Fiskars 5998 Salsa 58-Gallon Rain Harvesting System, Spice Granite

10 Review to this product

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  jsuzanj
  June 13th, 2010 on 7:32 am

  Rating

  I absolutely love this product. It’s large size allows me to water my large garden, 6 blackberry bushes, 1 blueberry bush & 3 flower beds TWICE.

  It’s appearance allows it to blend into the house & not be noticed.

  It was fairly easy to install; it may take two people.

  I love this barrell & am begging to get a second!
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  Gretchen L. Horn
  June 14th, 2010 on 3:44 pm

  Rating

  I just ordered my third barrel and they are great. They each took my husband and I maybe 20 minutes to install and no worry about overflow. Read that some have had a problem with the lids not fitting.
  
  These are plastic so you just force the lid on as far as you can then weigh it down with a brick or two. Check later and adjust. Repeat as often as necessary. After a few hours of warm weather and continuing to adjust your bricks or other weights it will eventually conform to the barrel and fit. Just use a little patience. Both lids on mine fit very poorly but after a little brick tech. now they are fine. No need to return the barrel. Happy rain harvesting!
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  Trish
  June 15th, 2010 on 6:00 pm

  Rating

  We ordered this rain barrel right before we had our gutters installed, and the guys that put in our gutters had an easy time. Be sure that the hose is level… other than that, it’s simple & has collected enough rain for us to water all of our potted plants. I love that the diverter comes with it, and I really love that I don’t have to think about whether or not it will work~ no flooding, no problems!
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  R. Beaton
  June 15th, 2010 on 6:31 pm

  Rating

  I had my doubts when the two boxes taped together arrived from Amazon. Everything was undamaged upon opening. This thing is built well, looks nice and has all the components to connect to your downspout. The lid does fit snugly and I like that. Install was pretty much a breeze. I am going to caulk around the gutter water hook-in, I can how water pressure could force water out around the cut-in. I hope the plastic spigot holds up. You will need a screwdriver, 1 inch hole maker for your drill and a hacksaw to complete the install. Sounds worse than it is, I did have to purchase the 1 inch cutter. Amazon had it for just over $5. Overall, I’m pleased.
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  C. Penrose
  June 16th, 2010 on 2:19 am

  Rating

  Works as intended. Nice to have rain water for my plants. This is the only rain barrel (that I am aware) that does not overflow when full. Great design.
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  Dawn D. Hart
  June 16th, 2010 on 4:18 pm

  Rating

  Fantastic. I love this product I purchased 2 and am seriously thinking of getting another 1 or 2. I have 6 down spouts and could harvest a great deal of water for my gardens. I have several gardens and am a Master Gardener, so I plant from seed in my tiny green house for our group sale each spring. These barrels are a “God-send”.
  
  I am a 75 year old lady and I assembled then without any help other than instruction book.
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  Shaun G. Powell
  June 16th, 2010 on 5:36 pm

  Rating

  We’ve had this installed for about a month now and it has proven really successful. It fills up quickly but doesn’t leak all over once it is full. Pros: much more attractive than most rain barrels, easy to follow installation instructions (though cutting the downspouts is a noisy and somewhat frustrating affair–not the fault of the product however), the flat back gives it a much smaller profile, and the easy on/off lid is secure so there is no worry about mosquitos. Cons: the spout is a little high which leaves a fair amount of water left “untapped” unless you tip the barrel, it has to be installed within 3ft of your downspout; this can be tricky at the corners of most houses because of utility boxes and electrical outlets, as a result we could only install three of these on our house instead of the desired 4. Still, we are very pleased.
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  A. Kite
  June 18th, 2010 on 10:53 am

  Rating

  Okay, this will be kinda long, but there are several points I want to make, so please bear with me.

  I recently installed a metal roof on my house and have noticed a significant increase in the amount of water running off the roof since then. During heavier rains, the water from one of the downspouts has a tendency to flood back onto the carport, so I thought having a rain barrel at that corner would help catch some of that extra water, in addition to providing me with natural water to use for my flowers.

  I researched several different barrels and the first thing I learned was that almost all rain barrels are fairly expensive. But once I got over the initial sticker shock of these glorified trash cans, I saw that the Fiskars brand barrels had pretty good reviews. I found this 58 gallon barrel on Amazon and ordered it; despite its large size, it still qualified for free shipping, which I though was fantastic (thank you, Amazon!).

  It is important for these barrels to be installed correctly, and it may take some time to make sure everything is level. I built a small platform out of four 12-inch stepping stones on a brick and sand base. Once I had that level, I placed the barrel on it and went to work installing the downspout catch. That was probably the trickiest part because that tube HAS TO BE level with the intake hole on the barrel in order for the system to work correctly. You will need a 1″ drill bit to make the intake hole for the tube to connect. The directions are sufficient, but they are pretty minimal and rely heavily on pictures with few words. From start to finish, it was probably less than two hours to install the “rain harvesting system.”

  A couple of days later, we got our first set of rain showers. I noticed that the tube from the downspout to the barrel was sagging, preventing the water from entering the barrel. This was because when we had cut the tube and installed it, we had left a little extra on it because we didn’t want to cut it too short. But when it started to rain and the water started flowing into the tube, that little extra allowed the tube to sag, preventing the system from working like it needed to since the tube must be level to work correctly. I adjusted the tube to a shorter length, and then also tied a string around the middle of the tube and attached it to the side of the house to provide a support for the tube in case it got too heavy again. This is not an ideal thing to have to do, but I was able to do it in such a way that you can’t really notice it.

  The roof on my house is not very large (approx. 1500 sq ft Ranch-style with a 4/12 pitch), so I was surprised how quickly the rain barrel filled up after only a few light showers. Then, when a heavy rain occurred, I was very surprised to see that not only was the rain flowing out the bottom of the downspout like it normally would, but it was actually squirting out of the middle of the downspout where I had installed the catch; that was not good because it was squirting right onto the carport. I quickly attached a water hose to the rain barrel and started draining it so the water could drain into it again also.

  I learned two things from that experience:
  
  1) Use the water in the barrel as much as possible, and even if you can’t use it, regularly drain it.
  
  2) When everything is dry, carefully apply caulk around the catch in the downspout to keep the water from squirting out of it.

  Now that I have done both of those things, in addition to adding the support string to the hose, I have nothing but positive things to say about the barrel. You can hook a water hose to the barrel or drain water directly into a bucket or watering can. I have hooked up a small hose like you would connect to a washing machine and use that to fill my watering can. I probably use about 10-12 gallons every day to water all my flowers when it is not raining.

  If you are considering installing a “rain harvesting system,” I highly encourage you to do so, but be aware of the things I have mentioned so you don’t have similar problems.
  
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  D. Vandiver
  June 18th, 2010 on 7:27 pm

  Rating

  After searching the net for some time regarding the purchase/installation of a rain barrel, I really hit the jackpot with this one! Not only was it a nice subtle color (some of us like earth tones), but it was super easy to install. The price was unbelievably reasonable compared to others, and it worked without a hitch after the first rainfall. I am totally impressed with the force of the water that comes out of the spigot; no trickle trickle, but on par with my outdoor faucet–REALLY!…takes no time to fill up my 2 gallon watering can. Have already recommended it to others.
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  Spudman
  June 19th, 2010 on 3:22 pm

  Rating

  The current price on Amazon ($98)is a good one since I paid more than that at BJ’s.

  This is our fourth rain barrel. The others fill from the top through a screen while this system is totally different and actually quite nice.

  Random thoughts:
  
  Go to the Fiskar’s web site to view the installation video because it’s much clearer and more helpful than the printed pictue directions that come with the barrel. When cutting the downspout, it’s much easier to remove the rainspout first than cut it in place. I’ve done both. With this installation my hacksaw began to stick halfway through so I finished the job with some metal snips. Using the metal snips was much easier and faster for me.

  The directions and pamphlet show the barrel sitting almost flat on the ground. To get good flow the barrel should be elevated. I have mine sitting on cinder blocks,two blocks high, and the flow is more than satisfactory.

  Make sure the hose from the downspout to the barrel is short enough. At first mine was too long and it sagged. Shortening the hose made a world of difference.

  I really only have a couple of complaints. First the lid is very difficult to snap on, deliberately made that way by Fiskars for safety reasons. I may end up shaving the edges of the lid to loosen it because I like being able to take the lid off easily so that I can see at a glance how much water is in the barrel.

  My only other complaint is that the spout hole is too high on the barrel. There’s quite a bit of water still in the barrel when the water level is just below the spigot. To remedy this situation I drilled an inch diameter hole closer to the bottom of the barrel, attached a brass hose connection,and sealed it with automotive glass sealer silicone. On the first insallation attempt I used a product I had on hand that didn’t seal properly. I like having the lower spigot now.

  The newer models of the Fiskars rain barrels have a screen in the diverter piece that attaches to the downspout. I don’t have that feature so have had to place a piece of screen in the rain gutter to catch leaves and gunk. I suppose one could also fasten a screening medium of some type at the end of the hose emptying into the rain barrel. Better yet, I could just purchase the screening diverter from Fiskars.

  Overall I like this rain barrel. It’s more attractive than my other barrels and is solidly constructed. Also our plants seem to like rain water better than our treated well water.