Dear Mike

Many thanks for your enquiry concerning how best to link a series of Harcostar water butts.  There are various ways you could go about this which I’ve detailed below;

• Bottom linking three butts will allow all the water butts to fill at the same rate and helps to prevent water stagnating as it’s moving almost constantly. The manufacturer recommends drilling a 25mm diameter hole in the second or middle butt to accept the linking kit connector joining this butt to the third. The other end of this linking kit is inserted into the third butt through the usual port. This particular set up is recommended if you wish to run an irrigation system off each butt as they all empty at the same rate.

• You could use the tap hole in the second butt as a fixing point for the linking kit. This would save drilling a hole but would also mean you couldn’t use the tap on this butt.

• All water butts can be linked at the top which has the advantage of being easier to install (eg. no drilling) but the third butt in the chain won’t fill until both the first and second are completely full.     
 
If you choose to drill a hole to attach the linking kit to the middle or further buts in the chain as detailed above, you’ll need to do the following;

• Drill a 25mm hole – this does not need to be threaded

• Clean off any excess burrs or material and ensure the hole is round and true

• Do this before filling the butt!

Whichever method you choose to link your water butts will work, top or bottom, but it’s entirely at your discretion which method you decide upon.
Martin