Thursday 26 May 2011

Stop the Slosh

A week ago I mentioned our new régime for watering the garden. This is working really quite well, but as I said at the time, driving a car with two 80litre bins full of water does require smooth driving. This isn't an issue for me, but with the best will in the world driving up a rutted dirt track is never going to be as smooth as the situation requires. The main problem is that the lids don't seal: these are, after all, garbage bins.

This led me to some wonder if there was something I could do so that I can take the bins more than 1/3 full without filling the car with water.

The answer is "yes".

The problem is that water slops around - as you go over a bump is creates a wave, which pushes the lid up, and water gets spilled. What is needed is a baffle, so that the waves don't develop peaks. The solution is plastic bags - just lay a thick plastic bag on top of the water, with the ends of the bag going up the side of the bin and caught under the lid.

One bin with the lid on, one bin with
plastic bag awaiting lid
All of a sudden I can carry the bins more than 3/4 full. It still requires smooth driving, but I haven't spilled a drop the past two days.

Simon

10 comments:

IanJ said...

If the bag's big enough and you tie it off reasonably tightly, you should be able to fill the bins to the top.
Of course, you may need heavy-duty bin bags rather than the flimsy ones.

Susan said...

Ian: this sounds alarmingly like you have experience of this sort of Heath Robinson arrangement!

GaynorB said...

Quick.......take out a patent!

Tim said...

It does explain the puddle outside ours when Susan left yesterday! ;D
Good lateral thinking Simon.

WV is "dercor"... like wot you are doing at the moment!

Jean said...

Clever !!
It has rained proper rain here in the UK today. I was really glad to see it - our gardens and crops are desperate for the water, too.

ckb said...

What about putting water inside the bin liner and then tying it off for the trip? Nothing to slosh about. It might work.

wcs said...

You could do what Ken said, only put wine inside the bin liner, then put the whole thing inside a cardboard box. Add a little spigot on the bottom...

Oh, did I just hit "enter?"

Simon said...

The bags are actually heavy duty rubble sacks. The system works well, and the water is easy to get to at the other end.

Filled with wine, I wouldn't have to worry about water. Or at least I would stop worrying about it. I like the thinking, though...

Anonymous said...

what about having a 'bore hole' sunk then you would have a permanent solution to the problem and not have to worry about transporting water

Simon said...

Anon. Nice idea, but during a drought we wouldn't be allowed to extract anyway. Extraction in the Claise basin has been banned for a couple of months now

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