Help - joining water butts

[CDave]

Hi - got a few water butts that I need to join together (overflows). They are round barrels. Can gut joining kits for £4 at wickes but the hose connectors are just too short for what I need. Is there an alternative that would accept / fit some hose pipe that I have spare?

Or can anyone suggest an alternative? Thinking about plumbing stuff - but I'm not a plumber so don't know what to ask for / look for.

Thanks in advance. Dave

[CDave]

[Unwashed]

Dave, you can connect them with a siphon, you just need a length of hose, no other fittinfs.  Fill the hose with water and put a finger over each end, then put one end in each butt and as long as both ends are under water the butts will siphon over to keep the level the same in all the butts you connect - you just need to pre-fill the new butts with a few inches of water and fix the hose so its end doesn't come out of the water.

[Chrispy]

Tank connector is what you are thinking about, but I do not know if they would fit a hose pipe, 15mm would be the size to get if you wanted to try.

I think syphoning is probably best (as Unwashed said).

If you drill some holes near the top that the hose can poke through (make it a tight fit) and then add some cable ties and sealent, then this should help keep the hoses in place, and if the hose is kept below the top of the barrel, then if the syphon is lost it should restart automatically once a barrel is full.