Installing A Bulkhead Tank Fitting

all right today we're going to show how to put a bulkhead fitting into a 55-gallon plastic drum so that we can go ahead and add a spigot to it this 55-gallon drum comes with two different openings on the ends they're both about two inches but they come with two different types of thread on the one side there's what's called buttress thread which is really coarse thread and on the other end it looks like regular two inch NPT pipe thread and the opposite side over here also came with a small vent in here this piece comes out there's a little fabric vent on it and there's a hole on the inside also if you notice there's three quarter inch pipe threads on the inside here and there's a little groove on the back side of this that means this is a knockout so you should be able to lay this on a flat surface and hit the standing part with a hammer and it's going to knock out that Center plug once that gets knocked out you can take your three quarter inch faucet and screw it right in now this is perfect if you want to use one of these barrels horizontal and go ahead and just put a faucet on one side and leave an air vent on the top side so you can go ahead and do it that way what we're going to do is I want to use the barrel upright so we're going to put a bulkhead fitting in down below our bulkhead fitting today is going in the bottom so we can get a nice gravity feed of water coming out down here this is a three quarter inch bulkhead fitting and it's designed to be used just like this you've got your inner part rubber seal which goes on the inside of the barrel the threads protrude through and then on the outside you have a reverse threaded nut which tightens the opposite direction and a small washer you know to keep it from deforming the barrel we're going to use a hole saw to drill through the barrel then we're going to take this part with the rubber gasket installed I'm going to drop a wire down through here through the top hole and out the bottom hole we're then going to slide this onto the wire and drop it down inside the barrel until it falls to the bottom we then pull it through and then tighten the nut on the outside I'm going to use a hole saw so get a cordless drill like this and at Home Depot you can pick up a rigid brand hole saw attachment like this this piece marks your Center and then the hole saw part cuts the hole this rigid brand one has pins pins that come up as you tighten the collar they fit into the holes on the bottom we're going to be using a one-and-a-half inch hole saw here's our bulkhead fitting here's the one-and-a-half inch hole saw if you notice it's just slightly larger it should fit just over that so one and a half inch for a typical 3/4 bulkhead fitting 3/4 inch threads in here so take your hole saw that ends line up spin your lock ring tighten it now you're ready to go mark your spot clean out the hole a little bit check your fit it's perfect it's a little bit oversized now what you want to do is to get the plastic out the plastic shaving residue go ahead and tip the barrel on its side like this and flush it with a little bit of water spray water down inside so that you get all those plastic pieces to flush out now to get the bulkhead fitting down to the bottom on the inside where you can't reach I'm going to use a long piece of wire and stick it down through here you could use string or anything else piece of electrical wire even you know you could bend it nice and straight so it go right to the hole I'm just going to feed it in the top and make it come out the hole and then we're going to slide the bulkhead fitting down I'm going to put the wire down through till it comes out then I'm going to slide the bulkhead fitting down the wire until it comes out the bottom go ahead put it on the right way put your washer on you he's a big pair of channellocks to tighten the nut now we're going to close up the top of the barrel this one I'm going to leave hand tight the one with the buttress threads large threads this is going to be you know for looking in here and checking and stuff like that it doesn't have to be really tight I'm just going to go ahead and hand tighten that one in there and then the other one I'm going to go close all the way little trick here if you want to be able to open these fittings on the barrels these caps what you do is go to your hardware store and get a paint scraper like this you can buy these pretty much anywhere that you know any hardware store or painting store or stuff like that home depot and the hook end actually fits right in here and allows you to tighten these it's a little sloppy but it works pretty good and even on the other type over here that has the vent you have to just make sure you push it down in pretty tight just put it right in there and it'll it'll almost click down and you just kind of hold it as you turn it so you can easily tighten and loosen these by fitting that in there so you don't need a special barrel wrench or anything like that these come in really handy for a lot of things so just go ahead and get one now we can go ahead and mount our spigot this is a plastic one and they're about just a little under four dollars you can go ahead and get metal ones if you like to metal ones can be as high as like thirteen dollars you know if you get a us-made one at a good hardware store so I'm just using a plastic one these are like I said available at Home Depot for about 350 or so they screw right into the three-quarter threads inside the bulkhead fitting now you want to go ahead and put some pipe sealant on this because these threads will leak any pipe thread has to have sealant on it or else it it will definitely leak so we'll go ahead and do that and there we are now we have a bulkhead fitting and a spigot that we can attach your hose fitting to on the outside of a 55-gallon drum all right now we're ready to put the barrel up on top of this custom stand that I built alright and all the hoses are hooked up now and we're ready to fill the barrel and remember when you're filling with a garden hose like this back through the valve just leave your cap on top of the barrel in loose like that this one already has a vent but it's not a really high pressure vent or anything like that so it won't really release a lot of air so you want to just kind of leave this cracked a little bit till you're done you know you could even go ahead and screw it in one or two threads you know just so it doesn't blow away or something like that and you're ready to do it make sure your valve going down line to your drip irrigation or oil is closed connect your high-pressure garden hose then go ahead and open this valve up it's going to send the water right back into your barrel and fill it up automatically make sure your spigot is open and there you have it

Channel: Designed By Instinct

Views: 205,842

Rating: 4.8025055 out of 5

Keywords: Tank, bulkhead, RBE, 55gal, 55, gal, drum, rainbarrel, rain collection, Drums, rainwater, buttress, rigid, hole saw

Id: dBwX_MKssfs

Length: 11min 30sec (690 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 19 2011