A full 5 gallon bucket weighs 40 lbs. If you’re going long distances you’ll want one of these wheeled devils.
Full article: Hand Cart
5 Gallon Bucket Wheelbarrow
World’s cheapest Air Conditioner!
For a few bucks this guy puts together an air conditioning unit that blows air over ice. We used to use something similar in the back room of a bakery I worked at when it would get sweltering hot.
You could use a plastic bucket instead of course, and come up with a bucket air conditioner!
Along similar lines, a bucket swamp cooler has been invented. Like all swamp coolers they only work in hot, dry climates.
One final way to refrigerate with buckets is with a pot-in-pot refrigerator! It only works with terra cotta though, not plastic. We already tried plastic.
Of course it happens to be WINTER right now for most of my readers (including me) so here’s a way to heat with 5 gallon buckets: 5 gallon rocket stove
Amazing how much climate control you can do with buckets!
Articles mentioned in this post:
Compost pickup by bicycle
That’s not me in the picture, but this is how I made a living for about a year and a half. It was me about six other people involved in this company. We’d pick up compost and haul it to backyard compost bins throughout the city.
On a busy day, each cyclist would pick up about 20 full 5 gallon buckets. Each bucket weighed 18 pounds on average. That’s a total of 360 pounds of food waste, and experienced compost couriers would do that in one load.
I don’t do it anymore, but occasionally I miss having such a fringe job. I still use a 5 gallon compost bucket of course, that’s too good an idea to pass up! And to keep it cleaner longer, I always line the bucket with newspaper.
http://fivegallonideas.com/compost-or-trash-bin/
http://fivegallonideas.com/lining-with-newspaper/
Automatic Chicken Food
If you’ve read the five gallon idea automatic chicken food article, don’t use that design! This guy has developed a much better version, go build that one instead!
Our post (with video): http://fivegallonideas.com/automatic-maggot-breeder-for-chickens/
Better version: http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/diy-unitv2.1-completed-unit-w1.jpg
Fancy!
HORRIBLE Computer in a Bucket
This computer bucket mod was far too terrible for the bucket computer article, so I’m sharing it here instead. Yes that is water in the bottom.
This is from the strangest website I’ve come accross in my bucket travels. Unfortunately, it is not the stupidest mod on the site.
http://www.afrotechmods.com/bucket.htm
More bucket computing!
The Coldest Buckets you’ve ever seen
So everyone knows that you can add salt to ice to make it melt quicker, but did you also know that adding sawdust to ice will make it melt much slower???
Apparently it’s true, although I have not tested this. Citation needed.
Check out these frozen ice buckets used by the aquarium during hurricane sandy. When you’re without electricity you’ve got to improvise – and duct tape is the chief tool of improvisational Er, I mean buckets are!
Gardening with Buckets
The best, if not only way to have a mobile garden is to stash it all in 5 gallon buckets. That includes compost, plants, soil, tools, anything else you can think of!
Check out our this gardening with buckets video for a bunch of ideas to do with bucket gardening.
Dimensions of a 5 gallon bucket
Here’s some common bucket dimensions you can work with – including how they stack! This is really useful for if you’re building something out of buckets and need it to be an exact height.
However, all buckets are created slightly different! Make sure to check our post on 5 gallon bucket dimensions to find the right dimensions for your particular model.
5 Gallon Bucket network 