Good Ideas Rain Wizard Self-Draining Resin Urn, 65 Gallon Rain Barrel, Sandstone

We bought the 65 gallon Rain Wizard, and it looks great in our garden area. We ordered the charcoal grey color, hoping it would blend into the color of our house, which it did. It filled up very quickly. We connected a small hose at the bottom which we use to fill our pots. Planted flowers all around it, and always keep a flowering cascading plant on top! We have to pay for our water, so this water saver has been a huge savings for us. Have received so many compliments with everyone asking where we bought it. Love Hayneedle! Happy customers in Georgia!

I have wanted to install a rain barrel every since I installed rain gutters after my house remodel, but the price kept me away. I considered making my own, but the DIY 55 gal drums from food grade containers just look too ugly next to my newly renovated house. Then I stumbled on some info about my local water utility offering $75 rebates/barrel (up to 4 barrels/ home) and the decision was a no brainer. I wound up purchasing four of them. These barrels look great and work well. I bought flex hose from my local HD to connect to my down spot. The size fit perfectly into the barrel once you remove the mesh screen that comes with the barrel. I had a bunch of leftover red bricks that I used to build a platform to raise the barrel up. The terra cotta colors looks good. I'm not so sure I'd use the planter on the top of the barrel. Even though there are drainage holes, I think it makes more sense to get a small pot and place it in that space. It'll be easier to re-pot/switch out plants should the need arises and if drowning your plants' roots is a concern, it would be easy to put some gravel or a few small bricks or something to help raise your pots above the level of the drainage holes. As for the spigot...it works well (not as heavy duty as a 1/4 turn hose bib), but this is for a rain barrel and is more than adequate. The fact that it's brass says something-I've purchased a rain barrel for my in laws with plastic spigots that reeked of cheap (local stores only had one type of rain barrel in stock). The only thing I'd caution is to be sure to thread the hose bib/spigot onto the nylon opening slowly to carefully check you don't install it crooked and end up creating new and crooked threads. I'm considering connecting another barrel to help increase the capacity. I think I'm going to use one of the two overflow ports in the back, but I'm not sure if this is the best way of accomplishing this. Maybe I'll have to update this when I'm done.

Th 65 gallon rain barrel is very sturdy and the medal spout is much better than the plastic ones. The only change that would be nice is having a removable top as an option for filling waterers.

Ordered two. One arrived with overflow holes in rear cutout and resealed. It looks like a return. I sat on pavers after leveling ground horizontally and making sure slight grade away from house so overflow channel would work well. Ran gutter straight to mesh on both rain barrels (straight down). I'm happy with the product EXCEPT that the reviewer who said that the rain hits the mesh screen and runs into the overflow channel was correct. I cannot believe that with 100+ reviews no-one else has mentioned this. I removed the screens and ran the gutter straight into the barrel and it works fine. Also, the rain accumulates in the planting area on top. As other reviewers have mentioned, you need to drill small holes in the planter area so the water that accumulates in the planter will drain into the barrel. Just set a plant in the top - don't put dirt in there and really plant anything. The barrels fill quickly in a good rain. I don't need to elevate on blocks to get the hose to fit in the spicket. The pressure is very slow, but that's fine with me for my watering purposes. I have these two rain barrels and two Good Idea composters. They are good products and arrive fast, but the manufacturing is never perfect on any of the items. There is also excess flashing, sometimes missing parts, sometimes small damaged areas, etc. Since the screen has to be removed to fill, mosquitos will get in so I will get some mosquito pellets. I'm happy with the product, just wanted you to know the complete picture.

RainBarrelSource quickly responded to e-mail Qs. I ordered the urn late Tues. It arrived on Fri with standard shipping, just as they promised. Wow! The Khaki color looks like the color shown on my monitor. The urn design looks great and Khaki complements our new deck and ivory siding colors. It eliminates trying to hide my ugly black pickle barrel with its leaf-catcher top by having an urn with a built-in planter in the top that I will want to show off. It protrudes over 2' from the house and looks like a pregnant guppy, or a large wine urn, so be prepared for that image. A reviewer had commented that the brass water valve was in the bottom of the barrel and thought it was a returned unit. Mine arrived the same way, but I believe it's because the valve was in a lightweight plastic bag with a poorly welded bottom seam, held under the screen in the top of the barrel. It probably swayed throughout the trip and the valve weight eventually ripped the bottom out of the bag. Several low-cost ways for RBS to easily solve that simple problem. Other than the valve being full of plastic chips that were easily dislodged, there was no damage. The bottom of the urn was covered with plastic machining chips. Not a good thing; and they could clog the valve if they get caught under the seat. Plan to vacuum loose plastic from the bottom of the 25-lb urn with your vacuum wand thru the 4"" hole, while it's dry inside. The hole had plastic ""flashing"" extending 2"" inside the urn that I thought might cause water entry problems, but it was easy to trim with a razor knife. A reviewer said there was a problem with water splashing as it entered the urn from their downspout. Easy to happen if it misses the hole, I believe. I plan to run a smaller round pipe at the end of my rectangular downspout adapter and terminate it close to the top and in-line with the hole, which should eliminate that problem unless the screen holes are too small. If the existing flat screen is what caused the splashing, there's a few easy fixes for that, too. I'm building a 28"" high stand that I have found is a good height to connect a short hose with a bucket underneath. I'll extend it to the front side to get past the valves and allow small pots to be placed on the corners of the stand. It will have lattice covering the sides, hinged on one side so I can store a bucket underneath, which will look much better than the 3 cinderblocks I had under the pickle barrel. I'll make 1/4"" higher back legs to slightly tilt the urn to the front to assure overflow goes to the tapered trough going to the front spillway. The built-in spillway does not extend beyond the belly of the urn and has a smooth lip that water will cling to. I expect overflow will run down the front of the urn, which will cause staining. Molding the spillway to extend a couple inches more, with a sharper lip to act as a better pour spout, would be my preference, but that's not what was done. I'll check that before installation, and am prepared to attach a thin lip extension cut from the side of a clear thick 1-gal tea jug, to assure all overflow water misses the urn, especially the small drips. A reviewer said the built-in planter did not drain well. There are two 1/2"" (inside dim) smooth tubes connecting the bottom back of the 4"" deep planter to the rear of the urn, so the planter water can drain out the back and not into the urn. Certainly enough drain area if they do not clog. To keep them open, I plan to put about an inch of coarse gravel covered with landscape fabric before I place potting soil. A reviewer said that the water valve handle hit the urn. I screwed it in until it bottomed. The handle was close, but did not touch. But that will be a non-issue for me because I'll attach a brass Y ball valve to this valve so I can have one side for a hose and the other with no hose, and will seldom close the valve on the urn. Also, I prefer the easy 1/4 turn to fully open the valve. The tip of the valves will be 30"" from the house, but that's okay for me. A reviewer said the urn was too thin. It appears at least as thick as the plastic pickle barrel that was the forerunner of designer rain barrels, and is much thicker than soda bottles that hold 150-psi, so I don't expect a problem. The urn is much thicker where it needs to be. So if you like the urn rain barrel image and it's within your budget, buy it!

I now have 2 of these rain barrels and love them so far. The only thing I didn't care for was the plastic screen like piece where the water enters. I found that the water did not flow well into the barrel but it may have been the way I had the diverter positioned. At any rate, I placed the leg end of pantyhose in its place to keep out the mosquitos and catch any debris from roof. I placed my barrels on cement blocks(and decorated around it to cover) so to be able to use a watering can to collect for potted flowers. Also they have modified the top where you plant flowers and drilled holes so that the water does not stand in it. However the overflow water then will spray backwards toward the house. As long as you keep an eye on the level and divert the water once it is full then you will be fine! I'm ADDICTED... my flowers and garden are sooooo much happier!

I received the barrel about a week ago and it had rained a few times so I have a little bit of experience with it. One thing you will want to do is elevate it for two reasons: 1. water pressure, 2. to make hose easier to attach. After the first rain, I had a lot of trouble getting the water out, so I drained it out and put it on a plastic stand I improvised. The pressure still isn't great, but at least I can get the hose on. Also, the item was about twice as big as I expected. Not really a problem, but I did have to clear out some space and positioning it was a bit of a challenge, so just something to keep in mind. It does look exactly as pictured. If you use it as a planter, be sure to put some rocks or something in the bottom before you plant anything because water will accumulate as it doesn't drain well. The picture I attached is before I elevated and planted flowers. You'll have to tilt your head, sorry.

With the addition of this rain barrel I now have four. (Each one is a different design) I use rain water when I plant, transplant or fertilize anything. I bought this one for my back patio because of the attractive, space saving design, large capacity & brass spigot. The flat back allows me to place it against the wall under the downspout. However, when I do that the elbow from the downspout overshoots the screen inlet on top of the barrel. Had to make some minor adjustments to downspout. Also, the spigot handle is too big. It hits the barrel preventing it from making a full 360 degree turn. I can't fully open or close the spigot and therefore can't use the barrel at this time. I've notified the company and am awaiting their reply. If that issue can be resolved I will be very happy with this product and would recommend it to a friend.

This is our 4th and best looking rain barrel. Top large enough for 3 plant pots. We had to add a PVC pipe to spigot in order to turn on and off. That is the only design flaw we've run into.

I bought three of these just 8 months ago. Of course it doesn't rain in CA , IT POURS! In just a couple of storms all 7 of my Rain barrels filled-up. I have 4 of the Up-cycle barrels with removable tops and I love them. I thought THESE URN style ones would be cute with flowers and all, but they have several issues. First-the planter area is way too shallow for anything but small grasses and weeds. There is NO drainage for this area so now all of mine are warped in that area.. 2) the square where you must aim your spout is too small and because of this, half the water in a heavy storm goes OUT of the barrel, not in . 3) after 2 months the spigots barely work and the water leaks around the spigot. 4) Now that my barrels are nearly empty, I can not really get the last of the water out or to clean them (mold grows), like I do my other ones because there is NO removable top and because of the design- they are hard to tip. LASTLY- The plastic is thin and the seams are weak so when these filled- they BULGE out against the building and have started to leak at seams. DO NOT BUY THESE!