5 gal. buckets w/ lids that seal?

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I've found local sources for food grade 5 gallon buckets with lids. (Found some at Smart & Final.)

On none of the buckets, do the lids appear to seal. You just place the lid flat on top of the bucket. There is no lip for sealing.

Does the seal only happen when you place the Oxygen absorbers inside and/or do the nitrogen packing? (If so, seems it could come un-sealed too easily. (?)

Do I have the wrong type of bucket? Should I be looking for buckets with lids that do seal, as in a cottage cheese container? - DB

-- D B Spence (dbspence@usa.net), December 12, 1998

Answers

Go to your local paint store and purchase these with the o-ring seal in the lid itself. It would be smart to use a food grade bag to line the bucket. Throw in a couple oxygen absorbers.

-- flierdude (mkessler0101@sprynet.com), December 12, 1998.

Try Home Depot. They sell 5 gallon buckets for $2.50 and gasketed lids for $1.50. I line them with food grade liners from www.glitchproof.com . For extra seal protection, you can use some GE silicon II caulking (just a small bead). Gives a great seal.

-- RD. ->H (drherr@erols.com), December 12, 1998.

You definitely need a bucket that seals. They are available at bakeries in grocery stores or independent bakeries for free. They receive baking supplies in them and often have many extras to give away. Good luck!

-- Diane (DDEsq2002@juno.com), December 12, 1998.

Diane, I've had some interesting turn downs from the bakeries. Of about 15 visits to bakeries I've gotten 6 buckets with lids, and about 10 without. Excuses range from "sorry we recycle them" to "Can't do it because of the liability". The latter statement came from a large doughnut chain. Seems their legal dept is concerned about law suits arising from children drowning in the buckets.

DB, don't let this discourage you if you are looking. Just keep trying. I am.

MVI

-- MVI (vtoc@aol.com), December 12, 1998.


Thanks MVI for the info. I haven't had any problem obtaining buckets. I have quite a few which I haven't filled yet. I found a small private bakery which may be a better place to obtain the buckets instead of a chain which, as you mentioned, has liability problems.

-- Diane (DDEsq2002@juno.com), December 12, 1998.


Look behind restaurants, sometimes they place buckets in the rear entrance in hopes someone will come by and take them.

-- Y2Kbabe (Y2Kbabe@xxx.com), December 12, 1998.

At 5:00 AM I went to a large chain grocery store that has a bakery and got all the five gallon food grade buckets with lids that I wanted. the lids do not have a gasket, just a plastic to plastic connection when the lid is put on. When filled with water and then turned upside down the water does not leak out. You must have the wrong kind of buckets if the lids don't have a tight seal. A caulking gun and a tube of silicone sealent, available at any hardware store or lumber yard, would seal the lid down to the bucket. After placing the silicone on the bucket or lid surface you would not want to disturbe the connection till the silicone sets up (about 24 hours). Once you break the seal by removing the lid you would have to reseal it all over again. Just get some better buckets

-- Pat James (trickjames@hotmail.com), December 13, 1998.

We have several 4, 6, & 8 gallon buckets which have built in carrying handles and the opening is about...,
| <------ this big ------> |
The cap looks something like this..
___.....................___ |...\.................../...|
|....\_________________/....|

(Hope the breaks make the spacing work and please ignore the dots. They are just to help spacing of the lines, for email reception.) The plastic cap just fits over the opening and prevents whatever's inside from leaking out. Upside down even. You have to bounce them around pretty good to make them pop the cap. There is a science trick where if a flat stiff material (cardboard?), is placed over a glass of water and the whole works is inverted, the lid will not release from the glass and the water will not come out. There may be some leakage at first but it works. These buckets are from a bottleing company. They held syrup. I have washed them throughly but they still hold some smell. This doesn't give me any great concern as the stuff was meant for consumption anyway and plus, we plan to do more about it. For what it's worth, I will fill them all with water for a considerable length of time prior to the actual final fill. Hopefully that will leach out any remaining imbedded (bad word) syrup and smell. On the final fill, we will be using chlorinated water from the tap which I feel will kill off any possible chemical or biological problems the residue could possibly cause. Maybe additional drops can be added. Any such chlorine can be eliminated prior to drinking. I really don't want to hear that they shouldn't be used. :-) There will be other containers available, but when the chips are due to come down, *all* containers will be filled. What can be done however, to make them safer if more precautions are felt to be needed? How about adding iodine to the container after it is filled with chlorinated water or, perhaps iodine in while it is in the leaching stage? Thanks for any ideas. Me

-- Floyd Baker (fbaker@wzrd.com), December 19, 1998.

try www.usplastics.com.

they sell buckets and lids and gamma-seal lids. good prices - fast delivery - and everything's new...

-- lid (bucketman@yoydyne.com), December 19, 1998.


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