hey fellas, i was wondering where you guys would suggest to look for 55 gallon drums. i want to use one as a reactor vessel and one as a wash tank but dont necessarrily need new ones. any old used drum should do. i just want to know where to look to find them.

thanks
-aj

 

They are not as scarce as they were a few years ago. Used to be they would put a $15-$25 deposit on used drums. They would then take 'em back to the refinery to clean up and reuse. Now I guess it's easier to just make a new drum then to use precious fuel to haul back the empties, clean up the drums and reuse them. There's a certain Ford dealer that I know of that usually has 3-5 of them sitting back behind in the scrap metal pile waiting for the iron man to come pick them up. ;-)
You might try a Ford dealer, a speedy lube place or similar places. Talk to the person in charge to see of they have any that you can take off their hands. They might want a couple of buck for them but that's cheaper than they used to be.

 

if you have any farmer coops in your area check with them, the one around here had 30 or 40 drums of different sizes ranging from 15 to 55 gallon.

 

Car washes also are a good source

 

thanks for the replies guys, i'll be sure to check out those spots

 

If you are in Dairy Farm country, check with any local farmer. They should have 15 to 55 gallon plastic opaque barrels that contained the various cleaning agents used to wash milk pipelines.
Or check the local dairy supplier, they often have stacks of returned barrels and need to get rid of them anyway.

 

Too bad you are not closer to Louisiana, we have massive amounts of drums here. We crush probably a dozen a week. Heck, since the storms you can see them piled up on the side of the road.

 

yeah here in yuppie ville as i like to call it lol. its hard to find alot of things like simple 55 gallon drums and what not. just gotta look a little harder is all. i'll find some tho

 

go to your neighborhood quicklube, they dont usually have 55 gals but they have a lot of 15 gal. we pick a bunch of them up and make trash cans out of em and we use them for clean and dirty rags.

 

Uhh I picked up the blue plastics at the local feed store for 15 bucks. I also can get large plastic totes from 225 gal to 330 gal for about 110 bucks. I have 2 330 gal and many a barrels. The totes come with a valve on the bottom, built in pallets and a safty cage around them. You should be able to find the same at any chemical supply store.

 

I have a local drum company, in Norfolk Va, that sells plastic/steel drums for 15-30 each new depending on the configuration (sealed lid/removable). Here is a link to companies that deal in them.

http://www.recyclingmarkets.net/mark...tml?mat=FD&us=

 

Here in St. Pete (FL) there is a pharmaceutical company that gets a lot of supplies (like glycerin) in 55 gals (steel, plastic). They bind them together when empty for pickup eventually. Sometimes they may have several dozen. I can take as many as I want. See if you have a pharmaceutical or cosmetic manufacturer nearby. Also like Leskwvo said, car washes are good too.