55 Gallon drum storage

[AlphaTea]

I have "several" blue 55 gallon drums for water storage, but space is becomming an issue for me.
I have them standing upright, next to the wall in the basement. I did not want to stack them on top of each other because it is a PITA to get the water out.
I am thinking of building some kind of rack where I can store the barrels on their side and stack maybe 3 high.
This would make it easier to get the water out and easier fill/drain.
I have a few ideas on what I need to do but I am wondering if anyone has anything like this or knows someone who does.
I would rather build it myself unless prefab is obviously better.
HELP?

[Sniper-T]

I have 3 - 40 gallon barrels hanging from my floor joists in my crawlspace (under the house). I made up some u shaped brackets with ears on them, secured them to the joist with the lid in between the joists for easy access. They work REALLY well, and make a really nice convenient place to put stuff.

I'm sure something like this would be easy enough to make up...

[AlphaTea]

Yea, I have looked into that particular type of rack setup and i like it.
Its not cheap though and Im not sure how much compressive force a plastic barrel can handle with others stacked on top without some outside support.
I am curious though, tell me about these brackets you made up.

[Sniper-T]

I just took some flat bar from work, 3/16 X 2" cut it to about 100 inches, and rolled them into a u shape, leaving the legs sticking up straight. then I punched 1/2 holes in each end, 1" centers, and then broke the ends up 90 degrees, to form the ears.

_..........._
.|..........|
.|..........|
..\____/

^
like that! disregard the dots, they're just place holders. and the bottom part is rounded not flat.

If you give me the radius or diameter of your barrels I can sketch out a modification to that original photo, so the upper barrels would be supported. Can you weld? or have access to a welder? do you have access to steel?

[AlphaTea]

Looks good!
The only welding I can do is JB Weld. I can solder and braise like you would not believe, but never learned to weld.
I am pretty handy with wood.
I want to go 3 high so I figure its probably better to have the load on the floor than on the ceiling.

[Sniper-T]

np. I'll sketch out a design, based on the first one, that'll load bear to the floor. np!

[Sniper-T]

forgive the pic quality, I just had my cell phone.

These are the hangers (upside down):




And part of one bank, to show them in action:

[AlphaTea]

To say that is a cool idea would be an understatement.
I feel honored that you would share this.
I see that those are open top drums with hoop locks. What do you keep in them? Do you have any for water storage?

[Sniper-T]

They have a nice rubber seal on the lids, so they stay dry dry dry inside even if the crawlspace is a little damp.

The barrels (not all shown) contain my long term storage items. So the standards, rice and beans, hundreds of bags of my homemade MRE's, canned goods, paper products (TP, PT, PP), pasta, flour, sugar, etc etc etc. you know everything that any of us put up.

Most of my water is in the form of 5 gallon bottles, and in a different location. but I don't store much in that manner, as I have 165 000 gallons in my pond (potable) 20 feet from my backdoor, and a creek 1/4 mile away. I do have one barrel filled with 500ml bottles, that we rotate out through my pepsi machine each summer.

[AlphaTea]

What about using eye bolts along with heavy rope or cable for the straps?
This does have potential and I will probably use your idea for another project, but still not quite what I originally need.
Jeez man, this design of yours is great, why havent you said something before?