Leachate drainage tap

[Dan Thompson]

Hi

as I’ve seen from a couple of photos, and the lady on the phone suggested has been asked a few times, I’d love to be able to swap out the cap for a tap. It’s not that easy to get something under the cap to drain the leachate without getting it everywhere, and a tap would make this so much easier. It was suggested someone has done just that and posted on the forums about it, but I can only find the details of the guy gluing in the standard cap. If anyone knows of a suitable way to fit a tap, so please lets me know! Thanks

[Packin’ Heat]

Same here - had mine about a month and I’m loving it, but find the “tap” to be sorely lacking in the design. I’m getting a lot of leachate- if I leave it a couple of days without draining it, it’s leaking through the vent. So taking off the cap is a messy affair, and I also find collecting the leachate tricky.

I want to know what size thread the adapter has so I can figure out how to attach a tap. HotBin can you advise please?

I have a plan. If it works I will share here!

[Packin’ Heat]

Here goes.

1. I picked up this spigot from Wickes for about £1.70 - it is a 40mm / 1 1/2 inch dishwasher nozzle

2. The thread on the HotBin cap is wider than the thread on the white dishwasher nozzle

3. The nozzle is too wide at the narrow end, but I noticed the threaded section and figured it might be compatible with a tap end hose fitting I’d picked up at Wilko for 99p

4. Using a hacksaw, I removed the narrow end of the nozzle, leaving the threaded section at the end.

5. Then by removing the grey adapter from the hose fitting I was relieved when the hose connector screwed perfectly onto the shortened nozzle.

[Packin’ Heat]

6. I wasn’t expecting the white collar from the nozzle pack to be compatible with the male thread on the HotBin outlet - so I measured the aperture - about 26 mm

7. Went down to the allotment with my drill and a 25 mm flat drill bit

8. Sure enough, the white collar didn’t fit in the outlet, so I drillled out the face of the blue cap that came with the bin

9. The wide end of the white nozzle is a tiny fraction narrower than the outlet - shame it wasn’t slightly wider so it would butt up but with some PTFE tape on it I managed to make it a bit more snug. Then by slipping over the drilled out blue cap I was able to secure it all in place.

10. Next I needed to add a valve so I could control the flow. And I also needed to use a couple of hose ends that I had, but again these are available at Wilko and similar for about a quid a pop. And a short section of hose.

[Packin’ Heat]

The valve was the spare I had from a recent project when I bought a pair off Amazon for £7.98

FULAIERGD 2 Pcs 16mm 2 Way Garden Hose Quick Connector with Shut Off Valve (2-Way 16mm)

[Packin’ Heat]

Switching to this - Growment Plastic Valve with Quick Connector Agriculture Garden Watering Prolong Hose Irrigation Pipe Fittings Hose Switch 1 Pc - Amazon £6.01 but cheaper if you are happy to wait longer for delivery.

Trying it today.

[Packin’ Heat]

So I have added the latest tap instead of the longer hose version. It is a little longer than I’d like and I’m not sure how long it will last, given it is cobbled together from this and that, but it works.

I would love to see something better designed and made being offered by HotBin. I will even offer to test it 😉

#tap #leachate #cap

[Plectronius O’Seaweed]

Indeed. I bought what look like the right sized cap with a tap from Amazon, after checking against a standard bottle top, but it didn’t really fit, even with some PTFE tape. But it is still good for putting onto bottles of car screenwash, -you can top up the reservoir with no spillage. - So that is one thing fixed. The bin outlet cap seems to be double threaded and 2.5 litre plastic bottle tops seem to be single threaded? I might try hot glue or some sort of mastic to hold it on the next time I clean it out. In the meantime I bought a plastic kitchen jug for £1 and if you wedge that under the outlet, it catches most of what drains out.

[Mojop]

Hi

as I’ve seen from a couple of photos, and the lady on the phone suggested has been asked a few times, I’d love to be able to swap out the cap for a tap. It’s not that easy to get something under the cap to drain the leachate without getting it everywhere, and a tap would make this so much easier. It was suggested someone has done just that and posted on the forums about it, but I can only find the details of the guy gluing in the standard cap. If anyone knows of a suitable way to fit a tap, so please lets me know! Thanks

Just send £11.69 to me and I will provide a suitable tap. This comes free with a box of red wine which I will drink so that you can have a suitable tap. Works great with mine but the profile of the tap needs to be sanded (or something) down to have an exact fit. Seriously this is a great alternative and I can send you a spare in the fulness of time!

[SophieB]

Hi there, after reading this post multiple times as I wanted a tap to help drain off the huge amounts of leacheate we were getting, I thought I should share my very low tech solution, a bit of string!

The compost was getting smelly, and our leachate kept coming out of the front on the hotbin (we thought because not enough paper was being added, but I now think it was rainwater, see below).

I had to bodge a solution as i was unable to find the right size tap. It's not perfect but very cheap and works well, maybe even more beneficial than a tap, it's just a bit of string! Its inspired by my old Uni which instead of using plastic gutter down pipes, they had chains which the rain water trickled down to the drain.

One piece of string I tied around a small weight (I used a wooden bead) and pushed this just inside the hotbin through the drainage hole, and the other end into a bottle. The majority of the leacheate went into the bottle but some leachate still managed to get past and onto the outside of the neck, so a second piece of string I tied around the neck of the drainage hole and put the two ends going into the bottle too. I tied a knot about 10-15cm down and trimmed the ends.

The leachate runs down the string straight into the bottle. The bottle needs to be on an angle so that the string goes straight in rather than touching the neck, hence the bricks, they also stop the bottle blowing away.

I like this solution as the liquid drains straight off rather than the compost sitting in it and getting smelly until you drain it off. I have noticed the bottle fill very quickly when it rains, so I agree with other posters on this forum that rainwater is getting in. You don't have to drain it every time, just wait for the bottle to fill which is easy to see happen. I also wonder if the extra ventilation might aid the process, though I haven't tested it over winter yet, where it might cool it down. The wooden bead I used fills about 2/3 of the hole so it shouldn't be too bad.

I notice the bottle fills at least 1/3 to 1/2 after a day of rain. I cant believe i didnt make the link before! We were putting huge amounts of paper in and nothing was helping.

Edit: After about 6 weeks the natural cotton string has, well.. composted! I will re-tie using a synthetic string and see if that works just as well.

[Mick J]

I found these on the bay (other outlets have them) item: 'Dispensing Tap 38 mm' doubled up the white seal from the spare, cut down the nozel and seems to make life easier.