55 Gallon drum storage

[Sniper-T]

??? er.... um.... ahhhh... I didn't think of it as special. just something I needed and did.

Haven't really thought much about them until your thread here.

I 'm thinking I might have to put up a couple other threads with shots of a few things I've done.

There's "regular thinking", "thinking outside the box", and in my world "there is no box"




If I were to go with eye bolts and rope, then I'd set it up as a pulley system, especially if you have a full 8' plus ceiling. then you don't need ladders, you can just hoist them up and down.

I went with the steel straps, because I'm a steel worker and it was quick, easy, cheap, and convenient for me. I just designed it up, walked to the shop floor at work, said I need 40 of this, cut to that. punch holes here, roll it like this, bend it here, and throw it in my truck when you're done.

Shipping would negate any value in making them for others, even though I am almost out, and will be setting up another run.

[bacpacker]

I loike that set up T. Never seen anything like it, but I can think of many possibilities.

[AlphaTea]

Well I finally figured it out.
I really like Sniper-Ts ideas and designs especially the pulleys.
My basement has a 7.5 foot ceiling. A string of 6 barrels would actually take up quite a bit of space. I have 16" on center joists so that complicated the spacing of 24" barrels too.
I decided on a 72H x 48W x 30D Metal rack by Edsal. I have to buy it in pieces and assemble but the final cost is about $150.
I can fit 2 barrels per shelf. I'll raise the top shelf so the barrels almost touch the ceiling and fit the other 2 up as high as they will go. each shelf is rated for 2000lbs so weight is not much of an issue. The barrels will stick out 3" on the front and back of the shelfs but thats no big deal
I bought some bung spigots for each barrel to simplify fill and drain.
Now I will be able to store 300+ gallons in a 36 x 48 space

[Sniper-T]

let's see some pics when you get them up

[Dropy]

i like the eye bolt and rope idea. Just make sure whatever you use as a fastener to hold the eye bolts with does not get pulled out by the weight. And also consider what your tieing this all up too. You dont wanna put this much weight on a 2x4.....

[AlphaTea]

I had some firewood stored here and had to move it out.
The larger white PVC pipe is the line to the septic tank.
The black hose looking line goes to the A/C unit
Floor to bottom of joists is 84"


The first rail


Most of the way there

[Sniper-T]

nice!

and a couple shelves below (forthcoming)
for other things...

[AlphaTea]

It was time to rotate some water anyway. I will add more barrels after I get these two filled.
Each shelf will exactly hold 2 barrels with no wiggle room for a total of 6 55 gallon barrels. There is about 3/4 inch between the barrels on the top shelf and the ceiling.
I put braces under each barrel that are about 4" wide in case the barrel sags under its own weight. each shelf is rated for 2000 lbs.
The barrels hang off about 3" on the front and back.
I have plastic spigots for each barrel that will make draining much easier. It took about 1/2 hour to siphon each barrel before.
I bought the sides and the support braces at Lowes for about $90ish. I ordered the 48" shelf pieces from HomeDepot.com because they were about $1 cheaper and had free shipping. They were about $60. So the whole deal is costing me a little over $150.
I have COMPLETE confidence in the soundness of this rack. Built like a friggin tank.
Matter of fact I think Im going to add another 6 or 8 foot section to it for shelving.

[Stormfeather]

I use something similar, although very crude. I took 3x3 lengths of wood, scalloped out a couple of sections and the barrels lay in the section scalloped out. Very similar to what you have except its wood. This way no need to build a rack system. The two braces on the bottom dont have scallops on both sides, just the top one. Barrels lay in the scallops, put next length of wood on top of them only that piece is scalloped on both sides but offset. One at the front and one at the back and no issues at all!

Crude drawing. . .

O= barrel
U= scalloped section of wood


...O...O...O...O
---u---u---u---u---
[_____________]

[bacpacker]

Nice build Alpha. Thats a lot of water in a compact area.

Stormy i assume you use multiple layers of barrels? How high did you go with them? That system would be super easy to tear down and move if needed.