Bad decision to stack muck buckets - stuck together now?

[Off_Course]

So, it was a poor decision on my part to stack three muck buckets together. Now I can’t seem to get them apart. LOL <sigh> My husband and I tried pulling from both ends and I ended up on my arse. Part of the problem in the bottom bucket is missing its rope handles. Couldn’t get the middle bucket to budge either. These are the big blue buckets with rope handles from Lowe’s, instead of standard muck buckets from a tack/feed store (that will teach me to save money on a muck bucket!). Never had this problem with regular muck buckets.

Is there some special trick or doodad that you can use to get them apart? They aren’t expensive to replace, but I really don’t want to send three perfectly good muck buckets to the landfill if I don’t have to.

Thanks in advance. And hope you got a good chuckle out of this. :winkgrin:

[yaya]

Can you drill a small hole near the top of the bottom muck bucket to let air in? (And not end up with a leaky muck bucket) Or use a hoofpick, screwdriver, or crowbar to let air into the bottom bucket?

Or maybe fill the top bucket with ice and see if it contracts a little?

[dotneko]

Run hot water around top of bottom bucket to swell it a bit. Not the top bucket, the bottom. We do this all the time for stuck 5 gallon plastic buckets.

[danacat]

^^^^^ yep!
Hot water expands the air pocket between the buckets which lessens the suction somehow.

[Christa_P]

@danacat

^^^^^ yep!
Hot water expands the air pocket between the buckets which lessens the suction somehow.

Basic physics. Heat the bottom bucket in hot water. It softens and expands the plastic AND increases the pressure between the buckets by heating the air.

[Off_Course]

Hot water. Awesome. I’ll give that a go. Knew folks on here would have a solution. Thank you!

[dotneko]

@Christa P

Basic physics. Heat the bottom bucket in hot water. It softens and expands the plastic AND increases the pressure between the buckets by heating the air.

My staff think I am a genius when I do the hot water trick. I usually let them struggle a minute before showing them ;). Even my husband looked at me sideways when he couldn’t unstick two and I said ‘here, give them to me’. Knew my physics degree would come in handy some day.

[Scarlet_Gilia]

If the hot water trick didn’t work, here are some other ideas in a thread from the Around the Farm forum -

https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/around-the-farm/10094505-tricks-for-separating-stacked-and-stuck-muck-buckets