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Overheard a guy at the hardware store say his water collection tank cracked after a freeze
He was telling the clerk he used cheap food grade barrels but didn't wrap them in insulation or bury them deep enough. I've been planning a rain barrel system for my cabin in Vermont and now I'm thinking I need to double check my setup before winter hits anyone here dealt with this specific issue?
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diana_kim664d ago
Oh hey @jamie_webb67, I literally just read something about that heat tape trick on a homesteading forum a few days ago. Apparently wrapping it around the threads where the spigot connects is the thing that actually saves you. I haven't tried it myself but it made a lot of sense when I saw it.
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jamie_webb674d ago
That Vermont freeze is no joke, a buddy of mine up there sank his barrels two feet down and still had issues last winter. The real trick nobody talks about is using a heat tape wrap around the pipe connections, not just a barrel blanket, because the fittings crack first.
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yeah that makes total sense honestly. it's like the same thing with car batteries in the winter, everyone wraps the whole thing but the terminals are where the connection actually breaks. i noticed it with my own rain barrels too, the hose bib cracked before anything else even when i had it buried. seems like the weak points always get missed because we focus on the big obvious stuff instead of the littler spots where things actually connect.
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