Pro tip: My old rain barrel split a seam on the hottest day of July

After 6 years of using a $50 plastic barrel from the hardware store, the UV damage finally gave out and dumped 40 gallons of water right under my foundation, so now I'm looking at metal options anyone have experience with the galvanized ones from the farm supply place?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_shane17d ago

Wait you had a 40 gallon barrel right next to your foundation? Dude that's terrifying. I would have had a heart attack watching that much water dump out. My neighbor had a plastic one crack last winter and it flooded his crawlspace. Took him months to dry it out.

taylor17417d ago

Yeah and 40 gallons sounds like a lot but when you think about it that's like 330 pounds of water just sitting there. @the_shane is right about plastic barrels too, they get brittle in the cold and one bad freeze cycle is all it takes. I had a 55 gallon drum I used for rainwater collection, set it up on cinder blocks away from the house, but even then I worried about it tipping over in a storm. Ended up drilling a slow drip hole at the bottom so it wouldn't fill up all the way. Less water stored but way less risk.