Bought a cheap rain barrel off Amazon and it cracked in 3 months

I spent $40 on a plastic rain barrel back in April thinking I was being eco-friendly and saving on water bills. By July it had a huge crack along the bottom seam and leaked all over my patio. Anyone had luck with the metal ones from the hardware store instead?

3 comments

3 Comments

terryf623d ago

Oh man, that's frustrating! I feel your pain. I bought a similar cheap plastic barrel a few years ago and it did the exact same thing. The plastic just can't handle the sun and temperature changes, especially if it's sitting on a hard surface. I ended up getting a galvanized metal one from the local hardware store and it's been going strong for three seasons now. It was more money upfront but I haven't had a single leak. The metal ones are heavier to move around but they hold up way better to weather. Sorry you're dealing with that mess though, I know how annoying it is to clean up.

margaret993d ago

parker_park8 said "fancy buckets with expiration dates" and that's exactly right. But here's something nobody's mentioned. Those cheap plastic barrels are usually made from polypropylene or polyethylene that isn't UV stabilized. So the sun literally breaks down the plastic molecules over time. Makes them brittle. I've seen barrels crack just from the pressure of water freezing inside too. That's another angle. Metal expands differently with ice. Doesn't crack as easy. If you live somewhere with hard freezes, that's a bigger deal than the sun.

parker_park83d ago

Haha yeah, @terryf62 pretty much summed it up... I also learned the hard way that $40 plastic barrels are basically just fancy buckets with expiration dates. My neighbor's metal one has been sitting out for like 4 years now, no cracks at all... guess I should've gone that route instead of buying a third plastic one like a dummy.