Has anyone tried

[cschlessman]

I have these heavy duty 55 gal plastic drums and I was wondering if anyone has tried using them for gray water and fresh water tanks. They were used to ship molasses in and are food grade. any comments or suggestions?

Chuck

[wtd]

Think everyone has ... ranks right up there with using large bore pipe for water, except some people actually manage to make the barrel thing work.
Just my opinion, but good normal tanks are worth the money -
1) thing they're square and so is everyplace you want to put them, so much less wasted space.
2) much easier to mount - angle iron is cheap and easy to come by. Assembles into a suitable mounting system by just cutting and bolting/welding. Drums require some type of custom made circular bracket.
3) Standard tanks come with standard fittings - no futzing around trying to figure how to get the contents in/out and interfacing with your other plumbing. THe first question most have after deciding to use drums is 'anybody know where to get fittings to connect to these things?'.

Just a few thoughts, just mine ... and I'm really cheap, which is really a drum's only advantage, so I'd use them if it were worhtwhile.
But, some find them worthwhile, I'm sure they'll drop by to tell you why ...

Tom

[lornaschinske]

The problem with fittings and the 55 gallon food barrels is the plastic ones are poly and you have to "spin weld" fitting into them. Unlike others on this board (and many other places) I much prefer the ABS tanks. I can repair them and I can glue standard PVC or ABS plumbing fittings into the tanks from Home Depot/Lowes/ACE hardware type places. I have heard of a glue that you can use on poly RV tanks/barrels but have yet to see it. I like to keep my options open when it comes to repairing plumbing and electrical. That is why we like to use "house" type stuff. It's usually cheaper to buy from Lowes or other big box hardware/lumber yard than from a specialty store (like RV or marine).

That said, we have a used RV poly black tank and a used RV poly grey tank on the bus. They will be replaced when they crack. but they were very cheap. We did not have to add fittings to the tanks. the grey tank is a fresh water tank with a gravity fill. The gravity fill will be the drain and we will have to cut a new fitting into the top to accept the grey water. We think we can get a compression fitting to hold well enough. It's not like it will have pressure on it like the drain and it will never be filled to the max..

[cschlessman]

Thanks for the thoughts, gives me some considering to do

Chuck

[Diesel Dan]

I'm not sure what Lorna is referring to in regards to spin weld fittings, but I found adapters that convert the 2" bung openings of the plastic drums to 3/4" pipe thread and other fittings to convert to 2" or 1.5" standard PVC glue fittings. I will use 30 gallon white plastic drums for both fresh water and grey water. I will not have black water on my bus. I got these drums for $5 each at a car wash that received cleaning chemicals in them. I will not use the fresh water for drinking or cooking, only cleaning/showering. I will have two fresh and two grey, connected to each other. I will also have two more to use for extra veggie oil storage for my veggie-converted engine. I will have room for all six of these behind my rear wheels once I re-route the exhaust, and I don't even have a full size bus. I understand that rectangular tanks would be easier to mount and more space-efficient, but the price of these was too good to pass up. I will mount them using heavy duty metal strapping I picked up at Grainger and cushion it with rubber strips (formerly my center aisle flooring strip). So I will end up with 60 gallons fresh and 60 gallons grey, which should be plenty. I still have space underneath for a 125 gallon extra fuel tank, and a propane cabinet. If I wanted to give up the veggie tanks, I'd have room for a generator under there, but I think I will just mount that on a receiver hitch carrier.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by Diesel Dan

I'm not sure what Lorna is referring to in regards to spin weld fittings...

Polyethylene Plastic is what every plastic barrel that we have owned was made of. Have they changed that? The same crap RV water tanks are made of. So you can get the water, waste out.... how do you get a leakproof fitting to get your stuff in? For poly tanks, you end with with spin welding unless you buy a plastic welder. We used the barrels to raise 'taters in. My dad used the barrels to haul water to a job site. They were food grade. Some had peanut oil and others had other foods in them. Some smelled yummy!

To be honest, I really don't care what you use. It's not my bus. It's YOUR bus. Post back after a few years of traveling and let us know how they hold up and what you like/dislike about them.

[putterspitt]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

The problem with fittings and the 55 gallon food barrels is the plastic ones are poly and you have to "spin weld" fitting into them. Unlike others on this board (and many other places) I much prefer the ABS tanks. I can repair them and I can glue standard PVC or ABS plumbing fittings into the tanks from Home Depot/Lowes/ACE hardware type places. I have heard of a glue that you can use on poly RV tanks/barrels but have yet to see it. I like to keep my options open when it comes to repairing plumbing and electrical. That is why we like to use "house" type stuff. It's usually cheaper to buy from Lowes or other big box hardware/lumber yard than from a specialty store (like RV or marine).

That said, we have a used RV poly black tank and a used RV poly grey tank on the bus. They will be replaced when they crack. but they were very cheap. We did not have to add fittings to the tanks. the grey tank is a fresh water tank with a gravity fill. The gravity fill will be the drain and we will have to cut a new fitting into the top to accept the grey water. We think we can get a compression fitting to hold well enough. It's not like it will have pressure on it like the drain and it will never be filled to the max..

absolutely, anything with RV or Marine always doubles ot triples in price, no matter what it is, from toggle switch on

[Diesel Dan]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

... So you can get the water, waste out.... how do you get a leakproof fitting to get your stuff in? For poly tanks, you end with with spin welding unless you buy a plastic welder...

As you know barrels have two 2" threaded bung holes. I will align them vertically so one hole will be the fill hole, and the other will be the drain. I'll use the appropriate adapters for each depending on if it's fresh or grey water, fill or drain. These adapters convert the 2" bung to either 3/4" NPT or 2" PVC for drain and fill, respectively. I'll have a "T" just in front of the fill bung and run a vent pipe up off of that. I probably will just use plumber's teflon tape to seal the threads. I used this strategy to seal a couple of these barrels in my garage that contain waste veggie oil (and sit with bung side down), and after two years there is still no leakage. I don't plan to modify the barrel or do any sort of welding - just use the existing bung holes. I know there is an inch or so of water at the bottom of the barrel that will not drain, but hopefully periodic flushing with water and ice cubes will prevent any nasty buildup in the grey tanks.

If I have problems with this setup, I'll report back. If no news, then it's probably good news!

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by Diesel Dan

... As you know barrels have two 2" threaded bung holes.

The barrels we used only had one hole. I did not know they had two hole barrels. That explains a lot.

[cschlessman]

Well thanks again for all of the input. Mine have 2 holes in them also . Where did you get the adapters from?
Thanks again.
Chuck

[chev49]

the 28 gallon plastic barrels went into the compartments of my bus much easier than the 55 gallon ones. They are about 3 inches in diameter smaller,and a lot shorter, have the same 2 inch pipe thread bung holes and just fit with the bung facing the frame rail. I can get 6 on each side. I get them from the pepsi plant cause they toss them out. I mostly use the 55 gallon ones for rain barrels.

[Diesel Dan]

Yes, I also use the 30 gallon barrels for the same reason. I don't want to lose my ground clearance. The bung adapters I got at www.usplastic.com.

This one is for the bung with the buttress thread: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... rchresults

This one for the other bung with the NPT: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.a ... rchresults

These both convert to 3/4" NPT. If you go to Home Depot in the PVC section, you will find an adapter that converts 2" NPT to 2" PVC straight glue fitting, and then another adapter to go down to 1.5" for a standard drain pipe.

[Stuff]

thats what i have at work for my grey water feed. just in the corner and raised higher then the toilet. use about 1/3 to 1/2 a week. yay for no water supply a couple miles out of town..

[cschlessman]

Diesel Dan thanks for thelinks and info looks like I am going to give it a try. Will use 2 for water and 1 for gray water and then a big black tank.
Chuck

[Diesel Dan]

Originally Posted by cschlessman

Diesel Dan thanks for thelinks and info looks like I am going to give it a try. Will use 2 for water and 1 for gray water and then a big black tank.
Chuck

Take a close look at the existing bung plugs if your barrels have them. I realized after ordering mine from usplastic that the ones I already had were set up so you can just drill out the center and there is a 3/4" threaded hole in the middle ready to use. D'oh!

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by Diesel Dan

D'oh!

Well you have to a few D'oh moments (or in our case a few million)! Have you ever noticed those moments are caused by "over thinking" something and making it more difficult than needed?

[cschlessman]

Sometimes over thinking is better then not
Chuck