Plastic IBC Tanks - A bit of a Rant

[peakbagger]

I had a solar powered pumping system set up for a few years to pump water up from ground water well to plastic 275 gallon tote tank to water my garden. My original tank was an unknown age possibly 30 years and missing the steel cage. It worked but it flexed a lot and eventually developed a leak at flex point. The system worked so I needed a new tank with cage. I see them advertised on Craigslist quite often and many of the ads just keep being repeated so it implies that the stuff is available. In understand if a person just has one thing for sale that they get overwhelmed with contacts and tire kickers but in this case these places has inventory. I was looking tanks that could be cleaned out for potable water storage. I stated contacting Craigslist seller starting with nearby ones. Multiple no reply's. I gave then a phone number so it might take them 5 seconds to do a reply text but no response. Not sure why they go to the trouble of keeping the listing up if they are not willing to reply.

I finally got in touch with a guy in Concord NH that advertises them frequently, he got right back to me. He had what I wanted, One for me and one for a friend so we took a ride down. He is out near the Steeplegate Mall off of Loudon Road and has quite the inventory of plastic and other recycled containers and plastic pallets. I was tempted to pick up some other goodies, pallets and blue barrels with covers but stuck with just the totes. Now that I know he is there I expect I will be visiting more again.

One thing I have learned with IBC totes ,despite looking standardized, the outlets seem to vary by manufacturer. My old tank had a replaceable spout but this one is permanently fixed with a plastic ball valve on the outlet. This one has a camlock fitting with some odd threads on the end of the fitting. The odd threads apparently are for caps to ensure that the tank does not leak if the ball valve leaks or is cracked open. Amazon and Ebay sells the adaptors once the variety is identified.

So I now need to put the tote up on pile of wood and hook up my pump and a float valve so I can start watering the garden for "free" again (once I pay off the tank).

 

[blades]

around my parts food grade Ibc will run apx 60 ea. I can get chemical ones next door for free - involves some work to clean them out.

 

[peakbagger]

Chemical Grades are usually advertised as $60 to $80. Potable $90 or up if they answer the phone. I paid $150. A lot of folks use them for maple sugar and do not clean them out very well then let them sit. They sell for less. A lof of folks must be using the cages for other uses as there are a lot of IBCs out there without cages. Its als the time of year, lot of folks like me looking for them for garden use, Folks hook them up to downspouts to reuse the rainwater.

 

[Poindexter]

A lot of folks must be using the cages for other uses as there are a lot of IBCs out their without cages.

If I was burning more than 10 cords per year I would buy a forklift and IBC cages to pile my cordwood in so I could stack the cages and bring seasoned wood into the garage one cage at a time.