4 Best Rain Barrels From CR's Tests
Rainwater harvesting can cut down on your water bill, but it comes with some disadvantages. Plus, there's the issue of those pesky mosquitoes.
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Until recently I had never heard of rain barrels outside of my grandmother’s small farm in the Dominican Republic. For her, it’s a necessity because the small town she lives in shares its water source with neighboring towns, cutting off her supply for days at a time each week. In addition to the large cistern she fills with the treated water that runs in her home, she maintains a rain barrel for the outdoor watering she’d rather not waste potable water on.
Water scarcity is a serious problem across the globe, including in many parts of the U.S. Our water sources are shrinking while our need for water continues to grow, leaving many towns scrambling for new ones.
Features: One of the most interesting things Amézquita found in his evaluation was that none of the rain barrels could hold the exact amount of water the companies claimed they could hold. Of the five models, FCMP Outdoor’s 50-gallon rain barrel came the closest, holding 49 gallons (by weight). It has a flat back so it can be set up flush to a side of your house, drains faster than the other four barrels, and comes equipped with a 40-inch hose that can be extended with a regular garden hose. The screened opening through which the rainwater enters the rain barrel is also larger than all of the other rain barrels. The opening is made up of several triangle shaped cutouts to the material, so there’s no risk of children getting into the barrel when the screen is removed.
For homes that need more than 50 gallons’ worth of water storage space, linking multiple barrels together is necessary, something that can be done with this model and every other model we evaluated. One of the two connection points on the barrel did leak lightly when the rain barrel was filled to capacity. Besides that, there were no other leaks, and it didn’t bulge when full.
A reasonable concern when using rain barrels is where the overflow goes once it’s full. The last thing you want is rainwater pooling in your yard, or worse, damaging the exterior of your home. To prevent this from happening, the Raincatcher 4000 has a second hoselike piece that loops under the barrel, directing any overflow to the front of the barrel where it can then flow downstream from your home.
Ease of use and cleaning: Because the spigot is so close to the ground, emptying the barrel is easy and doesn’t require tipping it over like some of the others. Setting up the barrel required a flat screwdriver and pliers but took just about 6 minutes plus the time it took to read the included user manual.
Features: In second place, RTS Home Accents’ rain barrel trailed behind by just 1 point. Compared with the FCMP Outdoor rain barrel, it has a smaller, rectangular water collection opening with a screen that’s held in place by two screws. The hole is small enough that it wouldn’t pose the risk of a child getting into the barrel, but it does make visibility inside of the rain barrel difficult. There was no noticeable leaking from any part of it.
When Amézquita filled the rain barrel to its maximum capacity, it held 48 gallons of water (by weight), 2 gallons short of the 50 gallons it was claimed to hold. The overflow hole is above the spigot on the front of the barrel, so as the extra water flows out, it falls directly on the spigot. If you’re turning the valve on the spigot while the overflow is flowing out, that could be annoying. When full, the flat side of the barrel bulged, but it was one of just two models that had no leaks at all.
Ease of use and cleaning: The spigot is higher on this barrel, 2.5 inches from the bottom, so getting the last bit of water out requires tipping it over. No tools were necessary to set up the barrel, and it took our tester just 7 minutes to complete.
Features: The last of our hard-sided plastic rain barrels held just 45 gallons of the claimed 50 gallons. Good Ideas’ Rain Wizard has a small opening at the top with a plastic screen that’s held in place by six screws. Like the RTS Home Accents model, its overflow wets the spigot as water escapes from the barrel because it’s directly over the spigot. The overflow opening is also covered by a plastic screen.
It was the second of two models that had no leaks when full, and Amézquita didn’t notice any bulging of the sides. Like the other two hard-sided models, one side of this barrel is flat so that it can be placed directly against a wall to save space.
Ease of use and cleaning: Before our tester could begin the installation of this rain barrel, he had to unscrew six screws from around the top screen to remove the spigot that was placed inside. The whole process from removing the screen to getting the barrel ready for filling took just 6 minutes. Tipping the rain barrel over to empty it is necessary because of the spigot’s height.
Features: The convenience of a rain barrel you can roll up to store when temperatures start to drop can’t be ignored. Of the two collapsible rain barrels we evaluated, this was our tester’s favorite. The screen at the top isn’t removable, though a zipper closure around the top provides easy access inside.
Amézquita stopped adding water to this rain barrel when he noticed it coming out of the overflow hole. But as he did so, the top of the rain barrel began to sink and water continued to escape through the overflow hole. Once the sinking stopped, the weighted volume of water in the barrel was 47 gallons, 6 gallons short of its claimed 53-gallon maximum capacity.
He was concerned that the legs on the other collapsible rain barrel we evaluated were too thin to support the barrel’s weight on grassy terrain. Because Lostronaut’s rain barrel has feet with a wider base, he didn’t have the same concern with this model.
When full, it bulges slightly on the back and requires a bit of water to be added to keep its shape. The brand cautions against moving the rain barrel once it’s full to avoid damaging the plastic material. To connect a garden hose to the barrel’s drain valve, a special adapter is needed, which isn’t included. Leaking was noticed from the spigot during our evaluations.
Ease of use and cleaning: Amézquita called this rain barrel the second most difficult to assemble, followed closely by the other collapsible model from Vingli. Even so, the setup only took 17 minutes. After draining, cleaning was easy.
Another Rain Barrel We Tested
Features: Leaky even when our tester tightened all the valves, this collapsible rain barrel from Vingli finished at the bottom of our list. The leaks were noticed from both the spigot and drain valve. The plastic piece that holds the spigot together didn’t hold its shape during our evaluations, becoming damaged in our tester’s efforts to stop the leaking. To tighten any of the valves, the rain barrel has to be drained and the legs must be removed.
The screen at the top of the rain barrel isn’t removable, but like the Lostronaut, accessing the interior is easy thanks to a zipper around the top. Also like the other collapsible model, this rain barrel doesn’t keep its shape if it’s totally empty. Though “portable” is in the name of this rain barrel, like with the other collapsible model tested, Amezquita warns against moving the rain barrel after it’s filled with water.
It held 91 gallons of water before it began to overflow and bulge at the bottom.
Ease of use and cleaning: Vingli’s rain barrel took the most time to set up—about 25 minutes. Because the drain valve is 4 inches from the ground, it needs to be tipped to be emptied, but cleaning the barrel after draining it is easy.
How CR Tests Rain Barrels
CR’s lab tester José Amézquita first set up each of the rain barrels in one of our labs. He filled each barrel until water began flowing from the overflow hole, noting any leaking or bulging. (If it bulged it meant the material was weak and it could burst from too much pressure.) He calculated how much water each rain barrel could hold, noted the quality of the material, and noted how long it took for each rain barrel to drain. For ease of use, he recorded how long it took him to set up each rain barrel and how easy it was to clean. He didn’t set up any of the rain barrels on a stand or pedestal, though one of the brands, FCMP Outdoor, recommends doing so. Outside, Amezquita filled them with water again, making note of some of the same features he watched out for indoors.
What Are the Disadvantages of a Rain Barrel?
Regulations in many states: Rainwater harvesting requires a bit of research and preparation. The regulations for how much water you can collect, how it can be used, and who can use the collected rainwater vary from one state to another. A few encourage the practice and even offer incentives like a tax credit for some of the supplies purchased when starting a rainwater collection system at home. The states with the strictest restrictions are Colorado and Nevada, according to a map tool from The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). In Colorado, you can only collect up to 110 gallons of rainwater at a time and only if you’re collecting the rainwater from “any single-family residence or multifamily residence with 4 or fewer units.”
Finding this information is tricky, though. When conducting my own research for this article, I found myself reading through documents with complicated legal jargon that was difficult to understand. I still wasn’t sure if the information was up to date because a number of laws have been passed over the years and some documents haven’t been amended. I found myself wishing for more prominently displayed information on state government sites.
One reason for the restrictions on rainwater collection is that harvesting could infringe upon other’s water rights. If I collect 100 gallons of rainwater, that’s 100 gallons of water that I am taking away from someone who lives downstream from my home (and isn’t reaching the animals and plants that live downstream from my home, too). This likely wouldn’t be a problem in an area with lots of rainfall, but in states suffering from droughts, this could pose a serious problem.
Another reason for these restrictions is the health concern associated with drinking, bathing in, and using rainwater for cooking. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s site, “Rainwater can carry bacteria, parasites, viruses, and chemicals that could make you sick, and it has been linked to disease outbreaks.” Check to make sure whether your state explicitly prohibits using untreated rainwater as a source of drinking water. Colorado, for example, goes one step further, prohibiting the use of all collected rainwater for any other “indoor household purposes,” too.
Paul Scott, CR’s director of product sustainability, says he wouldn’t recommend using rainwater as potable water, even if you’ve treated it. “Treating at home would likely be inefficient and potentially dangerous, or at least hard to get correct/in keeping with standards.” Standing water can also be a breeding ground for mosquitoes, so make sure you follow your state’s requirements for having secure lids to keep insects out of barrels. All of the models we evaluated came equipped with a screen to keep out large debris and insects.
Downspout modification: To properly set up a rain barrel, you should modify the gutter downspout on your house. When a downspout is originally installed, it’s meant to allow water to flow close to the ground, away from the structure. To collect the most amount of rainwater possible, the gutter needs to feed the water directly to the opening at the top of a rain barrel. This probably isn’t too complicated do, but Amézquita noted that it could cause problems in areas where temperatures drop below freezing.
If water freezes inside the rain barrels, it can cause the plastic material to crack, which you may not notice until the water begins to thaw and leak out of the barrel. In the wintertime, rain barrels should be stored indoors to avoid damaging them, but that leaves a too-high downspout spewing water all over the side of your home and yard. “In the winter, the modified downspout may be too high up on the side of the building or house, which may create a problem when rain starts coming down,” he says. A strong current of water hitting the side of your home could damage the material or cause annoying water buildup in your yard. A quick remedy could be attaching a length of gutter to the modified downspout that allows the water to be released close to the ground until it’s warm enough to use the rain barrel again.
No first-flush diverter: None of the rain barrels we evaluated were able to divert the first flush of rainwater collected. Why is this important? Well, that first bit of rain is picking up the debris (including bird excrement) that’s on your home’s roof—debris that you probably don’t want in your water, depending on what you plan to use it for. There’s no guarantee that a first-flush diverter will avoid keeping all of that gunk out of your collected rainwater because there could be dried-on debris that takes longer to soak off, but it can at least minimize the amount of stuff you don’t want in there. There are online retailers that sell first-flush water diverter kits you can install on your rain barrels yourself.
Low water pressure: Because rain barrels don’t come equipped with pressure pumps, there’s little to no water pressure as water is drained. This mean that when it’s time to empty your rain barrel, it will take a long time. But attaching a hose to your barrel’s spigot to water your lawn will prove largely unsuccessful, too. Amézquita has a potential fix for this though. “A stand (or pedestal) can be beneficial to all of them, and perhaps a valve with a larger output can increase the flow and reduce the amount of time it can take to drain them,” he says.
How Long Does Rainwater Last in a Rain Barrel?
As far as Scott knows, there’s no time limit for storing rainwater in a rain barrel, but he did caution that keeping standing water uncovered for any amount of time could cause mosquitoes. The CDC doesn’t have any guidance on how long rainwater specifically can be safely stored, but it does offer some information about another source of standing water, stormwater. None of the states’ regulations we reviewed had any guidance on how long rainwater could be safely stored, either.
