# Linking water butts question



## Ge03 (Jul 19, 2011)

I want to link a 100ltr butt to my main 250ltr butt, mainly to act as a filter tank to my main tank that's used for my pressure washer.
Being different heights, I'm trying to figure out the right way to link them, bottom to bottom, top to top or what? Help !


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## stu... (Apr 1, 2014)

Id go for bottom to top.
Top to top one will only fill the other when its full and bottom to bottom the pressure will just equalise in the set up.


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## m1pui (Jul 24, 2009)

I'd go bottom to bottom.

That way you can, if you're doing it like that, have a hose/tap-outlet on just the one and it should continually feed until both are empty. 

Go top to top, bottom to top, or top to bottom and you'll have to swap between butts as each one empties.


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## S63 (Jan 5, 2007)

There's a great old timer DW member once here, maybe still, that had/has the perfect setup in pictures. Somebody will remember who.


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## Ge03 (Jul 19, 2011)

My idea is just to use water from my main water butt and only use the outlet tap on the larger butt, just using the small one as a "catch tank" filter for any crap to settle out in, so top to top would seem logical, but 
I'm mainly trying to figure out how any overflow back to the down pipe diverter is going to work.


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## NeilG40 (Jan 1, 2009)

There's an 18 page sticky at the top of the Eco section about this.


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## Ge03 (Jul 19, 2011)

NeilG40 said:


> There's an 18 page sticky at the top of the Eco section about this.


Duh! Thanks. Just spent ages trawling through 20 pages of search results.


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## PaulaJayne (Feb 17, 2012)

Bottom to Bottom. then all tanks will empty at same time.


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## G.P (Dec 13, 2011)

PaulaJayne said:


> Bottom to Bottom. then all tanks will empty at same time.


Fill up the same to, although the tops must be the same height to prevent an overflow situation..


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## Ge03 (Jul 19, 2011)

After an afternoon and evening searching and reading I now know that .........
No one agrees on how best to connect water butts


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## Cookies (Dec 10, 2008)

I'd put the inlet and outlet at the top of the 'filter' tank to allow any sediment to settle to the bottom and not transfer the crud across to the main tank. The outlet at the top of the small tank should go to the top of the bigger main tank. The hose to the power washer should be at the bottom.

That's my thinking anyhoo. God luck and show us some pics when you've all connected.

Cooks


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## HairyMonster (Apr 3, 2010)

What Cookies Said, as you'll get a lot of crud in the first butt.


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## Ge03 (Jul 19, 2011)

After loads of reading, trying to figure out the overflow handling from butt to butt and butt to diverter, I've decided to take the simple way out and install a second butt identical to my first, linked top to top, and use the first one for the garden and for wash buckets, and the second, filtered one for my pressure washer. 
Now I just have to wait for the guy from Direct Hoses to get his act together and get my nice new 20metre hose and reel to me so my Nilfisk can stay in my shed.


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## nilitara (May 2, 2008)

I use two 200ltr butts linked at the top. Where my feed enters the first butt, I've added a DIY filter, it's a simple run of the mill scotch pad rolled, then placed into the inlet feed pipe. This way it catches any crap from entering the first butt. I have also done this from the first butt at the top, I now have in effect two forms of filter. The tap at the bottom of the second butt goes straight to my PW.


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## Uncle Winnet (May 10, 2006)

i have a 100 ltr feeding my two 1000ltr ibc tanks the 100ltr butt feeds the 1st 1000ltr ibc from the bottom then i have a hose that links the two ibc it sat on the bottom of both ibc 
it keeps the 3 off them all at the same level


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

S63 said:


> There's a great old timer DW member once here, maybe still, that had/has the perfect setup in pictures. Somebody will remember who.


:lol::lol::lol::lol:

:devil::devil::devil:


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## wylie coyote (Jul 15, 2007)

Bigpikle said:


> :lol::lol::lol::lol:
> 
> :devil::devil::devil:





S63 said:


> There's a great old timer DW member once here, maybe still, that had/has the perfect setup in pictures. Somebody will remember who.


Good to see him on here again innit?:thumb::thumb:


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## Sh1ner (May 19, 2012)

Please excuse my thoughts, they are not meant to be rude.
I would have thought that there is no best way. Top or bottom is perhaps not the right question.
Dirt will find its way in from top (floating)or bottom (sinking) unless the links between the tanks are filtered in some way and it would make sense to have these accessible for easy cleaning should they need it. A top filter is easy to fit and the bottom filter could be made accessible by a length of hose with a filter attached so it can be lifted from the bottom and cleaned.
Maximising the flow between the butts so water is not diverted away if only a limited amount of rain falls and the butts are low should also be a priority.
If you want the cleaner water to be in butt2 you could connect butts 1 and 2both top and bottom and filter both outlets from the first butt to the second and then be prepared, if at all necessary, to filter an outlet placed low down on butt2 to whatever you connect it to.
That way you should be able to easily, nearly empty or fill both butts, if necessary, and keep any crud pretty much in butt1 and allow you to use it even if it is raining.
The top connection is really only for when the flow between 1 and 2 is too great and the level is rising faster than the water can flow between the two. The flow from a drain pipe into butt1 and a small pipe between butts 1 and 2 presumably means butt1 could fill much faster than butt2.


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## Bigpikle (May 21, 2007)

^^ possibly good points, but frankly you really dont need to over complicate it!

I've had a simple set up for years now and as long as you dont take water right from the bottom of the water butt there are no issues with dirt. The taps on the butt are always a few inches above the base anyway so there isnt an issue and if you use a pump inside then simply position it slightly off the bottom. Most pumps have a simple filter in them anyway to stop crud coming though but I've never had an issue.

You might be right about water flow, and frankly it doesn't take too long to empty a water butt during a dry spell if you have a pump connected to a PW and use the PW all day long like some folk here tend to do! I set up a huge tank which is close to 1000L capacity anyway, so thats not an issue despite using it for cars and garden use etc. 

What I would like is a way to warm it up during the depths of winter - hand washing with water at 1 deg can be a PITA :lol:


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