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Frozen butts!

Myrtle

Myrtle

Member
Joined
21 Aug 2008
Messages
814
Location
Basingstoke
Hi, I'm currently unable to access the water from my butts due to them being frozen and I'm still waiting for my fob etc for the spotless water. I'm losing a lot in the tanks with evap at the moment and overdue a water change but have no water to change it with. I'm going to get some RO from my lfs tomorrow but how does everyone else prevent their water butts freezing?
To be honest, I didn't consider this issue after the mild winter last year!
 
Myrtle said:
Hi, I'm currently unable to access the water from my butts due to them being frozen and I'm still waiting for my fob etc for the spotless water. I'm losing a lot in the tanks with evap at the moment and overdue a water change but have no water to change it with. I'm going to get some RO from my lfs tomorrow but how does everyone else prevent their water butts freezing?
To be honest, I didn't consider this issue after the mild winter last year!
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You don’t need a fob for spotless water mate. Just head on over and “pay as you go”. At least, that’s how it is at my local spotless.
 
Myrtle said:
Hi, I'm currently unable to access the water from my butts due to them being frozen and I'm still waiting for my fob etc for the spotless water. I'm losing a lot in the tanks with evap at the moment and overdue a water change but have no water to change it with. I'm going to get some RO from my lfs tomorrow but how does everyone else prevent their water butts freezing?
To be honest, I didn't consider this issue after the mild winter last year!
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Brute force always works, my water butt is close to the house and just push the ice down to crack it, if ice is thicker a hammer would work fine.
 
I've never tried it in my waterbutts but in my wildlife pond I have some old poly box lids with a small hole in it. I'm surprised by how well it keeps the area under the lid from freezing. I'm guessing something on a smaller scale might also work, like one of those poly boxes they post mugs in.

You can wrap bubble wrap or horticultural fleece around it but I think with a constant drip of melted ic water going in, it will be hard to get it alway thawed. I have a butt in my greenhouse and that has ice in it at the moment.
 
I think the biggest problem is its not getting warm enough to melt any ice during the day and then it's freezing more overnight. It will take quite a lot of warmer weather to see the ice off before you have a chance to keep the surface open again.
 
Myrtle said:
I think I'm going to have to get to grips with RO water and dig out my ancient camping water containers... I can't see it melting any time soon 🙁
At least the pond pump/filter has kept that clear with the moving water...
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By Sunday the temperature is supposed to reach double digits. Seems we’ll get a fair bit of rain next week as well.
 
I missed this thread, I had the same issue. I dribbled boiling water over the tap until I could open it and then dribbled more until the inside of the tap defrosted and then water came out. The top of the butt was frozen, but obviously enough in the centre to work it's way out once the tap was de-iced 🙂
 
seedoubleyou said:
Just add a splash a of antifreeze.
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Interesting idea but for the antifreeze to have any meaningful effect on the temperature that water freezes you'd need a concentration of about 2 ~ 3%. Even adding 1Ltr of antifreeze to a water butt containing 400L of water wouldn't stop it freezing at the temps we're seeing in the UK at the min.
Screenshot_20221216-071227_Chrome.jpg
 
John q said:
Interesting idea but for the antifreeze to have any meaningful effect on the temperature that water freezes you'd need a concentration of about 2 ~ 3%. Even adding 1Ltr of antifreeze to a water butt containing 400L of water wouldn't stop it freezing at the temps we're seeing in the UK at the min.
View attachment 198721
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This is why I love this Forum, even a joke can become educational :clap:
 
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