5-gallon buckets are really handy and stack well into a small space. But when they get stuck together, it’s a pain. Here are the latest tips on how to get them unstuck!
#bucket #stuckbucket #homerbucket #shoptips
Plastic buckets, especially the 5-gallon variety, have become commonplace and are offered by most hardware, farm, and ranch, and paint supply stores. They are great advertising for them, and quite handy for you!
The buckets are made from plastic using injection molding techniques. This makes the wall thicknesses and the shape of the container consistent. Because they are tapered the same way from bucket to bucket and have the same thickness wall from top to bottom, the buckets nest perfectly inside each other (when they are from the same manufacturer). They do this without getting wedged together, even if it feels like it!
What makes the buckets resist coming apart is the vacuum that forms between the buckets as air is pushed out as the buckets are pushed together. Because the taper and thickness of the sides are so consistent, there is very little space around the buckets to let air into the cavity of the bottom bucket, so the vacuum can be hard to overcome.
Assuming that the buckets are from the same manufacturer and they are not fastened or glued together, getting the buckets apart is a matter of overcoming the vacuum between buckets.
Your fellow viewers have given us many ideas on how to do this. Here’s the latest ideas to come in:
Brute Strength. If there are two people with a fair amount of strength, then have one person grasp the ridges around the rim of the top bucket, and the other person grasp the ridges of the second bucket and pull away from each other. Consistent tension is better than sudden jerks. As the vacuum is overcome, the buckets will slide apart.
Use Pieces of Scrap Garden Hose to Stop a Vacuum from Forming in the First Place. Use short sections of old garden hose and attach it on opposite sides of the bucket so that the hose can be folded into the bucket as another bucket is slid into it. This stops the bucket from sliding completely down, as well as creating a slight gap along each side so that air can move easily in and out of the cavity under each bucket on top. No vacuum is formed, so the buckets will nest and un-nest easily.
Use an Object at the Bottom of Each Bucket to Stop a Vacuum from Forming. Before nesting each bucket, you can place an object ranging from a brick, or wood block to a stone to stop each bucket from sliding down far enough that a seal is formed along the sides of each bucket.
Use a Product Designed to Stop the Buckets from Getting Stuck Together. We’ve come across “Stuck It Bucket®” - a clever, durable, and economical device for keeping buckets from sticking together. You only need one per bucket. They are available at www.stuckitbucket.com. At the time of the filming of this episode, a 2-pack is $6.99, a 20-pack is $54.99, and a 40-pack is $99.99. They work by hooking onto the edge of the top bucket and having a “shelf” at the bottom that prevents the bucket from settling down too far into the bucket below it. It’s simple and effective, and it supports a U.S.A.-based micro-business!
With all the uses that these buckets are used for, we’re confident that we’ll hear some more great ideas on how to keep buckets ready to use without the hassle of them being stuck together.
To see other effective and economical methods for “unsticking” buckets, check out our other episodes:
• Getting Stuck Buckets ... (Getting Stuck Buckets Unstuck, Volume 1)
or ,
• Getting Stuck Buckets ... (Getting Stuck Buckets Unstuck, Volume 2)
Just Do It Yourself!