Water tight 55 gal barrel connections?

[Too Tall]

Hi,

I'm using a 55 gal barrel to collect sap from trees up on a hill. I will be putting a 3/4" fitting in the bottom of the barrel with a spigot. How do I make that connection water tight?

I tried a male connector on the outside (pushed through the hole) and a female connection on the inside. Between them, I used 2 rubber gaskets (one outside / one inside) and some silicon caulk to goop it all up with.

This didn't work. I'm still getting drips because my drill skipped a little when I was drilling the initial hole.

Any other ideas?

[jmayerl]

Bulkhead fitting

[SeanD]

Yeah, the bulkhead fitting is what you need, but you have to be able to get access to the inside of the barrel. How did you get that female fitting inside there?

Sean

[stoneslabs]

here is how i'm doing mine... havn't tried it yet but should work! :rolleyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdqznxPT_cY

[Too Tall]

Man......if I only knew about a bulkhead fitting a few days ago!

My barrels have removable lids (a very nice feature). That's how I got the female fitting in there. I got them for $10 each from a local brewery. They were used to keep hops in.

Thanks guys.

[adk1]

I am using a 55 gal barrel as my head tank this year. I cut the torp of it completely off for easy cleaning. I drilled a hole using a hole drill to the diameter of my bulkhead fitting in the bottom of the barrel. The bulkhead fitting didn't leak a bit. It's the only way to go