a car park sale, manned by local sixth formers - the still do composters (one of which I have) but I can't find the water butts (which I kicking myself for not buying at the time!) |
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| tawny owl |
Our council doesn't seem to. The water authority (Bournemouth and South Hampshire) do, and in fact, for a normal water butt, their price is quite good - £30 including lid, stand, tap and rain diverter. Anyhow, I'll see how this ebay thing goes (anyone thinking of buying it from the chap in Poole, I saw it first!  ), and if I don't get it, then he seems to have lots for sale at £49.99 (1000 L, so about 4 normal water butts).
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| Lozzie |
OK I won't, I promise 
L |
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| Rikki |
Have been talking to my Father who has a 300 gal one he got from someone in Sleaford a quarter of a century ago - he thinks he saw it advertised in the Farmers' Weekly. Anyway, he says you can have problems with the UV making the plastic go brittle and cracking in a hard frost. He's covered his with an old tarpaulin to protect it from the sun, and wrapped it round with polystyrene to give it a bit of insulation. Ice is "plastic" and provided freezing occurs slowly the ice will flow to fill a vessel: it is only rapid freezing that bursts tanks etc.
He also has his overflow fitted with a pipe on the inside that goes down an inch so that when a heavy down pour over fills the butt it syphons out, cleaning off any scum that may be floating. The outside overflow pipe needs to have a good drop down to the drain to get a good flow of water, and it mustn't be too large a diameter - say 15mm - or it won't actually start syphoning. |
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| sue ievers |
Ours came from our local builders merchant I believe.
sue |
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| tawny owl |
Thanks, Rikki - that's useful info.
Sue, never even thought of builder's merchants - will have a look today. Tawny |
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| Ferdinand |
Storage TanksTry LBS Horticulture (not on web, use phone 01282873333). They sell 1520 ltr storage tanks 2m high and 1.07m across, for £120 ex VAT. |
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| Ferdinand |
Hi again,
Just realised that the LBS tank is more expensive / per litre storage than the tank from the 'Chap from Poole' who apparently charges £49.99 for 1000 ltr. Having given you a contact, will you reciprocate and let me have contact details for the chap in Poole, please ? You say he has lots. I think his size of tank would fit more easily where I intend to place it. I grow orchids and rainwater is essential. Thanks. |
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| tawny owl |
Hi Ferdinand Yep, he's called Lancio (I think) and the number is 07916 101919. I didn't unfortunately get the one advertised and I haven't got round to buying one yet. There are masses on the auction site - try putting in 'water tank 1000' to avoid all the kiddie things. Obviously most of them are local pickup only and the vast majority are in the north, as far as I can see. HTH Tawny |
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| tawny owl |
No, actually, it's Lance, and he seems to have black ones in now (which I think might be better, as they'd probably absorb sunlight and keep the water a bit warmer) e.g.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=1269&item=7533730990&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW |
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| judyofthewoods |
There used to be a supplier locally for those large juice tanks, but they say that they are now returned to be reused, so they are like gold dust now.
One source of free or possibly cheap 1000L tanks is food additive tanks from food processing plants. My local cheese factory give them away. They containes rennet and food colouring. Other factories might charge a small amount, but still good value. You have to collect. My neighbour managed to get one on his roof rack with a couple of planks to slide it up and down. They are roughly cubical and come on a palette base. I would recomend a cover of blask polythene, e.g. a silage bag, to protect from the sun. I've had milky white plastic go brittle in the sun, but all the black poly, however old, is still fine. |
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| ButteryHOLsomeness |
Re: Water butts, recycled juice containers
have you considered contacting local schools? they have all sorts of catering size containers that i'm sure they'd be more than happy to give you if it's just to be used on the garden it won't matter if it gets a few bugs or leaves in it. simply cut the tops of the containers, weight them down and set them in your garden to collect water! |
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| ButteryHOLsomeness |
oops! when you said juice containers i thought you meant something like a 10 litre bottle! 
still for those of us that don't have room for a huge containers using catering size stuff is still useful my grandmother used to leave frisbees upturned in her lawn. these filled with rainwater and the birds always had a nice splash in the shade of a tree in hot weather 
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| tawny owl |
Never mind - the intention was good! I'd have these myself though, as I usually buy stuff in catering-pack sizes from the cash & carry. |
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| tawny owl |
Good idea - I'll give that a go (when I get vaguely organised enough to do so!!). Ferdinand might beat me to it at this rate - because of all the rain lately, it's kind of gone down the list a bit. |
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| gingerwelly |
we got a few of the big ones free from a soft drinks factory in tenbury wells .... and i will never ever drink orange squash again !! .. my Dad made me scrub the insides out as i was the only one who could fit through the hole in the top ... the heat and the smell urgh . But they are great for water .
My Dad put two in a old muckspreader and used it to transport water to the animals during hot weather -when the smaller streams dry up. |
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| Bugs |
Two more potential sources; CAT leaflet in the HDRA magazine mentions they have various types available and to contact them for details. I have, so will post up info when it comes if others don't want to bother asking.
Also these people advertised a classifieds somewhere that escapes me, sound promising but no prices and not answering the phone when I called them: http://plasticbarrel.moonfruit.com/ |
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| dougal |
I note that the big 1000 litre jobbies are called "IBC's"... (Intermediate Bulk Containers)
Google led me to http://www.smithsofthedean.co.uk/Recycled%20Containers.htm (scroll down to the range of fittings... ) and there seem to be many many other possible suppliers... |
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| Nick |
IBCs can be had new for £50. Can anyone better this? | ||
| dougal |
Nick, what's the deal? Is that for Qty 1, translucent white, galvanised frame, delivered, inc VAT? |
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| Nick |
That's for one 1m3 container, 1000lt, metal framed box container, with lid and tap, including VAT, delivered as a favour on his way home. Brand new. Translucent white.
Just our agricultural supplies compant in Hereford Market. He gets them delivered to him when we order them. If anyone wants, I could ask where he gets them from, and perhaps you could too, or perhaps Amtrak qould deliver them for a fee. Dunno. |