Drilling the Rain Barrels for the Hose Fittings

From In the Garden

This post is very near and dear to my heart because if I had had this information two years ago my rain barrels would've been done-two years ago! I honestly had no idea just how easy it is to make a rain barrel until I finally got all the right equipment and used it! I've had the rain barrels for over three years now but was lacking the right drill bit and was not sure on the right fittings. Fear of failure kept me from attempting to put the rain barrels together. All the 'how to' lists I had seen on rain barrels would not give specifics on what type of fittings to use and how to drill the holes for the fittings. I don't know, maybe I am a bit behind and that info comes innate to some? If so, then I apologize to all of you but for me the learning curve was a bit steeper even with help from you all. Here is what I learned to finally make it happen for me.

I used a forstner bit to drill the hole into the rain barrel. I was so afraid the hole would not work out right and the forstner bit intimidated me a bit. Don't know why but it did. My rain barrels were the standard plastic ones and I knew the plastic had to be at least 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. I did not think a normal twisty bit would work and I knew a hole bit would not work because they are iffy at best when I've used them to drill holes in gourds so I kept wondering what kind of bit would drill a good hole in hard plastic. One day Mr. Fix-it and I were shopping at Harbor Freight and he pointed to a forstner bit and said that was what I needed to drill my good round perfect holes into the rain barrels. I immediately purchased a 3/4 inch forstner bit since I knew my hose bibbs were 3/4 inch.

From In the Garden

Here are the hose bibbs with the 3/4 inch clearly marked on the outside of the brass fittings. Here is my problem. The 3/4" means the inside of the hose bibb and not the outside-the part that will have to fit into the hole. Uh oh. Okay, back to a hardware store with a tape measure and the hose bibb to ensure I got the right sized forstner bit. Turns out I needed a 1 inch forstner bit in order to fit the 3/4 inch hose bibb into the hole. Who the heck comes up with all these measurements and why can't they be straightforward? Like why isn't a 2 x 4 actually a 2 x 4?? Okay, that is another story but hardware and measurements are not strong points for me so I'm making sure to put this out there for other not so savvy measurement-hardware-drill bit shoppers who may also have some questions as I did. Bottomline: Whatever size hose bibb you buy make sure you buy the bit to fit the outside of the hose bibb and not the inside.

From In the Garden

I stabilized my barrel between two saw horses then proceeded to drill a hole approximately 3 inches up from the bottom in the location of the barrel I needed my hose for easy access. The forstner bit made the hole perfect! It is important to have a good tight and perfectly round hose in order for the hose bibb to fit snug and not leak. Prior to screwing in the hose bibb I applied plumbers tape to my threaded end of the hose bibb so that all the threads were covered. The last and final step was to screw in the hose bibb. This was the easiest part indeed-righty tighty-lefty loosey and the bibb is all in nice and tight and waterproof! Not a leak in sight! Okay, confession, I did not screw my first hose bibb in tight enough so I had a slight leak. It was an easy enough fix in that I simply gave it another turn-while full of water! More on that rain barrel in a later post....

in the garden....

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In the Garden