Water Butt maintenance

Wow so many comment thank you all.
Sorry not replied sooner I have been decorating.
I am going to clean out the butts, I remember reading somewhere seniors with health issues(which I am and have many health issues should clean out once a year. Still not sure what to use but I have bought a mop and bucket.
The reason I asked this in the first place is because last year I had a very bad cough which came back a number of times. GP referred me to the hospital and the X/ray showed something in my lungs. When the consultant found out I was bin composting and turning the compost three times a week he told me this was probably the problem and said it would be a good thing to stop bin composting. I did and haven't had the problem since.
If I had thought about it I should have used a mask when turning rotting materials.
Anyhow thanks everyone for all your comments and happy SAFE gardening.
Jean

I have big trees in the garden & leaves collect so I've used Jeyes fluid to clean water butt out before now - no adverse effects to plants or me but I did rinse it v well.Hydrogen peroxide is probably the least nasty of the two if you have it available.

Pamela - no, I connected it to mains tap.
I meant to paste the link below.
legionellacontrol.com/legionella/gardner-legionnaires-disease-hose/
In that case the hosepipe had stagnant water with Legionnella.

We run water from butts to polytunnel and fill watering cans.

Farmor do you use the water from the waterbutts to do your pressure washing?
We have connected one of our butts to a porous hose that runs along the flowerbed round the house. It just drips water all the time.

legionellacontrol.com/news/garden-water-butts-legionella/amp/
We have water butts which we don't clean out and didn't worry about. But then I read a link from an earlier post about a man who died from Legionnaires's after cleaning his patio!
I did mine with power washer a few days ago- plenty of spray and also used a brush - as the unfortunate man did too. I've warned OH that if I get ill, ask hospital to test me for Legionella!

I have to admit : I'm not too fussed about cleaning out water butts .
I use washing up liquid and a stiff brush twice a year .
I use the water on my tap water hating plants so Acers Rhodendrons and Azaleas .

Crossing out fail. Again. 🙄

My water butt is covered and it’s never even crossed my mind to clean it. There’s a very effective filter that stopped debris entering it from the roof of the greenhouse (it will be relocated to serve either my little shed --or the summerhouse that’s yet to be erected if the correct parts eventually materialise from the utterly useless company--)
My father kept goldfish in his huge galvanised zinc tanks that served as water butts when I was a child. They ate any mosquitoes larvae and were never emptied or cleaned.

Astitchintime

As we have a water meter we have several water butts........none have ever been cleaned or disinfected. We have no desire to drink from them and they are only ever used for watering the garden after which we wash our hands anyway. The 'rotation' of the water is copious enough to not cause any stagnation so don't see the point.
Even daughters dog isn't allowed to drink the water.

The problem isn't from drinking the water.

I think the problem arises if anyone uses a hose, especially with a spray attached, running from the water butt.

When contaminated water is sprayed, Legionella can be transmitted from the water in aerosol form then by being breathed in.

MissAdventure

So, always cover your butt... snigger... 🤭

My butt is covered.

In fact both butts 🤔

The two on our greenhouse are fine but we have a bigger one collecting water from the shed, which is under a tree. Some years the water from that one smells dreadful. I bought some treatment which seems to do the trick but now I have run out and can’t remember what it was.

As we have a water meter we have several water butts........none have ever been cleaned or disinfected. We have no desire to drink from them and they are only ever used for watering the garden after which we wash our hands anyway. The 'rotation' of the water is copious enough to not cause any stagnation so don't see the point.
Even daughters dog isn't allowed to drink the water.

Blimey, we are doomed…

So, always cover your butt... snigger... 🤭

Without a lid a water butt is very vulnerable to infection, dead birds and faeces from the roof will be present, probably not a serious threat unless you are immunosupressed. No guarantees even if you do clean it.

The RHS recommends an annual clean. They should know.
www.rhs.org.uk/garden-jobs/water-collecting-storing-and-using

Ah... can't beat a bit of organic gardening.

If you're really that worried wear an FFP3 mask when using the water.

Here's what the NHS has to say about Legionnaires disease

www.nhs.uk/conditions/legionnaires-disease/

You're really highly unlikely to get it from an uncleaned water butt.

The latest figures I could find for reported cases in the UK were for 2019, when there were just over 500 cases nationwide. I suspect there are thousands of uncleaned water butts nationwide...

Someone's just trying to make some money on the back of a risk so minimal as to be almost non existent.

I don’t do anything with mine apart from water the pots and fill the bird bath, next time it’s empty I might hose it out now I’ve seen all the ‘maintenance’ posts but I certainly won’t be putting bleach or chemicals in it,

I too have only clean out when the water level gets low, it's one job that never crosses my mind to do.

Legionnaires can be inhaled I think.

Legionnaires is caught from stale water hanging around - no need to drink it.
(As far as I know, sure I'll be corrected if not!)

Grannynannywanny

This article has some interesting facts about possible risks while using water butts. The strong recommendation appears to be to use a watering can rather than a hose to reduce the risk of inhaling airborne legionella.

legionellacontrol.com/news/garden-water-butts-legionella/amp/

We never use a hose with ours anyway - always a watering can. If we need the hose, it’s connected to the outdoor tap.

We don’t do anything to our two, one of which was recently overflowing after all the rain. The water is used only for plants and for 3 well-used bird baths. I certainly wouldn’t want to use bleach or other chemicals in them.

loopyloo, isn’t summer the time when you’re likely to use water butt water the most? It certainly is here.