The Problem:
- How to repurpose this….
- ….into a multi-barrel BlueBarrel Rainwater Catchment System!
The Solution:

We carry twist plugs in our online store to seal holes that have been drilled in barrels.
The BlueBarrel Rainwater Catchment System is a completely closed design, which keeps water very clean, and our under-plumbed linking solution allows the user to drain every last drop of water through the provided spigot and drain valve.
But if barrels need to be all closed up, what can you do with hole-y barrels? The good news is, we’ve discovered a great plug solution, for a water-tight seal on pre-existing holes.
Now available in our Online Store, these rubberized twist-type plugs insert into holes around 1″ to 1-1/2″ in size. The plugs are tapered to work with holes of varying sizes. Insert until it feels tight, then twist the knob to expand the rubberized plug head for a water-tight seal. It’s brilliant!
Threaded Insert Tap Seals:

Also available in our online store, threaded insert tap seals provide a watertight seal for your spigot or drain.
As a side-note, if you have leaks around your tap or spigot and just need to tighten up the connection (without completely plugging the hole and starting over), we recommend the threaded insert tap seal. Unlike bulkhead fittings, which are two-part fittings that require you to get inside the barrel to screw them in, threaded insert tap seals easily insert from the outside. Similar to the tapered twist plugs, these fittings have a tapered shape that help them seal. They create a watertight port for any standard 3/4″ tap, spigot or drain valve. When the valve screws in, it tightens the tap seal beautifully against the barrel wall.
See our Online Store for these parts, as well as high-flow spigot and drain valves that will improve your output for gravity fed drip irrigation (or just faster bucket filling!) while you’re at it.
An Example from the Field:

Simply insert the plug and twist to expand – a water-tight solution for hole-y barrels!
Many BlueBarrel customers are attracted to our company not only for our unique system, but also because we stand by our environmental values of creating a lighter footprint. If you’ve read about BlueBarrel’s history, you’ll know it all started with a desire to create a rainwater harvesting system that uses food-grade barrels destined for the landfill and make them available locally to our customers, thus reducing the costs and impacts associated with manufacturing, storage, and transportation.