Compost Tumbler Review & Would I Buy Another One?

[Music] [Music] today unmarked them self-sufficient me and as promised this is my video review on the maze tumbler composter there's been a lot of you asking if I could do a in-depth review I have showed the other day how to use this type of composter to make shredded paper turn into beautiful round compost that you can use in the garden shred your bills away and turn them into plant food but I didn't really explain what my bottom line was and what my thoughts were after using this for the last six months so that's what we'll do now let's get into it [Music] firstly why did we get a tumbler like any tumbler not necessarily this one and the reason is at the moment we're refurbishing our three based system three bae systems is good and they're going to continue using it because it is so good but we've just found some problems with the way it's being covered so i want to redesign it in a way i just want to put a roof on it and some side panels out the front basically to stop the larger critters from getting in like the Bush turkeys practically eating all our waste food rather than letting it compost down so I want to get that done and in the meantime I thought well unhurt about tumbler composters I had used plastic compost drums before but not the ones that you're tumbled and I have heard that they're a pretty good system and I wanted to try it out for myself just to see if it really did compost down the materials in a good way in a fast way like they say and test it out for myself and this was a good opportunity while we're getting these other bays done and I can tell you now once we get our three BAE Systems finished I will continue to be using a tumbler composter because I just think that they work really well and it would complement each other and even serve sort of different purposes one for composting down shredded paper and those harsh a type of materials and the other one for a nice slow composting down with other types of animals even like worms that can come up and make a good cold slow round compost so what did I get this particular brand of compost up well they look pretty good quality for a start it's a trusted brand Mei sells lots of products and it's stocked by Australia's biggest Hardware chain Bunnings so if it broke I could just return it easily enough they have a assembly instruction video online so I thought that was pretty good from a company perspective means they care about their products and they want to show people how to assemble it rather than just let them bumble through the paper assembly instructions it's got a good capacity at 245 leaders and it was a reasonable price at 249 Australian dollars it's got dual chambers and that makes sense to me and the last thing that swayed my mind was this handle system it's got a cog it's like a ratchet it's supposed to be easy to turn which it is rather than trying to push over a big barrel or have these handles and reaching over and trying to pull the barrel over I just thought that that concept was better I'm gonna break this review down into four simple areas first impressions and assembly practicality of use in the field overall performance and would I buy another one first impressions and assembly so when I got it out of the packet I felt that the materials were nice and sturdy strong it seemed fairly durable the assembly instructions were easy to follow but it took longer than I expected to put together there seemed to be a million parts and screws and by the end of the process I couldn't help but think this better be worth it personally I think the drum at least should come preassembled which would mean a larger packaging but save most people a ton of time and effort particularly old or disabled practicality and use in the field the handle first of all like I said I loved the indle design I think this ratchet system is the way to go it's a good concept and say it was reaching out trying to lift or spin a large barrel which can get quite heavy if it's full what worries me is the durability of the handle assembly itself it feels ok but I'm not a 100% confident that it's going to last years without breaking see that wobble there I mean I'm not saying it will I mean it could last a decade it just just feels a little bit iffy if you know what I mean that's probably just the way it's designed to be fair I have given it a good working over in the past six months and it hasn't degraded got any worse or broke so I'm hoping it won't I've been careful not to overload the tumbler by filling up a chamber and then allowing the contents to break down rather than constantly adding to build up a full barrel over time which could become very heavy and place undue pressure on the handle I don't think it was designed to be used like that I have noticed I've been a surface rust on some of the nuts and screws not a big drama for the shorter medium term a bit unusual for a composter not to have galvanized or stainless steel screws in them you'd think because you know you're composting down materials you're breaking down acidic materials it's out in the weather you'd think that it will have better screws than that to be quite honest the two-chamber barrel works really well because whilst one chamber the making chamber is being left to fully break down into compost the other chamber that adding can be filled this enables the continual removal of waste from the kitchen or garden for one side while still creating compost in the other when the composting process is done the adding chamber is then filled totally and then left to become the making chamber with nothing more added unless an obvious imbalance is noted and only then are more wet or dry materials added to correct it the barrel mixes the materi girls together easily and does a good job at mixing them evenly I also think the size of this composter is appropriate and would be fine for most small to larger yards and families there are several air vents that can be opened or closed to regulate temperature and you do get leakage like fermented juice dripping out so I recommend using a caching device like a tray under the tumbler or placed in an area where spillage isn't going to matter so much like I have done here just on a bit of bare ground I would have liked the frame to be a little higher in order to get a wheelbarrow underneath it but you can buy purpose-built wheeled containers for this composter also removing the compost from the chamber wasn't quite as easy as turning it upside down and rolling it out rather I had to get my hands in there and scoop out some of the finished product because not all of it would roll out properly it would be nice if the design allowed the contents to fall out easier overall performance as you would have seen in my turn shredded paper into compost video this composter does a pretty good job I expected it to make compost faster than it does but then I am making it break down some harsh materials and I reckon general garden waste like kitchen scraps and grass clippings would break down much faster however the proof is in the pudding and at this point it's doing the job it was designed today would I buy another tumbler composter yeah for sure but probably not this one what I'll do is wait until this Mays composter eventually carks it which I hope is a long time and when it does I'll replace it with a more premium model now that I've had a chance to use a tumbler composter I can see how a more refined unit with a larger chamber smoother operation better insulation to break down the materials at a higher temp simpler to empty and made from more durable material would make this type of composting easier overall the only problem is these types of units are very expensive some into the thousands weighing up the expensive option with all the bells and whistles against one of these perhaps less polished composters that may not last as long but still does the job is the decision people in the market for a composter will have to make for themselves based on their budget my honest opinion if I had my time over in hindsight and what I know now about my experience with tumbler composters and the material you can make in them I probably should have invested in the more expensive and premium model but I wasn't to know and I wasn't going to spend exactly if not more three times the amount I paid for this one in a tumbler composter and have it just sit here like a rusting relic that I never used so I'm glad I got this one in a way because yes if I was buying one now I would get a better model but I wasn't to know back then anyway so it's kind of chicken egg theory that's it I hope my review on the maize tumbler composter has helped you out there's links in the description to composters that you can buy online I encourage you to check them out if you've got any questions wacom down below and if you've got any experience or you want to share your knowledge I'd be interested in reading it also in the comment section below thanks a lot for watching bye for now [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Self Sufficient Me

Views: 703,800

Keywords: tumbler compost, tumbler composter reviews, compost tumbler, compost tumbler review, composter, tumbler composter how to use, tumbler compost bin

Id: oOj1Z7nI768

Length: 11min 16sec (676 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 16 2019