pickle barrel update

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45 gal pickle barrels that smelled of pickles---suggested solution was to stuff newspaper in them and wait a while. S000---3 of them don't smell but the third continues---did the purex--rinsed, then dish soap, and rinsed and then paper again---will give a sniff report in another week. Also--am planning on putting them upstairs and running a hose down for a gravity feed---anybody got any ideas about the weight and ceiling strength?---I don't know a better solution at this point. Outside will be freezing.

-- catherine plamondon (souldancer@pop.spkn.uswest.net), August 08, 1999

Answers

Seeing the recent baking soda post reminded me that baking soda is a fairly good absorber of odours (or in your case odors?). It may be worth trying mixing a paste of baking soda and painting the inside of the barrel with it, then leaving for a week or two.

A 55 gal(US) barrel contains 440 pounds of water, a 45 gal(US) one would would be 360 pounds, concentrated on a quite small floor area. If you're putting even one of them on an area supported by rafters/floor joists, I'd be very careful, and I'd put it on a large slab of heavy-duty plywood to spread the load, and then with the rest of them, I'd leave them somewhere else. Timber-framed buildings can hold a lot of weight, but they're not good at handling a concentrated pressure in a small area.

Is there any problem with a hand pump on the barrel? It would sure cut down on waste.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), August 09, 1999.


Hi Catherine:

I plan on placing my upstairs barrels on 24 x 3/4 inch plywood rounds directly in corners where two exterior walls meet. This location generally provides excellent load bearing capacity while at the same time minimizing stress in structural floor members.

Hope this helps.

-- Yan (no@no.no), August 09, 1999.


While one is smart to consider the weight of loaded barrels, IMHO the main thing you need to watch out for is how many barrels you store in one area of the floor. Here's a thought. My wife and I, being somewhat "heavier" now than in our younger years, easily have a combined weight of 440 lbs. Yet we would never give a second thought to standing next to each other on any floor in our house, nor any other house that I would normally frequent. If giving each other a hug, our combined load is concentrated in an area smaller than the average "footprint" of a 55 gallon barrel. I have to imagine that most people would not give a second thought to having 4 adults standing "together" on one of their floors, yet if you consider that the average male these days is probably tipping the scales near the 200 pound mark, 4 men standing near each other could easily be 800 pounds of weight - I have yet to see someone crash through a floor. If you figure out the surface area of your feet compared to your own body weight, you'll probably find that the psi exerted by your feet is higher than that of a full barrel, yet you don't see people falling through floors. The bigger concern will be total floor loading, i.e. the number of barrels, since the floor itself is already spreading out the load of each barrel.

Taking this notion a little further tells you that you can probably store a barrel or two without any additional support, especially if they are not sitting right next to each other. Keeping them close to where you have load bearing walls underneath the floor is a good idea as well - as mentioned, exterior corners are a good choice.

Short of adding additional floor joists, there's really not much you can do to increase the overall load capacity of your floor, which is the main concern. There's really not much more that you can do to spread out the weight of a barrel that just keeping them separated won't also accomplish.

EM

-- Eyell Makedo (make_do@hotmail.com), August 10, 1999.


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