5 gal buckets stuck together....

Awl --

I live by 5 gal buckets -- at any given time, I have between 25 and 60, depending on how reliable neighbors are about returning them. :)

Hammering them apart, tho, is a real pita. Sometimes you *really* gotta hammer! How to keep them from sticking?

Thinking one or two sheetrock screws to just stop full insertion. Thought of a line of epoxy on the outside to keep them from "sealing".

It's not, I don't believe, a vacuum problem, in which case a simple hole in the bottom would suffice.

Any ingenious solutions out there?

Reply to
Existential Angst
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Best I've seen is to drop a chunka' tubafor in the bottom so they don't/can't bottom out...

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Reply to
dpb

Brilliant. I'd have never thought of that.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Make sure they are completely dry before stacking and store them under cover so they don't get wet...Don't stack to many together either....HTH....

Reply to
benick

"Existential Angst" wrote in news:4b0d831b$0$22532$ snipped-for-privacy@cv.net:

Could using thin shims around the top edge of the buckets work?

Reply to
Mr.Spock

Mr.Spock wrote: ...

Anything that keeps them from pushing into each other 'til they interfere will work; the trick is a simple way to do it. The block in the bottom is "cheap 'n cheery".

And on the other note about covered for rain -- it works as well upside down by just dropping it on the bottom of the top one in the pile before adding another....

I've seen nothing simpler certainly...

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Reply to
dpb

Stick a rag in the bucket hanging over the top so the next one can't bight and allow a slight space to take a blow tip and compressor to blow the buckets apart.

Reply to
DanG

How about draping a rag (microfiber cloth, terry cloth, duster, or whatever) over the side of each bucket?

That should keep the buckets from "sticking together" and each bucket would come with it's own cloth. Just add water and you're ready to tackle to any cleaning task ;-)

Reply to
Malcolm Hoar

Why are you against full insertion?

Reply to
in2dadark

Rags can get expensive for that many buckets. I use a 1/4" cord down the side to prevent them from going in all the way and it helps pull them apart.

Reply to
Michael Dobony

Why are you against full insertion? ===============================

Jealousy, proly. I wish *I* could get stuck like that.....

Reply to
Existential Angst

Excellent suggestions!

I KNEW there had to be simple solutions!! I've been muttering over this for years! Old tennis balls or mebbe squash balls come to mind as well. I'll measure the insertion to see just what the min diameter has to be.

Old #12 wire should work as well, like rags or rope.

Reply to
Existential Angst

It's not ingenious. How about not forcing them together and stacking them horizontal instead of vertical.

Reply to
tnom

Stack them in the right order. They stick when you put a bigger one into a slightly smaller one.

Reply to
Bob F

If you take your rubber tipped blow gun on your air compressor and just blow air between the buckets at point blank range, it'll let them apart quite nicely.

Reply to
Steve Barker

That is the method I use. I figured if I read the thread far enough someone must have done this also.

Reply to
RLM

Which, of course, is fine if the buckets are in close proximity to the compressor at the time you want to get them apart...which rarely is the case it seems at least ime... :)

Reply to
dpb

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