Water Butts...

[charliesarmy]

I have four water butts around my yard 3 are fine but one always smells stagnant I've emptied it a few times but everytime it refills it always smell why

especially when the others are fine

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Where is the runoff that is filling it from? Is the stagnant one sited differently from the others? Bright sunlight will encourage the bloom of algae that you see in garden fishponds that don't have a UV filter system (pond water constantly pumped past a UV light tube, which kills the algae). It makes the water look green and horrible. Or the stagnant one might be collecting detritus off an old mossy roof or over- hanging trees. Next time you clean it out, why not try resiting it? If that makes no difference then I'm afraid it must be either haunted or has an ancient curse on it lol x

 

[Enfys]

Little experiment called for, swap the butts around, so that a clean one goes where the smelly one is, if the 'clean' one begins to smell then it is the siting/drainage that is the problem, if the 'smelly' butt still smells then bin it and get a new one.

Put a cover on it? That also stops the mosquito/midges using it as a breeding ground.

Next time you clean it slosh a bottle of Milton cleansing fluid in it and give it a good scrubbing, rinse well and it is quite harmless, plastic tanks get scratched over time and all kinds of nasties breed in those scratches even if it looks clean to the naked eye.