# What size water butts to go for when buying two to link?



## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

Im looking to replace my ancient water butt with some nice new ones 

Water company have them at very good prices, a 100 litre one with stand and rain diverter kit for £22 with the second butt half price which brings the total to £45 for two including delivery and link kit.

The other option is two 190 litre tanks which works out at about £15 more.

My plan is to link them up and use the second one for car washing, maybe the first one as well if I run short (but i'd run this through a filter first)

Would the 100 litre tanks be sufficient for moderate home use or should I just go for the bigger ones? I'd pour the water into a 25 litre container to use with my PW 

Thanks!


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## Titanium Htail (Mar 24, 2012)

For the extra cost or space I would always go bigger, once you pay per usage any saving is beneficial and a good plan. It may seem daft that washing private cars in the future may be deemed an extra and water itself charged accordingly. 

Our cat has OCD, our cat drinking-water.

Great idea and good luck.


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## Jagnet (Dec 25, 2011)

Bigger is better - nothing more frustrating than running out and a prolonged spell of dry weather in the summer isn't unusual. Even last spring it didn't rain here once in April - bit of a contrast to this year, though the weekend looks clear for a spot of waxing.

That's a good price for water butts - puts Thames Water's offer to shame.


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## cobra (Feb 18, 2012)

get the bigger one if you have room - very good price!

make sure the stands are upto the job


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## scotty76 (Nov 12, 2011)

I have two 190 litre waterbutts linked together. It's a good size to have and you'll be surprised how quickly it runs out. So as the others said, in this case more is more!

I use the water from the second one direct to the Karcher PW (I have a Hozelock tap on it). If I am using watering cans I will use either as there is no sediment that concerns me.


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## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

scotty76 said:


> I have two 190 litre waterbutts linked together. It's a good size to have and you'll be surprised how quickly it runs out. So as the others said, in this case more is more!
> 
> I use the water from the second one direct to the Karcher PW (I have a Hozelock tap on it). If I am using watering cans I will use either as there is no sediment that concerns me.


Thankyou for all the replies. I went with the two 190 litre ones in the end for the grand total of £59 including stands, rain diverter, link kit and delivery  Made sense to have the bigger ones at this price!

Does it matter how high up I connect the two?


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## Jagnet (Dec 25, 2011)

The higher the connection the less chance of leaks appearing as there's less static pressure on the connections, and if you should get a leak you'll be able to tighten it in situ if it's the tank connector rather than the flexi pipe leaking.


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## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

Jagnet said:


> The higher the connection the less chance of leaks appearing as there's less static pressure on the connections, and if you should get a leak you'll be able to tighten it in situ if it's the tank connector rather than the flexi pipe leaking.


Thats a very good point, any higher risk of bits of debris from the first tank going into the second this way?


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## Jammytoad (Feb 27, 2011)

Related question...

I've got 2 water butts connected together. A 100litre to act as a filter for sediment and a 250 litre I'm planning on running pw from ( when I get a day off)

This weeks rain has almost filled my 250 litre water butt which I'm quite impressed at. Question is, how much water will I use washing car?? Will fill 2 buckets using warm inside tap, so pw just for prewash and rinsing.


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## jase the last (Apr 4, 2012)

Q: How much water does a Kärcher high pressure cleaner use?

A: A high pressure cleaner will use between 330 to 550 litres of water per hour. A saving of up to 80% when compared to a garden hose which uses up to 3500-4000 litres per hour. This is thanks to the patented nozzle technology in all Kärcher high pressure washers that compacts water flow rate into, extremely efficient, cleaning spray jets. 

This was from the karcher web site. Hope this helps


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## Jammytoad (Feb 27, 2011)

Guessing that's on for a constant hour? How does that relate to real world conditions.


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## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

Jammytoad said:


> Guessing that's on for a constant hour? How does that relate to real world conditions.


I can wash my car with my PW using a 25 litre tank, equates to three minutes of continuous use which is actually quite a lot. You'd be fine with a water butt and moderate rain


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## GJM (Jul 19, 2009)

Need to look into these water butts, anyone recommend a kit to buy and where is best.

Is it just a case of cutting into the downpipe to divert to the butt


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## Jammytoad (Feb 27, 2011)

I got 2 water butts,100ltr and 250ltr, connector kit and a filtered drainpipe connection for about £80 from a local garden centre. 
Could probably get them cheaper online but I wanted to get them before hosepipe ban came into effect so I could at least fill one manually. 

One issue I did have was drilling holes for connections. Having a 25mm hole drill bit is useful!! I had to bodge it which wasn't ideal.


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## Jagnet (Dec 25, 2011)

minibbb said:


> Thats a very good point, any higher risk of bits of debris from the first tank going into the second this way?


As long as your connection isn't right at the top skimming anything off the surface then you should be fine. Say 6 inches below maximum level.



Jammytoad said:


> Related question...
> 
> Question is, how much water will I use washing car?? Will fill 2 buckets using warm inside tap, so pw just for prewash and rinsing.


I use about 35 to 40 litres of rainwater to snowfoam, rinse and then post wash rinse. That's not holding back either, and I'm sure I could use less if I had to, but knowing that it's free makes a thorough rinsing even more enjoyable


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## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

Jagnet said:


> As long as your connection isn't right at the top skimming anything off the surface then you should be fine. Say 6 inches below maximum level.


Handy stuff thankyou! Out of interest have you upgraded the tap on your water butt or did you find the supplied plastic one to be sufficient?


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## Jagnet (Dec 25, 2011)

I just use the standard plastic ones currently, but then I'm not trying to feed a pressure washer straight from the butt tap. If you were to do so, or hooking it up to an external pump, then I'd recommend changing it to a 1/2" brass bib tap as a minimum for better flow (and reliability), or a 3/4" one to really future proof yourself against anything you may want to use it for.

If you do change to a bib tap, check that it's just a plain one without an internal double check valve, which you won't need.


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## minibbb (Mar 9, 2012)

Jagnet said:


> I just use the standard plastic ones currently, but then I'm not trying to feed a pressure washer straight from the butt tap. If you were to do so, or hooking it up to an external pump, then I'd recommend changing it to a 1/2" brass bib tap as a minimum for better flow (and reliability), or a 3/4" one to really future proof yourself against anything you may want to use it for.
> 
> If you do change to a bib tap, check that it's just a plain one without an internal double check valve, which you won't need.


Blimy your quick!! May possibly run the PW straight off the butt in the future so might stick a decent brass tap on there from the start.

Thanks again! :thumb:


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## Jagnet (Dec 25, 2011)

:thumb: Sensible move, for the princely sum of ~£4 each it makes sense to do it now.


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## jonnyMercUK (Apr 19, 2012)

All I can say is ring the council, say your bin has been stolen and you would like a replacement, drill a hole, insert a tap Voila! 

ps. didn't come from me


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