How Long Is A 5 Gallon Bucket Good For

[AndyL]

How long will the plastic of a 5 gallon bucket be good for before it become brittle and breaks to the point of spilling glazes onto my studio floor?

[oldlady]

depends on whether it has been exposed to the sun often.  i have buckets that were used for drywall mud while building a house in 1990.  they are always inside the studio. still  have glaze in them.  have had one outside in the west va sun for a long time and it is getting brittle.

[What?]

2 years ou in the Arizona sun. I have some over 10 years old inside.

[Biglou13]

lids will fail before bucket

cheap lids even quicker

i prefer the lids that come on the buckets vs after market (lowes,homedepot)

 

i get pickle buckets from sandwich shops with orginal lids    sometimes free up to 3 dollars

[High Bridge Pottery]

That drywall bucket is as old as me 

[Mark C.]

I have some from the 80s in studio-I consider them a 20 year life if you take some care with them.

Since they are all free from painter friends its really a good deal.

Keep them out of sun and from freezing and that last a long while

[Joseph Fireborn]

I would guess the glaze in the bucket would dry up before the bucket went bad, unless they are exposed to the elements.

[Girts]

That's good to hear - picked up a pile of them from the local deli the other day. Had been used for cream and for jam (not together!). All free.

[rayaldridge]

When I resurrected my studio year before last, I had some buckets that were over 25 years old.  I had one full of a delicate lavender glaze, and I went to mix it up with a drill motor and paint stirrer.  It knocked the side out of the bucket and there was glaze everywhere.

 

I have many old buckets, but now I drop them into a new bucket before I mix up the contents.

 

Lesson learned.

[Mark C.]

Ray time to get New buckets

[rayaldridge]

You're right!  I'm slowly cycling out the old ones.

[Mug]

I got some new buckets from home depot and some from lowe's, they were not made very well and didn't last.

The white paint buckets and food grade buckets seem to be made better and seem to last longer.

[Bioman]

For dipping glazes I use either a two or five gallon bucket with a Gamma lid.  Keeps a near airtight seal, opens without gumming issues and lids should last a long time.

 

"lids will fail before bucket

cheap lids even quicker

i prefer the lids that come on the buckets vs after market (lowes,homedepot)

 

i get pickle buckets from sandwich shops with orginal lids    sometimes free up to 3 dollars"

 

I use the Gamma lids, these are a permanent press on ring with a gasket screw lid in center so the bucket acts more like an airtight jar.  It opens and closes very easily. There not as cheap as the BORG lids but should last for years.  They comes in two sizes; one that fits 3.5 to 5 gallon pails and one that fits two gallon pails.  Go to the link they have a video that shows these in action.

 

http://www.bayteccontainers.com/gamma-seal-lids.html#gsc.tab=0

[Mark C.]

With a small gamma ray gun you can turn all your buckets and lids into gamma's

all kidding aside free buckets from food retailers are better made than the box box ones you buy.

[C.Banks]

I remember a young fellow who used to stir up buckets of glaze in an old home studio. The day a brittle bucket of tenmoku let go its' metal handle was the last day he ever trusted a handle on any bucket of glaze ever again.
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​*its/its' or w/e the possessive punctuation is

[Mark C.]

I have been thinking about this question now for a week and my buckets last right up until they break and then they are not good for anything.

I do use the ones that leak for hauling trimmings to the local road bed materials plant down the street.When they spilt into two pieces they are then considered toast.

[JohnnyK]

Having been in the construction business for almost 40 years, I have found the paint buckets to be the best. Outside exposure to weather, sunlight and freezing definitely shortens their lives. One thing I have noticed is that the little plastic thingamabob on the metal handle will fail first. When that cracks, splits or breaks, the bucket itself is not too far behind. The plastic lids (I still have some with metal lids) provide a pretty reliable seal, but it is important to make sure ALL the paint is removed from the O-ring in the lid. If you have ANY doubt about the reliability of the bucket, get rid of it! The cost of the glaze you lose when the bucket fails is a heck of a lot more than a new bucket!

JohnnyK