Tumbleweed 220L Compost Tumbler

Having a fight with the compost-tumbler – I have had the Tumbleweed 220L compost tumbler for a few months. It makes great compost, if u can actually turn it! It is only one third full, but is so heavy and unwieldy to turn that I need another person to help. Older folks could do themselves an injury when attempting to turn it! Not user-friendly at all. Could benefit from a few grab-handles to make turning easier. Would not recommend this product until the function has been streamlined. Show details

Too heavy to turn and flimsy frame – Too heavy to rotate when not even half full. The frame bent two months after purchase and is flimsy. It can just stand up with bricks. I bought the tumbleweed aerator so could continue composting which defeats purpose of having the tumbler and bar restricts use of aerator. It was an expensive compost bin. After a year had good compost, although difficult to get it out and had to use a shovel. Show details

for older people, too heavy & too low to empty – Makes great compost but Too heavy to rotate easily. Too low to empty into a barrow for older users. surprisingly bad design. has any one come up with an ability to add a handle or motorise it? Show details

Perfect for compost – I purchased many years ago, still function it very well. It makes mulch in about 4 weeks and pure compost in six weeks time. You can use it to produce liquid fertilize. I have never been disappointed with this good little buy Show details

Not a good buy at any price – The basic design flaws in this tumbler make it more trouble that its worth. The central rotation spindle that passes through the barrel acts as a barrier inside and prevents proper mixing of contents. The same spindle is also a nuisance when trying to remove contents after composting. Removing contents is even more annoying because the height of… Read more

the opening when the barrel is rotated downwards, is too close to the ground to get any but the smallest container underneath. PoIntless anyway, as you end up having to get in up to your elbows to remove contents blocked by the spindle. Finally, it does not produce good compost. After many weeks and regular rotation, most of my contents was only slightly broken down. Very disappointing product.

Excellent for the price – It's not perfect but for the price it's been excellent. If it gets loaded up I guess it would be heavy for a woman or and older person to tumble but it's nothing for an able bodied man. For those with cracking plastic I would suggest keeping it out of the direct sunlight if possible. I'd also suggest tilting it to the horizontal to get the compost out. I'm getting to old to remember when I bought it but it's been a few years.  Show details

Does not last long – The brackets cannot take the weight of the compost. Becomes very heavy to turn and after not that long the metal brackets started to bend and break. All I have left is the bin. Pretty disappointing for a $200 composter. I would not purchase this again. I bought two and they both suffered the same fate.  Show details

Disappointed in this Australian Made Product – Have had this tumbler for many years, but the only original part is the stand. The plastic barrel has been replaced a number of times. Disappointed that it has such a short life span - thickness of axle point material is inadequate leading to cracking. It is difficult to remove compost with the bin so close to the ground. Once again the axle point has had a home repair attempted, but would not buy this bin again.

Hard to use and cracking after 12 months – I agree with the previous reviewer that it is very hard to tumble after it starts filling up. She is also right in that its very hard to extract the compost as its so close to the ground. Mine has also just started to crack near the top where the lid connects and no surprise its out of warranty after 12 months. Not good enough for a $200 product!

A great Product – I have had one for 16 years & love it once I got used to it. It is of utmost importance to get the carbon balance right or you will just have a load of foul smelling wet gunk, that is too heavy to turn! It must be layered with 1. kitchen scraps/garden clippings, 2. shredded paper/cardboard, 3. manure, 4. straw, repeat. If the balance is right… Read more

it is easy to turn, it's when it is too wet that it is too heavy to turn, it is not designed just for kitchen scraps or garden clippings, add more paper/straw. Needs to be turned few rotations every 2-4 days. If the lid becomes difficult to turn, use 2 cutlery knives to slip in the opposite slots, use these as levers to turn the lid. Easiest to open & close the lid when heat has built up late in the day. To empty, I scoop out with metal garden scoop, once it gets beyond reach, just tip it over so the bottom compost comes up the sides or lay a small tarp underneath & tip it out! I have not had a problem with rusting, continual use for 16 years! Have had a few black compost bins that never worked, this is awesome in comparison. 56 year old woman!

Works well so far! – We've only had this bin for a couple of weeks, but I found assembly easy and I don't have any problems tumbling it (I'm a 5'3" 29-year-old woman) - we've put about 30L from the kitchen in it so far. I can see how people would find it heavy, but I also imagine that hand-forking any compost pile would require a lot more strength and effort than this… Read more

tumbler.

I will update my review in a few months depending on further experience, but right now the bin hasn't yet filled up so I can't speak to the difficulty of turning it when full or the durability of the materials.

It DOES NOT work! – This compost tumbler does not work as it is supposed to do. 1. When it is half full with green kitchen waste, it is so heavy I cannot tumble it. I needed both my husband and my son to tumble it together. 2. To get the compost out of the bin is a challenge! The compost is not reachable by opening the top cover. The bottom cover is so close to the… Read more

ground, it's hard to get the compost out. I wonder if it has been trial and tested by a woman gardener! No, I won't recommend this product, esp to a fellow woman gardener.

A good product, but could be better – I have two of these and a compost bin, turning over a lot of garden mulch every couple of months. Today the supporting bottom part of the legs collapsed when I tried to turn the bin and the thing collapsed with a full load of heavy compost. On examining it, the bottom V rails had rusted. Since these things tend to sit in damp soil/compost it is… Read more

not surprising. If I were to get another one, I would put a coat of rust resistant paint on the supporting V rails before assembling. I checked the website and it was $71 for replacement legs. Instead I cut off the rusted parts and drilled holes in a couple of old wooden logs and pounded them in. It works fine now and I should get a couple more years out of it. I noticed that the screws holding the top and bottom plastic bins together are rusting too so I expect the next problem will be replacing them.

Re the quality of the compost, what you put in determines that. I don't turn the bins as often as they say to because I find it can be hard on the arms and hands. If the tumbler is full they turn much more easily as the load seems better balanced. I empty them about once every 2 months once the compost stops smelling and breaks down, and distribute the compost between my worm farm and standing compost bin for further break-down.

Composting is a commitment and a chore. This item works as well as any that I have used, but it was annoying to have it collapse on me due to rusting legs.

October 12th 2019 Update: I've had mine for over 10 years, good product

I bought two of these when the local hardware store was closing down, I fill one, then leave it for several weeks (turning it every few days), move on to the other one. The drawbacks as stated by others here, it is a long cylindrical shape, impossible to get a wheelbarrow or even a pail under it to empty it. I am a five foot tall women in my sixties, never had a problem turning it, but I know the ratio of dry carbon material (eg shredded palm fronds, leaves, etc) to wet (kitchen waste). If you put all wet kitchen waste in it, it will sit in one end like a heavy lump and make turning almost impossible. I add a pail of household waste and double the amount of dry, turn it a few times to mix, then repeat until very full. Once full to the top, turning is easy.

I have had one maintenance issue, the legs of one rusted out after 8 years, but I ordered just the replacement legs from the tumbleweed website and I was back in business. I also raised the legs off the ground on some bricks to prevent them sitting in wet or acidic soil which promoted the rusting. I keep my compost area in a shaded area, have had no issues with cracking of the plastic. Overall a good product, I subtracted a star because of the emptying issue.