Dropped $80 on a fancy rain barrel that barely works

I bought this rain barrel back in April from a local hardware store in Portland thinking I was doing something good for the planet and my garden. Looked nice, had a mesh screen and a spigot at the bottom. But after two months I realized the design is terrible. The spigot sits too low so you can't even fit a watering can under it without propping the whole thing up on cinder blocks. Plus the seal around the top started leaking after a week, just dripping down the side constantly. I lost maybe 30 gallons of water just from that stupid leak before I noticed. Also the mesh screen is too fine and clogs up with pine needles in like two days. So now I gotta climb up there and clean it every time it rains or else the barrel overflows. Total waste of money for something that was supposed to save me on my water bill. Anyone else run into garbage rain barrel designs?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_oliver3d ago

Dude I gotta disagree a little bit. I have the same rain barrel from a brand called EarthMinded and I actually love mine. I put it up on some old concrete blocks I found in my alley so the spigot is high enough for my watering can, it took like ten minutes. The mesh screen thing is annoying but I just clean it once a week when I check the garden and it takes two seconds, I don't really mind it. Maybe yours was just a dud with the leak, that sucks, but honestly for $80 I think you got what you paid for.

jessem593d ago

Man, I had a buddy who went through this exact same thing last summer. He bought one of those cheap plastic barrels off Amazon and it leaked from day one too, but he thought he could fix it with some silicone caulk he had lying around from a bathroom remodel. Well, that lasted about two weeks and then the whole thing just split right down the side during a decent rainstorm. Flooded his garden path and everything. He ended up just getting a metal trash can from the hardware store and drilling a hole in it, said it's been going strong for like three years now. Kinda makes you wonder if these companies even test their stuff before selling it.