Rain barrel rust

[goatlady]

I was gifted with several metal 55 gal drums last year. I installed a faucet near the bottom of one and set it up under a downspout as a rain barrel/water for the garden. The drums are white metal on the outside, but bare metal inside and the inside of the one I set up seems to be rusting, discoloring the water. Could I spray paint the insides of the other barrels with a metal enamal and avoid rusting and extend the life of the barrels? Necessary prep needed?

[eeyore]

i would say yes. Are you using it for drinking water or just in the garden? I would be very careful if it ended up being for drinking water.

But unless you really spend a lot of money sealing the barrels they will rust uot eventually.

[Irish-Tech]

To prep for the paint just sand the inside of the barrel. Once painted I would only use it as non-potable water.

[Mjollnir]

If it was me I would empty the barrels, let them dry fully, apply a coat of ospho and then prime and paint.

[goatlady]

The water is ONLY for my gravity fed irrigation in the garden so I don't want the "rust" to clog up the hoses. Sounds like I can spray a couple cans of Rust-O-Leum inside and be good to go for a few years at least. They get emptied in the fall and turned upside down cause I don't want the water to freeze in the barrel and pop the bottom seams.

[LizardKing]

Feed the barrel into the bottom of a 5 gal bucket and the gravity system from up near top of the bucket (needs a top on it) and then the rust and debris will settle to the bottom of the bucket and the lines will stay clear.

[1Admin]

What about that "Rust reformer" paint product?

[bountyhunter69]

i think that "rustoleum" (sp) would work