Food grade barrels?

[Tala]

You know those blue barrels that people use for rain collection barrels?
I thought that the blue ones were food grade?? How can you tell?

I aquired a blue plastic one, but it has a sticker on it that says it used to contain a commercial degreaser. Not so sure I want to use it to water my chickens.......

 

[SimplyForties]

I don't think color denotes food grade. I've seen food grade plastic barrels in black, white and blue. I guess you have to trust your source!

 

[miron28]

i would just wash it out real good! i use metal barrels that had fuel in them and i wash them out a couple of times and never had problems with them!

 

[fldiver97]

Color does not indicate use for those plastic barrels. You have to check where you get them from if they are food grade and what they were used for.....If you want to use one for a rainbarrel, use a color other than white....light color allows for algae growth and gets really messy....If used for feed it should not matter what color. I would wash and sanitize any barrel as you don't want to chance mold etc growing...JMHO

 

[Tala]

Quote:
It has already been washed out and cleaned pretty well, so there's hope I guess.
I got to thinking that a degreaser would be kindof like a super-powered soap, and chemically speaking it should dissolve in water pretty well - and therefore rinse away pretty well. I think I'm gonna wash it out and give it a go.

 

[gsim]

Soometimes you can get white plastic barrels at car washes. They have only had soap in them. I have used those for personal emergency water storage, filled with tap water. Of course, we would filter that thru our Aqua-Rain filter before drinking, as we do our tap water every day. Used filtered tap water for 4 weeks until chicks were growing well, then switched to tap water. Am going to catch rainwater off of the coop roof for the girls. Good tip about the color and to avoid white. I think I will use a 20 or 30 gal drum for the downspout on the coop. Easier to handle.

 

[Tala]

That's what I'm going to do- catch the water off the top of the coop. I got to thinking about the drainage problem I was having, and catching the water totally solves it. Of course I can just route any extra "overflow" from the barrel further away from the coop with a garden hose.