"M" wrote in message ...
With all the snow and rain I checked the tap on my water butt, the tap
"opened" easily but no water, not one drop. It maybe that some of the
water
in the butt has frozen although I'm thinking the mechanism of the tap has
failed.

If it is the whiteish plastic as fitted to the fruit juice barrels, the
chances are that it is fractured in the frost. I have had two of mine go
from that problem.

I will check again tomorrow . I have a spare tap but what is the standard
procedure/tool to get the nut fitted on to the tap inside the butt ? The
water butt is too tall to reach into .

Any tips ?

If the barrel is free and you can lay it down, (Mine are not, I have 5
linked together across the back of the garage) then lay a blanket/plastic
sheet into the barrel, get her indoors out of doors to hold a wrench/spanner
in the tap whilst you crawl inside and hold the nut with a spanner/another
wrench/footprints/stillsons or whatever you have. If you can get her indoors
into the barrel, no joke please, then you can turn the tap outside :-))

and when you have finished, you can come and do mine :-))

Mike