I’m launching a little balcony gardening project that involves water reservoirs. I don’t have much experience with these kinds of projects, so I need a little help.

Due to some dimensional constraints, I will need two regular plastic containers (your typical storage containers), and I was hoping to get away with only including a way to fill one of them. That means I will need to connect it to the other in some way. So I thought I would just drill a hole in both of them and stick a pipe between them.

  1. What is the best way to drill holes in plastic without risking any splitting?
  2. How do I make sure that the holes are water sealed afterwards? Can I glue around the pipe and plastic box?
  • solbear@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
    3·
    8 months ago

    Thanks for a great description!

    A couple of questions:

    A bulkhead fitting should have a rubber gasket that will seal properly without additional sealant

    Since bulkhead fittings were suggested, I’ve been looking them up. The installation seems easy enough, but in all the videos I see I am stuck with a hole with threads on the outside, no one shows what comes next. What are the parts I would need for this? Do I need a join to connect the threads on the outside of each container?

    The sides of the container won’t be parallel to the ground, so a straight pipe will put strain on the container that will lead to a failure. You will probably want to use flexible hose to connect the two containers, but two 45 degree elbows at each end of ridgid pipe(so 4 total) can take the strain out once you play with the orientations.

    I didn’t really understand this. Do you mean there will be strain due to the downward force exerted by the weight of the pipe and water? I’m hoping to have the distance between the tanks as short as possible, and the diameter should also not be too big.

    • Death_Equity@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      8 months ago

      There are oodles of types of bulkhead fittings. The typical type have a threaded end that gets inserted into a hole from the outside and a nut with a flange tightens down and clamps a gasket to the inside surface.

      The end outside of the container can have any number of means to attach a hose or pipe; like a barb, flange, thread, etc. For your application you will want a barbed bulkhead so you can just put a hose on there and don’t need to worry about the additional cost and work involved with rigid pipe.

      As for the stain issue. The type of container you described leads me to believe it is a typical plastic storage box, almost all of those have a taper to the sides. So if you put a bulkhead fitting in it, the fitting will be tilted downward. You are looking to connect two containers, which will have both fittings pointed towards the ground and not straight at one another. Connecting them with pipe would require you to either force them in line(adding strain) or use angled pipe bends to get things to line up. So a vinyl tube would be better to connect the containers than a pipe.

      Tube and barbs also have the benefit of being easier to connect across a short distance and ensure a watertight connection. I would recommend putting the tube on both sides first, then installing the bulkheads in the containers to make life easier and avoid damage when trying to press the tube on the barbs after the bulkheads are installed.

      The size of the containers will dictate the diameter of the tube. A one gallon would probably be fine with a 1" tube, but a 30 gallon would do better with 2-3" diameter.

      • solbear@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
        3·
        8 months ago

        The end outside of the container can have any number of means to attach a hose or pipe; like a barb, flange, thread, etc. For your application you will want a barbed bulkhead so you can just put a hose on there and don’t need to worry about the additional cost and work involved with rigid pipe.

        Ah, I’ve seen those kinds before, and that seems fairly simple. Thanks!

        As for the stain issue. The type of container you described leads me to believe it is a typical plastic storage box, almost all of those have a taper to the sides.

        Of course, now I understand what you meant! Yes, the boxes are slightly tapered, so that would be an issue.

        Tube and barbs also have the benefit of being easier to connect across a short distance and ensure a watertight connection. I would recommend putting the tube on both sides first, then installing the bulkheads in the containers to make life easier and avoid damage when trying to press the tube on the barbs after the bulkheads are installed.

        Great tips, noted! Now I’ll have to figure out where I can buy these locally.

        Thanks again for great help!

        • Death_Equity@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          I have seen them at larger hardware stores. I would check hydroponic supply stores, if you have those. Farm supply stores and gardening stores might be good options as well.

        • Rose Thorne(She/Her)@lemm.eeEnglish
          2·
          8 months ago

          Look for a hardware store. Even if they don’t carry it, a local place might be able to order one for you, or at least point you in the right direction. If you can find someone who’s more plumbing focused, it might be easier, but I don’t know how many of those there are left these days.