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Greenhouses & Garden Structures

Metal vs. Plastic for water storage

17 years ago

I haven't had much luck finding 55 gallon drums in my area for storing water for heat, but there are a lot of horse people in the area, so watering troughs are abundant. I was looking at them a few days ago, and they've got them in galvanized metal or heavy duty plastic/rubber.

I am assuming (perhaps incorrectly) that the metal ones would draw heat faster. The sizes range quite a bit...I'm not intersted in the round ones, but they've got oval ones in 2, 4 and 6 foot lengths. They're 2 feet wide and 2 feet high. Has anyone tried using these? There aren't any lids, but I could probably come up with something to enclose the tops.

Other assumptions: Painting it black will absorb more heat, can I just paint the south facing side, or should I paint the whole thing?

Does it make any difference if the black paint is gloss or flat? Should I prime the galvanized metal before I paint it?

Thanks!

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Comments (4)

numbersix
17 years ago
Hold out for plastic drums. Try craigs list or similar sites, ask resturants if they have any large plastic drums, drive around in industrial areas, and lastly try places that sell/build floating docks.
nathanhurst
17 years ago
If you are getting a metal container, let it rust in the sun collector area on the outside. Black oxides are much better solar collectors than black paint (to test this, compare the temperatures of some rusty metal to a similar piece painted black after sitting in the sun for a while). If the containers are cheap, and you make them air tight (pour some clear mineral oil, maybe baby oil?, on the surface of the water) they might last 20 years.
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numbersix
17 years ago
55 gal black plastic drums on eBay for 30.00
130031276874
Eric_G
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for the ideas. Nathanhurst, the rust as a collector sounds interesting, but I'm afraid it would take a long time for the galvanized tank to rust, and wouldn't the rust shorten the life of the tank?

Numbersix, thanks for the heads up at eBay. But by the time I add the shipping charges, it would be about the same price as the 100 gallon stock tanks I can get locally new. (The tanks are 2 feet wide, 2 feet high, and 4 feet long.) There's even a drain plug at the bottom.

I may even do the fish and plants thing, but I'm guessing that's not as efficient as sealing the top of the tank to let the heat build up more.

See the link for a picture of the type of tank I'm talking about.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:306435}}

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