Water Butt Question

paulofessex

Can anyone please advise me if a water butt should be ventilated as such. Have purchased a Butt with stand etc and l notice the lid has a little removable cap in the centre of it, does this suggest that it should be removed to allow ventilation, or by removing it would that encourage flies etc.

Many thanks

matt987106

when you use the rain water butt, the water will leave a vacuum if its not got any air flow ( that might the reason for the small vent )

paulofessex

matt987106 wrote: »

when you use the rain water butt, the water will leave a vacuum if its not got any air flow ( that might the reason for the small vent )

Thanks for your reply. I will keep and eye on it, l was just worried if the water went stagnant if l left the vent type cap on.

forgotmyname

If its not moving water it will stagnate anyway. With or without the cap.

The cap is for a pump handle or another inlet pipe.

Flies and gnats etc will love it.

DaftyDuck

Extra-virgin Olive oil ... well, cheap rapeseed oil will do as well. Put half a teaspoonful on top of the rainwater, and it will form a thin film. Gno gnat problem any more. Stops smells as well. DON'T use 3 in 1, engine oil, or anything like that; it'll pollute the water, kill the plants, and rot the plastic. But, any vegetable based oil is fine.

suisidevw

Sorry to go a bit OT, A quick bit of advise if you please. I'm after attaching another water butt to my current butt to take any 'overflow'..... what equipment do I need for this?

StuHolmes

a water butt linking kit. All the DIY sheds or garden centres sell them.

tim_n

keep lid on to discourage flies and stop cats falling in. By the sounds of it though if it's a small hole don't worry.

We used to have an open topped barrel which we had fish in to eat the gnats. Not a good idea if you go on hols and it completely evaporates (or gets vandalised) - fortunately we had observant neighbours!

freezspirit

Tim_n sorry to ask but what fish did you put in the waterbutts?

ukjoel

And how did you stop them getting sucked down the tap?

freezspirit

ukjoel, some waterbutt taps have a filter mesh built into them or you could place something over the water outlet inside the waterbutt. So that could answer that.