Anyone know any tricks to separate 5gal pails stuck together?

[Jerome Tews]

The stupid kids went and stuck some 5gal pails inside each other, and as always they are stuck now. I know better not to stick them together, or to toss a small scrap of 2x4 in the bottom when stacking, which makes them not fit tightly together.

But it's too late for preventative measures....

Do any of you know any tricks to separate them, without beating them with a hammer which usually just breaks at least one of them....

I wish there was a way to blow them apart with compressed air, but aside from drilling a hole in one of them, that wont work, and if a hole is drilled, that pail is junk.

I was thinking about using hot and cold, but that would require a dunking tank full of very hot water with ice water inside the inner pail. Seems too complicated to achieve.

[Terry Coombs]

Hang the inside one up by the wire handle . Tie a weight to the handle of the outside bucket . Walk away and check it tomorrow .

  --   Snag

[Buster]

Get a jack and jack 'em off.

[Dean Hoffman]

A YouTube video shows a guy forcing an air nozzle between the two buckets. Another shows a guy just standing on the innermost bucket handle then pulling on the outer bucket. Supposedly running hot water on the outer bucket for just a minute will make the difference sometimes.

[gfretwell]

+1 The cool down at night followed by warming up in the morning usually does the trick. If not hit the bottom inch or so of the bottom one (while it is hanging) with a hair dryer.

[Ed Pawlowski]

I blame the parents of the stupid kids. Evidently they were brought up not taught to use common sense.

[Iggy]

replying to Jerome Tews, Iggy wrote: You can turn them upside down, hold the bottom bucket with your feet and then spin the top bucket loose like you're unscrewing it off the other bucket. Or, lean on the inner bucket's rim to bend it slightly. This, will break the vacuum and they'll slip right apart.