50-Gallon Rain Water Collection Barrel with Brass Spigot, Oak Color

I had hopes this would be a fairly decent rain barrel. When I received it I took the spigot out from inside the barrel only to find that the hole the spigot was to be screwed into was drilled about 1/4 inch too large. No way to thread in the spigot. This makes the barrel totally useless.

This was advertised as a tan barrel with a nice brass spigot. What they sent was a black barrel with a cheap, all plastic spigot.

I purchased this to store RO water in for some fish tanks. Originally i was going to use a trash can but this looks nicer and since it already has a spigot it saves me time and money having to drill and install one. Some other reviewers mention the spigot threads stripped but they must have fixed that issue because mine has a separate back insert that you can tell was added after they molded the barrel and the brass spigot screwed in effortlessly by hand and tightened up just fine. Because im not collecting rain water and using to store filtered ro water i needed to seal the opening on top. Well the opening on the top is 3 1/2" x 15" so i bought an aluminum door push panel from home depot which just happens to be that exact size and already has 6 holes predrilled so all i had to do was run some foam weather stripping tape around the panel and screw to the barrel with the 6 screws provided. Now the barrel is completely sealed except.formthe vent hole in the front which i have corked and i ran the 1/4" ro water line into a small hole indrilled in the top so no ants or other insects can get in. I placed on top of two cinder blocks which gives me adequate clearance to fit a 1 gallon jug underneath the spigot without using a hose. The barrel is about 5/16" thick which means it doesnt bow or bend so it should last some years if not left in direct sunlight.

As of this posting I have not yet installed my 2 barrels. I was concerned about mosquitoes, lizards, etc. being able to get into the barrels through the overflow spouts, which are ~7/8" in diameter, and have no screen. The attached images show the solution I came up with. I attached the hose washers with 100% waterproof silicone sealant. I also plan to secure the top screens with a screw on either end, not through the screen frame, but just outside it, enough to hold them in place securely.

I installed this rain barrel just in time for Hurricane/Tropical Storm Henri. The 50-gallon barrel filled quickly, with the topside screen filtering out leaves, twigs, tassels and seeds. One barrel holds enough water for just under an hour worth of irrigation-style watering. Expandable hoses do not work with this kind of gravity-based, water-flow system. You’ll need an old-school hose with stiff sides to carry the water from the barrel to ground. Be sure to purchase the stand and the rainwater collection system, too. The stand provides a stable base for all that water – plus the foot-high height allows good hose or bucket placement - and the kit includes a nifty bypass-plug system for rerouting your downspout when your barrel is in winter storage.An efficient and climate-friendly way to care for the earth and your garden. I plan on running the hose from the kit as an overflow to a soon-to-be-purchased extra barrel because two barrels are better than one.

It was a great idea to purchase this barrel, however, it did not work as needed. I purchased this to put in my garage. I have a water softening system which drains 40-gallons of water once a week and it was going down the drain. I ran the drainage to the barrel to catch the water so I could water my plants once a week from this water. Unfortunately, the top two extended tabs on the sides each had a pinhole leak. Then when I removed the brass spigot to seal that more tightly, it cross threaded when i put it back in which made the spigot crooked. It still leaks somewhere. I guess it would be okay to just use this as a rain barrel for outside, but it did not work for what I needed it for.Again, unfortunately I purchased this in April and it took me a couple of months to install this, and then trying to fix this each week, it is no longer eligible for a return. Not sure about the manufacturers warranty - I will check in to that.In this case, you get what you pay for. I saw one at a nearby store for about $40 more and looked and felt more sturdy, but decided to try this. Now I will buy the one locally which i should have done first.

My wife loves it, but these are a few detractors. One is that it bulges when full causing the top to pull away from the wall. It doesn't stay a true vertical. Second is that the screen filter on the top is not anchored and it will float free in a heavy rain and not provide filtering of water entering the barrel. Easy fix is to add screws to permanently attach the filter, or put a rock on it (wife's fix)..

I haven't set up the rain barrel yet, but as soon as I took it out of the box, I realized I didn't get the model with the tray on top to put flowers in, I thought that was a nice touch; but I didn't read the descriptions closely and realized I didn't order that one... it sure looked nice in the video, slick advertising, and a let down.