Water Butt Maintenance
- Post created by: Victoria S.
- 6 Apr 2022
In this post, we will look at how you can help maintain the condition of your Water Butt. There are a few simple things you can do, particularly in the colder autumn and winter months when the water butt is likely not to be used, when water can stagnate and the water butt could crack.
Clean, repair, prepare
As the weather gets colder in autumn, there are three simple steps to remember: clean, repair and prepare.
In autumn, falling leaves and other debris may clog up guttering and diverter kit downpipes, preventing water from flowing efficiently into the water butt, or leaves could find their way into the container. Therefore, unblock your guttering and diverter system regularly in autumn to prevent this, and filter out leaves.
It is a good idea to empty the water butt completely in autumn, so that you can give it a thorough clean and avoid the build up of stagnant water. You can clean the inside with natural products such as lemon juice and vinegar, so that the water butt is not contaminated with chemicals and doesn't need rinsing out.
Winter
Most water butt manufacturers recommend keeping the water butt empty over winter, to prevent water from freezing and cracking the container. Keeping the tap open, too, over this period, will mean that water cannot collect in the container, freeze and split it.
Alternative to emptying water butt
If you don’t want to drain the water butt over winter, you could wrap it instead to insulate it from the cold. Using bubble wrap is a simple way of doing this effectively.
Antimicrobial Disc
An undrained water butt may go stagnant; in order to prolong water freshness and keep it odour free, you could add an antimicrobial disc to the water, such as the FreshaTank. Made from copper and silver, this disc uses the natural biocidal effects of real silver to destroy germs including viruses, bacteria, fungi and water-borne diseases.
Storms
As well as being weary of frost, you must also prepare water butts for stormy weather. If they are empty, weigh them down by refilling with water, and if possible, push them against a wall, so that they have protection from the wind and do not get blown around the garden and damaged (or damage other things).
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