IBC Totes, 275 gallon totes, 300 gallon totes, carboys or whatever you want to call them. These things.

They’re big, they hold a lot of water, and they’re difficult to hook up to garden hoses. Why? Fittings for them are hard to find at the local hardware store.

Fire up your creativity, we’re going to show you how to hook up an IBC tote to a garden hose.

Example of a male cam lock fitting.

Example of a male cam lock fitting.

The bottom drain line on an IBC tote is fitted with a ball valve. The discharge end of this valve can be a 2″ threaded (or butress) fitting. At this point, you need to determine what size pipe you want to go to. For this guide, we’ll end with a standard 3/4″ garden hose.

The discharge end can also be a cam lock fitting, too. In this case, you can use a 2″ female cam lock fitting to a threaded 2″ end – available at Grainger for $12.50

Option One:

Tote connection disassembled. Photo by Bret G.

Tote connection disassembled. Photo by Bret G.

To build the above hose connection we’ll need a couple of parts, as mentioned in the article Bret G. wrote titled “Hauling 275 gallons of Recycled Water with an IBC Tote“.

2" IBC tote to garden hose. Photo: Bret G.

2″ IBC tote to garden hose. Assembled. Photo: Bret G.

Option Two:

Tote fitting on right, to flexible hose to gray union fitting on left.

Tote fitting on right, to flexible hose (not shown) to gray union fitting on left. Source: Brentwood Ace Hardware

The basic design for this connection was created by Stan, the plumbing department manager at the Brentwood Ace Hardware. Reduce the outlet of the IBC tote to something more manageable with a 2″ flexible coupling.

Stan did have some good words of advice: Increasing the size of fitting off the tote will ensure a higher volume of water supply for the pump. This increased flow will reduce wear and tear on the pump, thus extending the operational life of the equipment.

Example: If you go from a 2″ tote connection directly down to a 3/4″ garden hose, a Harbor Freight Pacific Hydrostar 1500GPH utility pump could only run 10-20 sprinklers. But, if you increase the size of the suction header to 1-1/4″, then that same pump could drive 40 sprinklers. This has been proven successful by using a full-bore garden hose valve.

Photo: Michelle Tarantino

Photo: Michelle Tarantino

Here is an example of flexible coupling hooked up to two hose outlets. While complex, with the right amount of creativity and plumbers PVC glue anyone can build it.

Other examples:

 

Tote -> 2" flexible coupling -> ball valve -> garden hose.

Tote -> Flexible Coupling -> Ball Valve -> Garden Hose.

  

Tote -> Flexible Coupling -> Garden Hose.

Tote -> Flexible Coupling -> Garden Hose.