Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

wrote:
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

I stack them in the right order so they stop before the sides tighten and stick.

Per :

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

I had not thought about a solution - besides muttering to myself and
pulling.

But now that somebody has raised the issue.....

I am going to try dropping a small chunk of styrofoam insulation (broken
off from a hunk of the 1" blue stuff that litters the ground around many
local construction sites).

I'm thinking that anything big enough to prevent the sides of the
buckets from mating perfectly would do the job.... old golf balls, a
hunk of gravel, whatever.... it's just that I have a piece of the blue
stuff laying around.
--
Pete Cresswell

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:00:13 AM UTC-7, Bob F wrote:
I stack them in the right order so they stop before the sides tighten and stick.

What does that mean?

There is only one "order" I can think of to stack similar-sized buckets.

And that is one on top of another.

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:22:42 AM UTC-7, (PeteCresswell) wrote:
I am going to try dropping a small chunk of styrofoam insulation
I'm thinking that anything big enough to prevent the sides of the
buckets from mating perfectly would do the job....

I did try hanging thick paper real estate flyer on the edge
of the bottom bucket - and it seemed to have worked in my test,
but it was a pain to keep in place as I was assembling the
buckets, so, it doesn't seem to be the best of solutions.

Also, since these laundry buckets came with a small plastic cup,
I also tried putting the cup on the bottom. This seemed to have
worked a bit - but - of course - it makes the stack much taller
(by a few inches each bucket).

Those two relatively failed ideas were why I was asking in
the first place, since I can't be the only one to curse the
fact that the buckets are always stuck together when I need
them.

There must be a clever solution to this common problem.

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 11:00:13 AM UTC-4, Bob F wrote:
I stack them in the right order so they stop before the sides tighten and stick.

Doesn't work when all the buckets are IDENTICAL.

They aren't "sticking" anyway. When the buckets get jammed together they form an almost perfect seal, so you are actually trying to break a vacuum when you pull them apart.

If you drilled a hole in the bottom of each bucket, I guarantee that they would pull right apart. However, since that defeats the purpose of a bucket in most cases, some way to prevent the buckets from getting jammed together is in order.

Some sort of spacer, like a chunk of blue foam as mentioned below, to keep the buckets slightly separated, seems like the best idea to me.

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 11:31:52 AM UTC-4, wrote:
I also tried putting the cup on the bottom. This seemed to have
worked a bit - but - of course - it makes the stack much taller
(by a few inches each bucket).

Doesn't have to be "a few inches" just enough to prevent the seal from forming.

A little experimentation will determine exactly what thickness you need. You then simply need one more bucket to hold the spacers while you're using the buckets.

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:35:21 AM UTC-7, wrote:
They aren't "sticking" anyway.
you are actually trying to break a vacuum when you pull them apart.

Ah. That makes a lot of sense!

So, the trick would be to prevent or vacate the vacuum!

About the only way to prevent vacuum, without drilling holes (which,
I agree, would defeat the purpose of the bucket), must be to prevent
them from forming the vacuum in the first place.

wrote:
On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:00:13 AM UTC-7, Bob F wrote:
I stack them in the right order so they stop before the sides
tighten and stick.

What does that mean?

There is only one "order" I can think of to stack similar-sized
buckets.

And that is one on top of another.

Similar is not the same as identical. It works for me. YMMV.

Really, what the trick is is to buy your pails from the same manufacturer. There is no "standard" when it comes to the height, width and taper on plastic pails, so as long as you mix different pails together, you're bound to get some that will wedge themselves together that they will be extremely difficult to separate.

However, if you look in your Yellow Pages under "Containers" or "Pails", you will se companies selling plastic pails in your area. As long as the pails you buy are made by the same manufacturer, they will all have the same taper, height and diameter, so they'll nest together without wedging tightly into one another.

Aternatively, maybe talk to any restaurant in your area and ask what kinds of pails they throw out most often. Then, just as them to throw those pails your way.

On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:39:30 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:35:21 AM UTC-7, wrote:
They aren't "sticking" anyway.
you are actually trying to break a vacuum when you pull them apart.

Ah. That makes a lot of sense!

So, the trick would be to prevent or vacate the vacuum!

About the only way to prevent vacuum, without drilling holes (which,
I agree, would defeat the purpose of the bucket), must be to prevent
them from forming the vacuum in the first place.

...try a tennis ball?

On 4/18/2013 9:51 AM, wrote:
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?


I bought a long roll of thin plastic tubing - the soft stuff used for
pond pumps. Drop a U-shaped length of the tubing into the bottom
bucket, leaving the long end of the roll of tubing hanging out. Stack
the next bucket, take the tubing and drape another U-shaped length
inside it. Repeat with each bucket. Instead of messing about with a
chunk of wood or styrofoam for each bucket in the stack, you just have
the single roll of tubing. Less aggro.

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:43:10 AM UTC-7, Bob F wrote:
Similar is not the same as identical. It works for me. YMMV.

Actually, they're identical.

On 4/18/2013 9:51 AM, wrote:
....
What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

Drop a short chunka' tubafor or similar in the bottom first--anything so
don't quite bottom out works...

--

Would a chunk of slide trombonafour work?
..
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..
..
"dpb" wrote in message ...
On 4/18/2013 9:51 AM, wrote:
....
What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

Drop a short chunka' tubafor or similar in the bottom first--anything so
don't quite bottom out works...

--

wrote:
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic
buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to
impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from
sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them
apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

If you have an air compressor, try taking an air blower and
blowing air down the sides.
it will break the vacuum and they'll come apart

writes:

Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

I'd throw out the buckets I don't need. Stacked like that,
only one is in use.

Another solution would be putting something in the way
so they don't air seal. Anything, a rag, some folded paper,
a short stick, or something larger in the bottom of the bucket.

--
Dan Espen

On Apr 18, 3:51*pm, wrote:
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

Drill holes in the bottom to let in air to break the vacuum :-)

wrote:
On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:43:10 AM UTC-7, Bob F wrote:
Similar is not the same as identical. It works for me. YMMV.

Actually, they're identical.

You'd think the bucket manufacturers would have the sense to have the last rib
on the outside be at the right place to prevent sticking when stacked. Some of
them do.

FWIW, I've had some luck separating stuck buckets by directing a compressor air
jet nozzle at the touching surfaces to try to inject air between the buckets and
pop them apart.

On Apr 18, 2:13*pm, "Bob F" wrote:
wrote:
On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:43:10 AM UTC-7, Bob F wrote:
Similar is not the same as identical. It works for me. YMMV.

Actually, they're identical.

You'd think the bucket manufacturers would have the sense to have the last rib
on the outside be at the right place to prevent sticking when stacked. Some of
them do.

FWIW, I've had some luck separating stuck buckets by directing a compressor air
jet nozzle at the touching surfaces to try to inject air between the buckets and
pop them apart.

Seems to me that if the last rib was not a closed circle the vacuum
would never be created. Of course, that would be more expensive to
manufacture since you'd need to leave the gap(s) while making sure it
wasn't a sharp edge that would result in lawsuits.

wrote in message
...
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

I have not tried it, but saw that if you take a piece of tubing around 1/4
inch in diameter and long enough to go from the bottom to the top of the
bucket with an inch or so longer, that would break the vacuum seal. You put
it in the bucket before stacking them.

On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 15:47:13 +0000, nestork
wrote:


Really, what the trick is is to buy your pails from the same
manufacturer. There is no "standard" when it comes to the height, width
and taper on plastic pails, so as long as you mix different pails
together, you're bound to get some that will wedge themselves together
that they will be extremely difficult to separate.

However, if you look in your Yellow Pages under "Containers" or "Pails",
you will se companies selling plastic pails in your area. As long as
the pails you buy are made by the same manufacturer, they will all have
the same taper, height and diameter, so they'll nest together without
wedging tightly into one another.

Aternatively, maybe talk to any restaurant in your area and ask what
kinds of pails they throw out most often. Then, just as them to throw
those pails your way.

If you hadn't ignored the OP's link to the picture he posted

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

you would have seen the buckets were not only from the same
manufacturer but they were identical.

Pay attention there will be a quiz tomorrow! :-)

wrote:
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

Put something in the bottom to prevent bottoming out. Doesn't matter what,
I use pieces of wood.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

Winters getting colder? Tired of the rat race?
Taxes out of hand? Maybe just ready for a change?
Check it out... http://www.floridaloghouse.net

On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 07:51:30 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

The only trick I ever found was to NOT stack them. Keep each one by
itself.

wrote in news:b8f15db0-871e-41a8-81ea-
:

Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

leave a bit of water in each bucket?

On 4/18/2013 9:51 AM, wrote:
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?


There have been several good ideas such as blowing compressed air down
the sides, putting paper or cloth down the sides and plastic tubing down
the inside to keep it from making a vacuum seal. Since your recycling,
do as I do and save the little plastic blow tubes like are used on
everything from canned air to WD-40. You can tape them to the sides of
the buckets and use them to prevent a vacuum seal. It's recycling two
different types of plastic. ^_^

TDD

DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Apr 18, 2:13 pm, "Bob F" wrote:
wrote:
On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:43:10 AM UTC-7, Bob F wrote:
Similar is not the same as identical. It works for me. YMMV.

Actually, they're identical.

You'd think the bucket manufacturers would have the sense to have
the last rib on the outside be at the right place to prevent
sticking when stacked. Some of them do.

FWIW, I've had some luck separating stuck buckets by directing a
compressor air jet nozzle at the touching surfaces to try to inject
air between the buckets and pop them apart.

Seems to me that if the last rib was not a closed circle the vacuum
would never be created. Of course, that would be more expensive to
manufacture since you'd need to leave the gap(s) while making sure it
wasn't a sharp edge that would result in lawsuits.

The vacuum seal is bucket surface to bucket surface, which combines with
friction between the two wedged together surfaces. In many cases, the friction
is the bigger problem. The compressed air trick will expand the outer and
contract the inner bucket, killing two birds with one blow.

On Apr 18, 7:18*pm, "Bob F" wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Apr 18, 2:13 pm, "Bob F" wrote:
wrote:
On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:43:10 AM UTC-7, Bob F wrote:
Similar is not the same as identical. It works for me. YMMV.

Actually, they're identical.

You'd think the bucket manufacturers would have the sense to have
the last rib on the outside be at the right place to prevent
sticking when stacked. Some of them do.

FWIW, I've had some luck separating stuck buckets by directing a
compressor air jet nozzle at the touching surfaces to try to inject
air between the buckets and pop them apart.

Seems to me that if the last rib was not a closed circle the vacuum
would never be created. Of course, that would be more expensive to
manufacture since you'd need to leave the gap(s) while making sure it
wasn't a sharp edge that would result in lawsuits.

The vacuum seal is bucket surface to bucket surface, which combines with
friction between the two wedged together surfaces. In many cases, the friction
is the bigger problem. The compressed air trick will expand the outer and
contract the inner bucket, killing two birds with one blow.

My X insited I buy thirty 30 gallon trash cans to store wood chips. So
I had a big stack of cans that all stuck together like glue...

I ended up drilling small holes in the bottom of each one to get them
apart......

Incidently my wife at the time and now my X used 3 cans of wood chips
and said toss the rest.....

what a waste of $$n I ended up giving the cans away.....

Per :
Doesn't have to be "a few inches" just enough to prevent the seal from forming.

A little experimentation will determine exactly what thickness you need.

My first try was with a hunk of blue foam about 1" x 2" and it only
worked if it was more-or-less in the center. Way off to one side, and
the buckets mated.

Release 1.1 will be longer pieces - long enough so that they cannot wind
up too far off center.... like 8 or 10 inches.....

I'm also starting to think that scrap wood will be better because it
won't blow away after it's dumped out of a bucket.

Now that I'm thinking about it.....

If I were determined to spend some money, 1.5" or 1" dowl, cut
accordingly.
--
Pete Cresswell

On Apr 18, 7:10*pm, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote:
Per :

Doesn't have to be "a few inches" just enough to prevent the seal from forming.

A little experimentation will determine exactly what thickness you need.

My first try was with a hunk of blue foam about 1" x 2" and it only
worked if it was more-or-less in the center. * Way off to one side, and
the buckets mated.

Release 1.1 will be longer pieces - long enough so that they cannot wind
up too far off center.... like 8 or 10 inches.....

I'm also starting to think that scrap wood will be better because it
won't blow away after it's dumped out of a bucket.

Now that I'm thinking about it.....

If I were determined to spend some money, 1.5" or 1" dowl, cut
accordingly.
--
Pete Cresswell

I have three stacks of three kinds of buckets. Each stack contains
identical buckets to the others in that particular stack. Two of the
stacks do not stick to each other because of the shape of the buckets
on the outside. The third stack sticks like glue. The buckets that
do not stick to each other have vertical ridges around the perimeter
near the top of the bucket that stick out far enough so that the
ridges keep the bucket from dropping fully down into the bucket
underneath it. Simple design that stops the sticking. Don't know if
there are any manufacturing or distribution advantages to non-stick,
but it sure makes it easier to use them around the house, garage and
garden.

On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:35:31 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

On Apr 18, 2:13*pm, "Bob F" wrote:
wrote:
On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:43:10 AM UTC-7, Bob F wrote:
Similar is not the same as identical. It works for me. YMMV.

Actually, they're identical.

You'd think the bucket manufacturers would have the sense to have the last rib
on the outside be at the right place to prevent sticking when stacked. Some of
them do.

FWIW, I've had some luck separating stuck buckets by directing a compressor air
jet nozzle at the touching surfaces to try to inject air between the buckets and
pop them apart.

Seems to me that if the last rib was not a closed circle the vacuum
would never be created. Of course, that would be more expensive to
manufacture since you'd need to leave the gap(s) while making sure it
wasn't a sharp edge that would result in lawsuits.
Put twine down the side of the bucket when stacking.

On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:18:11 -0700, "Bob F"
wrote:




The vacuum seal is bucket surface to bucket surface, which combines with
friction between the two wedged together surfaces. In many cases, the friction
is the bigger problem. The compressed air trick will expand the outer and
contract the inner bucket, killing two birds with one blow.


Easier is to drill a hold in the bottoms so you don't get the vacuum.

On Apr 18, 9:36*pm, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:18:11 -0700, "Bob F"
wrote:



The vacuum seal is bucket surface to bucket surface, which combines with
friction between the two wedged together surfaces. In many cases, the friction
is the bigger problem. The compressed air trick will expand the outer and
contract the inner bucket, killing two birds with one blow.

Easier is to drill a hold in the bottoms so you don't get the vacuum.

That defeats the purpose of a bucket in most cases, unless you also
have a lot of old corks from wine bottles handyg.

Ralph Mowery wrote:
wrote in message
...
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?

I have not tried it, but saw that if you take a piece of tubing
around 1/4 inch in diameter and long enough to go from the bottom to
the top of the bucket with an inch or so longer, that would break the
vacuum seal. You put it in the bucket before stacking them.

So would a piece of twine

On 4/18/2013 10:51 AM, wrote:
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?



WD-40

On Thursday, April 18, 2013 8:51:30 AM UTC-6, wrote:
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,

but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible

to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.



http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg



There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking

so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.



What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from

sticking together?

A paper towel or two draped over the rims will do the trick for long
time storage.

" wrote in
:

On Apr 18, 9:36*pm, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:18:11 -0700, "Bob F"
wrote:



The vacuum seal is bucket surface to bucket surface, which combines
with friction between the two wedged together surfaces. In many
cases, the fr
iction
is the bigger problem. The compressed air trick will expand the
outer an
d
contract the inner bucket, killing two birds with one blow.

Easier is to drill a hold in the bottoms so you don't get the vacuum.

That defeats the purpose of a bucket in most cases, unless you also
have a lot of old corks from wine bottles handyg.


You're too damn picky.

:-)

On 4/18/2013 9:51 AM, wrote:
Like everyone else, I often stack similar sized plastic buckets,
but, over time, they almost always become close to impossible
to pry apart without excessive force and undue swearing.

http://www5.picturepush.com/photo/a/...g/12718448.jpg

There must be a simple "trick" that prevents them from sticking
so tightly that one has to bang and curse to pry them apart.

What "trick" do you use to keep your plastic buckets from
sticking together?


don't have a trick to keep them from sticking, but if you blow down
between them with a blow gun and a hundred pounds of pressure on the
hose or so, they will slide right apart. (unless they were full of cake
icing or something. btdt )


--
Steve Barker
remove the "not" from my address to email

It is not a vacuum holding the buckets together. I have cut the whole bottom off and they stick just the same almost impossible to get apart.

On Fri, 7 Mar 2014 22:15:24 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

It is not a vacuum holding the buckets together. I have cut the whole bottom off and they stick just the same almost impossible to get apart.

Must be a local problem in Hillsdale, NJ.