IBCs: To drain or not to drain - that is the question!

[Printemps]

This time last year my neighbours advised me to drain the water out of my two IBCs so as not to damage them should the water freeze. It was sickening to see so much water go to waste.

My thoughts this year are to leave them full. The tanks are made out of plastic afterall, so there must be some degree of flexibility when it comes to freezing/expansion.

Any advice from other IBC users?

[rustylady]

How low do your winter temperatures get? And roughly for how long?

[roitelet]

I don't have IBC's but I do drain the waterbuts as they do freeze and split the plastic. Nicos may be along soon, her IBC froze one winter!

[veggiechicken]

I'll be draining the waterbutts. They take the downpipes from the house and one year, the water in the butt froze, so there was nowhere for the rain and snow-melt from the roof to go. It backed up and made a real mess of the housewall

[Glutton4...]

I didn't drain mine last year, and we had a very long cold winter. Yes, it froze, but I'd left the lid off, and made sure it wasn't full to the brim, so there was room for expansion as it froze. Hope that helps.

[Potstubsdustbins]

G4 is right, if you leave a good air gap above the water level and have this open to atmosphere then even if it freezes it should be OK as the ice can expand with out stressing the container it self.

As an extra precaution you can break any surface ice that forms.

Potty

[Nicos]

Yeh- our IBC's froze one winter. It went down to -18C at night for a couple of weeks.


Our IBCs never get more than 9/10 full because of where the outflows are positioned so there is room for expansion/distortion of the plastic.They are constantly full in winter as they collect rain water from the roof guttering.

Neither of them split.

We've had them several years now without them being drained.

Having said that- they didn't freeze solid- just the top few inches.

There are several factors involved I suppose.
It may be because they were new - just not cold enough for long enough- or the quality of the container????

We were warned by our neighbours to keep the UV off them to prevent the plastic deteriorating- but no mention of the freezing water!

Ours are positioned next to the house so there is some protection from the extreme cold. We do have one in the field totally exposed, but that by chance happens to be empty.

Interesting thread!
Good luck- let us know how things go!!

[Glutton4...]

G4 is right...

See! By the law of averages, I had to be right one day!

Mine, being a white one, is covered to prevent algae growing, as I use it for the Chickens. I don't expect that insulates it, but it must help protect it against UV damage too.

[bearded bloke]

Yep,what G4 said

[Veggielot]

I left mine full last year and they froze but didn't have any problem. Having some room to expand helps, another tip is to but is to put a tennis ball in the water as it is supposed to absorb the pressure from the ice.

[Printemps]

Thank you all for telling of your experiences with over-wintering water butts and IBCs. I'm much happier about leaving them full this winter, well subject to having adequate space for expansion as well as removing the lids.

I did remove them from their cages earlier this year and wrapped them in black plastic sheeting, hoping to eliminate algae growth, but seems I'm also protecting them from UV rays.

The year before last I did record -12C for two or three nights in February. That's just prompted me to check the outside temperature and already it's -2.3C at 20.54 (GMT+1), so I expect tonight will be pretty nippy.

I think I'll make one further protective measure and that'll be to insulate as best I can (bubblewrap?) the IBC outlet tap. Reckon that'll be a pretty vulnerable part of the tank in freezing temperatures. Has anyone else bothered?

[Nicos]

Outlet tap?
Nope- but sounds like a good idea- the sealant presumably can't last for ever and it could well be the weak spot!
Good idea

We had -6C last night!

[Feral007]

Our water pipes freeze occasionally to the house. We had a new neighbour who couldn't offer a cup of coffee due to her pipe being frozen. We tracked it back to the tank - almost all the pipe was either buried or insulated, except just at the tank where it was not insulated. Gave her a piece of insulation left over from our house, that silver stuff with fluffy stuff on one side. Wrapped it around, bit of tape, and never a frozen pipe since.

My water butts stay out - not full and sometimes loosely lidded. What I find with plastic is that the UV damage over several years makes them brittle. So you should be good for a few years.

[Bill HH]

I think placing a large slab of polystyrene foam inside keeps the top unfrozen, thats what they advise for fish ponds anyway. It also takes up any expansion as the ice squeezes it.

[Bigmallly]

That could prove a tad difficult Bill as I believe the top opening is only about 4"-5" Diam but 10 points for your theory...........