Customer Rating:  
Summary: Don't buy for cold climate
Comment: I bought one of these last summer and found it to be almost in two pieces this spring. I drained it last fall too and it still cracked in two. Don't buy if you live in an area where it could freeze they do not have their molding process correct.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great concept, slightly flawed execution
Comment: The design elements are great. But ... the overflow hose comes with a zip-tie to attach it to the barrel. Not sufficient. Replace that with a good hose clamp. Also, the overflow hose itself is a flat piece of flex tube: doesn't open up when it needs to, due to the inner plastic adhering to itself. I will be replacing that, too.
The watering hose is not held on very well--make sure you tighten the hose clamp well! It came out while my wife was using it and we had a gushing leak.
Other design elements are great: screen, varmint grate, overall conception. We like it and use it with a rain chain.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Roll out the barrel
Comment: It's green, it's a barrel. Quite simply, the product description says it all. Except - the hose that comes with the barrel is feeble, it kinks and blocks within seconds (hose pipe, not drain pipe or connector) I'd recommend replacing it with a better quality version.
Also, the clip meant to keep the hose attached to the top of the barrel is useless, it slips out just as soon as you use it - I ended up hooking a hose coupler and connecting all the outlets together, one hose supplied by 3 barrels, which solved that issue.
Why 5 stars if I have these bad comments? Well, they're easy fixes. I have a well for all my household water needs, so I am making an investment. Plus, to keep these things in your garden and really use them effectively, you have to fit them to your own needs.
There's a few reasons why I chose this barrel over other ones available:
- Has a nice open top so you don't have to play about getting it lined up with the downspout. Most the other styles I looked at had a small opening that needed to be lined up directly with the down spout.
- SAFETY! Yes, the top of the barrel is 'open', but it is formed with a rigid spoke pattern - almost like a bicycle wheel - you'd have trouble putting your arm (or anything else) through it into the water.
- Debris screen. I like gardening, but I'm not keen on clearing out my gutters... The screen 'lid' supplied does a great job at keeping most junk out of the barrel itself. It also stops the neighborhood mosquito's from setting up daycare in the barrel...
- Flat back - the back of this barrel is flat - sits nicely up against the outside of the house (if that's what you want).
- Solid construction - made of thicker plastic than most the others I looked at.
- Outlet positioning - the hose connection for these barrels is about 1" from the bottom of the barrel, you can drain it to empty. All but one of the other styles I looked at had the outlet 5 or 6" above the bottom. That means you can't drain the thing all the way, wasting water.
So far, we have 3 hooked up together from one downspout, 2 hooked up together from another. Over the past 2 summer seasons, I have not needed to hook the garden hose to the mains water. I even washed the family cars with the saved water too.
Three years later ... Still going strong.
Winter care: Empty them out and turn them upside down (or put a fully closed cover over the tops) in the winter, if these freeze full or more than half full you'll damage them!
As you would expect with anything left out in the elements all year around, they do collect a little 'silt' or grow gunk on the insides. It's not too much trouble to hose these out or use a rag on the end of a stick to wipe the insides clean once a year... it goes a long way to stopping any funky smell when you use the water!
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