Achla Designs RB-01 Green Rain Barrel – 54 gallon

It’s green, it’s a barrel. Quite simply, the product description says it all. Except – the hose that comes with the barrel is feeble, it kinks and blocks within seconds (hose pipe, not drain pipe or connector) I’d recommend replacing it with a better quality version.

Also, the clip meant to keep the hose attached to the top of the barrel is useless, it slips out just as soon as you use it – I ended up hooking a hose coupler and connecting all the outlets together, one hose supplied by 3 barrels, which solved that issue.

Why 5 stars if I have these bad comments? Well, they’re easy fixes. I have a well for all my household water needs, so I am making an investment. Plus, to keep these things in your garden and really use them effectively, you have to fit them to your own needs.

There’s a few reasons why I chose this barrel over other ones available:

- Has a nice open top so you don’t have to play about getting it lined up with the downspout. Most the other styles I looked at had a small opening that needed to be lined up directly with the down spout.
- SAFETY! Yes, the top of the barrel is ‘open’, but it is formed with a rigid spoke pattern – almost like a bicycle wheel – you’d have trouble putting your arm (or anything else) through it into the water.
- Debris screen. I like gardening, but I’m not keen on clearing out my gutters… The screen ‘lid’ supplied does a great job at keeping most junk out of the barrel itself. It also stops the neighborhood mosquito’s from setting up daycare in the barrel…
- Flat back – the back of this barrel is flat – sits nicely up against the outside of the house (if that’s what you want).
- Solid construction – made of thicker plastic than most the others I looked at.
- Outlet positioning – the hose connection for these barrels is about 1″ from the bottom of the barrel, you can drain it to empty. All but one of the other styles I looked at had the outlet 5 or 6″ above the bottom. That means you can’t drain the thing all the way, wasting water.

So far, we have 3 hooked up together from one downspout, 2 hooked up together from another. Over the past 2 summer seasons, I have not needed to hook the garden hose to the mains water. I even washed the family cars with the saved water too.

Three years later … Still going strong.

Winter care: Empty them out and turn them upside down (or put a fully closed cover over the tops) in the winter, if these freeze full or more than half full you’ll damage them!

As you would expect with anything left out in the elements all year around, they do collect a little ‘silt’ or grow gunk on the insides. It’s not too much trouble to hose these out or use a rag on the end of a stick to wipe the insides clean once a year… it goes a long way to stopping any funky smell when you use the water!

The design elements are great. But … the overflow hose comes with a zip-tie to attach it to the barrel. Not sufficient. Replace that with a good hose clamp. Also, the overflow hose itself is a flat piece of flex tube: doesn’t open up when it needs to, due to the inner plastic adhering to itself. I will be replacing that, too.
The watering hose is not held on very well–make sure you tighten the hose clamp well! It came out while my wife was using it and we had a gushing leak.
Other design elements are great: screen, varmint grate, overall conception. We like it and use it with a rain chain.

The Achla Rain Catcher barrel is an easy to set up, practical solution to rain water storage for your flowers or garden. I have two hooked up together, so one fills from the first one’s overflow. In no time at all, both barrels were full from only a small amount of rain.
PROS:
1. Flat back side – allows you to place your barrel right next to your outside wall.
2. Large screen on top – keeps out mosquitoes, leaves and other stuff, including animals and children. The screen also allows you flexibility in placing your downspout
3. Superior customer service: Achla replaced a screen for me at no cost when it arrived torn
4. Multi-barrel connecting system – Built-in ability to connect cross-hose (included) to another barrel to save even more water.
5. All connections and hoses are included, but the “ties” for connecting overflow and cross-barrel hoses are lame and you’ll need to but hose clamps at HD or hardware store.
CON
Only the connector ties as far as I can see.

EDIT: 4 YEARS LATER
These barrels are still in use and look as good as the day purchased.
By draining them and turning them over during the winter months, no water freezes in them during the bitter midwest cold.

I’ve had this barrel for two years. The drain hose connection really does have to be replaced with a hose clamp, and the slot that’s supposed to keep the hose up and not draining is truly without value. Sadly, this winter my empty barrel split vertically and irreparably during cold weather (it was 26 below, Fahrenheit). Until then, it worked well, and if you don’t mind paying plenty this is a good product.

It works well, the screen fits over to prevent too much debris and hopefully solves the mosquito issue. Not hideous, but still not your typical yard decoration, people are very curious as to its purpose and are surprised at the water pressure available. Plastic clip that holds hose off the ground could be a bit more robust, but overall a great value with perfect functionality.

It works likes its supposed to. However, like in previous reviews, the supplied hoses are low quality. Tie wraps to secure hoses should be replaced with automotive water hose clamps. Those are the two changes I made to my install. I purposely held off on this review to verify a previous review of the barrel splitting in the winter if left empty outside. I took a chance and had no problems with winter. This would be a five star product if it weren’t for the supplied hoses/hardware. At the price that they sell this for, the last thing I need to do is improve on it. I will be getting another one of these. Mother nature fills these things up quick here in the NE. And the price of this barrel has gone up $12 since my last order

quick delivery of product and fits snugly against outside surface; nice hose feature works when you prop barrel up on cinder blocks so gravity can do it’s thing. Removable screened cover keeps out the gutter dirt. You can’t scoop water out like other models; you have to use the hose or roll the barrel over and pour, and it gets heavy quickly.

The water barrel is great, it’s a great size and easy to set up. There only a couple of things to keep in mind. The Barrel needs to a bit higher then what you are waterting, it helps with the flow of water. My husband made a cement slab about 4 inches high. But Cement cinder blocks would be find as well. The hose it comes with is not that long. you will need to attach a hose to the hose it comes with. We look forward to the rain just to see how much it will fill up, and now we just received our second barrel and will have a 100 + gallons of water on hand. have fun with this.

My wife and I have been using our rain barrel for a few weeks now and are very glad we got it. We are thinking about adding a couple more. It is very easy to use. My five year old son can use it without help.

Who would have ever thought that it would be a big deal to find free water? Nothing is free anymore! I wouldn’t drink the stuff but the plants love it! This rainbarrel is an outstanding item, I just wish I had thought of buying one sooner. They do fill up fast but training two or three of them together works awesome. Don’t forget to empty them in the winter or they will freeze and crack. Upgrading the hoses is also not a bad idea but the ones supplied will do the job.