Water Barrels As A Tent Anchoring Option

A water barrel demonstration at Industrial Fabrics Association International Tent Expo 2015 showed that a 20-by-20-foot tent required 40 water barrels to achieve 1,000 pounds per leg when all of the variables were taken into consideration

Water Barrels As A Tent Anchoring Option

When you mention water barrels within earshot of tent safety experts or insurance representatives, they noticeably cringe. Why? They are the worst option to tether tents for many reasons.

Scientific Reasons

• A water barrel is tall, narrow and it ties off from the top which could allow it to slip, especially if not tied properly.
• A plastic barrel offers little resistance against concrete or asphalt surfaces and has a tendency to slide.
• These factors reduce a typical 55 gallon barrel’s 480 pounds of water weight to a barrel that can fail at as little as 160 pounds of force.

Practical Reasons

• Professional tent companies properly anchor tents they lift the tent so they don’t have to combat the wind. That practice is almost impossible due to the time it takes to fill the water barrels all the way.
• Water appears to be an easy way to make weight. It’s not. Water is not always available, many venues won’t allow them to be emptied on site, and fresh water is wasted.
• Most tent manufacturer’s instruction don’t include water weighting as option. This puts the liability on the tent company and sometimes on the renter.
• More municipalities and venues are banning water barrels, and we expect this trend to spread.

Quantity Of Water Barrels Needed To Be Safe

Sure, water barrels are adequate for securing tents, IF you’re willing to use enough of them. Experts recommend installing tents so that the holding power is 1 ½ to 2 times the forces imposed on the tent. For a single 20’ by 20’ tent you need 37 barrels of water! If the wind is severe, even that huge quantity won’t be enough protection.

Other Options To Water Barrels

Consider using cement ballast, a widely accepted, safe and reliable alternative. Cement blocks weigh way over double that of water, have a lower center of gravity and offer much more resistance against sliding, greatly reducing the ballast footprint. The reduced footprint also presents an opportunity to properly ballast larger tents. For example, a 40-foot-wide tent will typically call for 2,000 to 4,000 pounds per leg, which is nearly impossible to accomplish with water barrels.

Everything Entertainment

718-556-3430

Fund Raising Gala

Fund Raising Gala Tent

Everything Entertainment setup a 40x150 Slide Track Frame Tent from the Everything E-Frame Tent Line. In addition to the main tent and walkway tents guttered to the venue, Everything Entertainment supplied double-French-doors, crystal chandeliers, fabric swagging, and kerosene tent heaters.

Everything Entertainment furnished blue-prints  for the engineered tent structure to the client's architect, flame spread certificates for all items supplied by Everything Entertainment, plus met with the NYC Fire Department during the final inspections. Structural data was provided to the lighting designer for a flawless installation, which included intelligent light moving heads, conventional Leko fixtures, and projectors for custom digital imagery.

Everything Entertainment provided the event planner with artistic renderings and CAD drawings to help show their client what the tent would look like prior to being hired. 

Over 400 guests were in attendance at last night's fund raiser which were treated to spectacular lighting, simulating being on the water.

Check out the Everything Entertainment website for your tent and party rental needs.

Everything Entertainment has: Tents, Party Rentals, Entertainment, Event Production

Church Fair

Church Carnival

Everything Entertainment provided over 100 tables, 200 chairs, and over 4800 square feet of tenting. The fair ran an entire week long and kept carnival goers dry and out of the sun. The setup was difficult due to the 30-50 mile per hour wind gusts, but our crew handled it professionally.