My rain barrel split open during that freak downpour on Tuesday

I was so proud of that thing. I got it set up last spring to catch water for the garden, you know, trying to do a little something. It's a 55-gallon plastic barrel I got from a local farm. Tuesday afternoon, we got that sudden heavy rain, the kind that comes out of nowhere. I looked out the window and saw a river of water gushing from the side of the barrel. The plastic had cracked right along a seam, probably from getting brittle in the sun. All that water I was trying to save just poured into the driveway and washed right into the storm drain. It felt like such a stupid, pointless failure. I was trying to offset my own little bit of water use, and the thing just broke from the weather it was supposed to handle. Has anyone else had a simple eco-hack just fall apart on them? Makes you wonder if any of our small fixes are even built to last.

3 comments

3 Comments

wendy1311d ago

Did you have it sitting on something solid, or was it just on the ground? That can put weird pressure on the plastic.

mark43618h ago

Check the bottom for any small rocks or uneven spots it was resting on. Even a tiny bump can focus all the weight on one weak point. Was it on concrete, grass, or maybe a slanted driveway?

david_jones3817h ago

Man, that's such a frustrating way to break something.