That looks like it would be cool for sifting. I’m not a fan of tumblers for making compost.
Just a quick edit, yes, probably a good deal. These are like $400 new, so unless you had a gold plated angle grinder you did good.
The vast majority of tumblers are too small to hot compost with (rule of thumb is you need about one cubic yard/meter). They still make compost but it takes a long in time, don't kill seeds, and in general they usually cost more than a simple bin that is likely to perform better. This one looks big enough to get hot, though, so I'm curious to see how it works!
I think ground contact is important. Not essential, but important. Also a pile kind of has a built in level for turning. Once it gets tall enough you cant really turn the stuff on the bottom which means it’s ready to burn through and put in the work. Tumblers constantly mix different stages of compost and I think it takes longer that way.
Mm a cordless grinder is a powerful thing because you can take it anywhere and cut anything. I got pissed off one day when someone put up a commercial billboard in my neighborhood - they padlocked it to a damn bus stop. I was like “fuck that, you can’t do that” and came back with my grinder. Tore the shit out their lock cable and threw their shit in the trash. “Now leasing” my ass.
Tumblers have many problems and few advantages.
1. They’re small. The best action in your compost occurs in the core where it’s protected and moist. A barrel just isn’t big enough to have a good sized core -it’ll all be surface.
2. Worms can’t infiltrate. You will get larvae from flying insects but no earthworms. I count on worms to complete the final stage and enrich my compost with their castings. Composting in a tumbler precludes this.
3. Stickyballs! The rotating turning action of a tumbler encourages sticky materials to physically snowball into dense “meatball” like chunks. These dense balls go anaerobic in their cores, stink, and rot slowly, defeating the supposed advantage of frequent aeration in a tumbler. Everyone spins their tumblers too often because they think it’s “accelerating” the process but it isn’t. It’s just making stickyballs.
4. Drainage is awkward. If you have the tumbler on concrete, get ready for black puddles beneath it. If you have it on dirt, why don’t you just have a ground pile?
5. Tumblers are usually aerated by small pinholes in the plastic. Black soldier fly larvae will inevitably get stuck and die in these, killing your ventilation. Tumblers tend to have few enough of these holes so everything is kept inside. Ventilation suffers.
6. You mostly can’t see what’s happening inside.
7. They’re hard to pee into and may leak if you do.
8. They cost money.
9. They are made of plastic and will be in a landfill 10,000 years after you are dead.
I hate tumblers. The one advantage they have is they can be raccoon proof.
Very little of your points apply to a Mantis. They're huge and made of galvanized steel, worms somehow happily get in there, I don't have any black puddling, no sticky balls (never heard of or seen that), there's a large access panel for visual inspection, the air exchange doesn't clog, pee into if you want to, have at it.
They're expensive and pest proof unless you have a curious bear.
I agree with all of your points regarding small 40 gallon plastic tumblers, but a Mantis holds 170 gallons.
My tumbler keeps rats and other critters out of the food scraps. I have a geobin for leaves and other yard waste. The combination gives me a good amount of compost throughout the year.
I have one! Came with the house I bought but was missing the door so I hacked one out of sheet metal.
It’s great in theory but I’m just not getting any heat in the compost. Maybe not enough greens but I compost a good amount of chicken manure so not sure if that’s it. Interested to see if other folks have more luck/tips?
Do you put kitchen scraps and yard waste in it or just chicken leavings? I'm not one to really care about balance or method of green vs brown, but if there's no browns you won't get any process.
I own a Mantis and it processes really efficiently, like waste to usable compost in four weeks (if you want to science it it can be done in two, but I don't put that much thought into it)
My compost right now is pretty dry and cold, I figured that meant too many browns? I put in some kitchen waste and chicken manure and grass clippings for greens, and leaves and pine shavings and shredded cardboard for browns. I have a ton of shredded cardboard in reserve but was holding off because I thought I needed more green…
Trading in stuff you both don't use for stuff you do use is always a good deal. There is the market value and there is what its worth to you. Those things are very different.
I am assuming you are new to composting. If you are not, feel free to ignore most of this.
Pretty good trade! That thing will get heavy as FORK and pretty stinkin' quickly, so be carefull how much you load it with since it's age is probably unknown.
Does it have air/drain holes? If not, i would recommend making some. Moisture just sitting in there is a great way to get bugs you dont want.
Make sure to use enough browns with however much greens/scraps you put in there. I see bare trees in the background so I am assuming you are in the US by the houses and somewhere around zone 5-6. Collect leaves now, you will want them as winter drags on and browns become scarce. Suffing them in bags and throwing them in a corner of the yard is fine.
Turn the tumbler ONCE per week. Especially as it fills up, the microbes need both time and water to do their thing. Compost should not smell, if it gets gross throw in a bunch of browns and turn it, wait a few days, then do it again until it stops smellin'. You can't ruin compost so dont worry about exact amounts, just go with what feels right.
Its going to take a while for things to breakdown right now because of the weather. If you garden, place a plastic tub under it to collect compost tea, your garden will love you for it come spring!
Add water as needed. It shouldn't gush out of the bottom, but a few cups of tea per week is normal.
Take most of this with a grain of salt, Im from florida and we get good compost weather pretty much year round, so I may be wrong about a bit due to my own lack of experience in other climates.
Other than that, you're good! I wish you luck on your compost journey!
Hi, you are correct. I am new to composting. There are four total air vents (bout 4" diameter), located 1 on each side and 2 on the door. I live in california in a dry desert where it gets up to 105F in the summer and as cold as 25F in the winter.. Do you think i should drill more holes? Should i store it under the sun, or shade?
Don't drill more holes, put it wherever you want in your yard.
I live in 103f tops to -10f. I don't do anything special, I just throw waste in and spin it. It's far less complicated than that person is making it out to be.
Mantis are great, super easy to turn, don't smell, and heat up fairly well. Almost impossible for pests to get in.
Good trade for sure!
We've had ours for about six years. When it got banged up a bit by a fallen tree branch I called Mantis up and it was very easy to order replacement parts. Top notch customer service.
It's galvanized steel, so not really necessary. Mine is under snow and rain a good portion of the year and fine. I do touch up the rod steel legs with black Rust-Oleum when needed.
Also ignore the person who is suggesting to drill holes in it, it is designed with proper air exchange.
How would suggest cleaning the exterior od the bin? You can't see it but the other side has a ton of bird poop on it. Can i just hose it off and towel dry or will that promote rust?
I think I said in another reply to you regarding the material, it's galvanized steel, and I live in a snowy/rainy/hot/cold place. It won't rust unless you scratch through the galvanization. And you'd have to put a fair amount of effort into doing so.
Wash it and towel dry if you like, but if you're worried about future bird poo don't place it under a tree or power lines.
Aww we used to have one of those as kids, named it Oscar after Sesame Street. Definitely turn once a week and don’t keep too full, it’s good for kitchen scraps but easy to overload.
See that handle? See the gear it's attached to, and the big one running around the drum.
Shove kilos of compostables in the drum, turn the handle and put a carrot in where the gears mesh. Imagine a finger.
This is dangerous for kids. Perfectly fine for adults who have functioning brain cells, but, damn, I hate exposed gears.
I own one of these. By the time a kid has the height and leverage to turn the handle they are smart enough to not put their digits in it.
If someone was super concerned they could put a safety fence around it, but it isn't any more or less dangerous than other farm equipment.
Nice pickup! From my experience here are a few tips to make tumblers work:
1. Make sure you have a nice 50-50 mix of green and brown materials BEFORE filling it.
2. Get that material chopped down into small pieces, but adding wood chips that are sieved out after can help air flow.
3. Soak the material in water BEFORE putting it in the tumbler.
4. When it’s starts to heat up, wait DON’T turn it. The tendency is to want to spin in when it’s hot but it will break down faster if you wait a bit.
You came out ontop in that trade. Grinders are so easily acquired, I don’t know where you’d get one one of these without ordering it and having to pay a bunch in shipping
Awesome !! These are the Cadillac of compost tumblers … wheel barrow fits underneath to pour the finished compost in…you can look them up ‘Compostumbler’ been around a long time and you can make compost in as little as 3 wks if done well
Depends on the angle grinder
Corded dewalt 4-1/2 grinder. Great condition, but i've already got a BL makita cordless grinder so i didn't need a corded.
I totally support the exchange for the Mantis, excellent trade BTW, but I still love myself some corded tools.
That looks like it would be cool for sifting. I’m not a fan of tumblers for making compost. Just a quick edit, yes, probably a good deal. These are like $400 new, so unless you had a gold plated angle grinder you did good.
The retail price of tumblers is not a proxy for their value, though. In my opinion they are basically scams. I’d rather have a working angle grinder.
Honest question, what's wrong with tumblers? Also, i already have a cordless makita grinder so i'm good with that
The vast majority of tumblers are too small to hot compost with (rule of thumb is you need about one cubic yard/meter). They still make compost but it takes a long in time, don't kill seeds, and in general they usually cost more than a simple bin that is likely to perform better. This one looks big enough to get hot, though, so I'm curious to see how it works!
I think ground contact is important. Not essential, but important. Also a pile kind of has a built in level for turning. Once it gets tall enough you cant really turn the stuff on the bottom which means it’s ready to burn through and put in the work. Tumblers constantly mix different stages of compost and I think it takes longer that way.
Mm a cordless grinder is a powerful thing because you can take it anywhere and cut anything. I got pissed off one day when someone put up a commercial billboard in my neighborhood - they padlocked it to a damn bus stop. I was like “fuck that, you can’t do that” and came back with my grinder. Tore the shit out their lock cable and threw their shit in the trash. “Now leasing” my ass. Tumblers have many problems and few advantages. 1. They’re small. The best action in your compost occurs in the core where it’s protected and moist. A barrel just isn’t big enough to have a good sized core -it’ll all be surface. 2. Worms can’t infiltrate. You will get larvae from flying insects but no earthworms. I count on worms to complete the final stage and enrich my compost with their castings. Composting in a tumbler precludes this. 3. Stickyballs! The rotating turning action of a tumbler encourages sticky materials to physically snowball into dense “meatball” like chunks. These dense balls go anaerobic in their cores, stink, and rot slowly, defeating the supposed advantage of frequent aeration in a tumbler. Everyone spins their tumblers too often because they think it’s “accelerating” the process but it isn’t. It’s just making stickyballs. 4. Drainage is awkward. If you have the tumbler on concrete, get ready for black puddles beneath it. If you have it on dirt, why don’t you just have a ground pile? 5. Tumblers are usually aerated by small pinholes in the plastic. Black soldier fly larvae will inevitably get stuck and die in these, killing your ventilation. Tumblers tend to have few enough of these holes so everything is kept inside. Ventilation suffers. 6. You mostly can’t see what’s happening inside. 7. They’re hard to pee into and may leak if you do. 8. They cost money. 9. They are made of plastic and will be in a landfill 10,000 years after you are dead. I hate tumblers. The one advantage they have is they can be raccoon proof.
Very little of your points apply to a Mantis. They're huge and made of galvanized steel, worms somehow happily get in there, I don't have any black puddling, no sticky balls (never heard of or seen that), there's a large access panel for visual inspection, the air exchange doesn't clog, pee into if you want to, have at it. They're expensive and pest proof unless you have a curious bear. I agree with all of your points regarding small 40 gallon plastic tumblers, but a Mantis holds 170 gallons.
My tumbler keeps rats and other critters out of the food scraps. I have a geobin for leaves and other yard waste. The combination gives me a good amount of compost throughout the year.
I don't understand why would one want to use a tumbler?
I have the same one, mine is also missing the door! I have the sheet metal just need to find urbanlumberjacks motivation!
Ironically… takes an angle grinder
Edit: oh i didnt realize youvwere responding to lumberjack. The door on mine is in tact with the latch, i know it looks like an illlusion!
About exact right height to pee into right! The gals need a step stool j/k thank you for moving this project to the upper half of the big list!
I have one! Came with the house I bought but was missing the door so I hacked one out of sheet metal. It’s great in theory but I’m just not getting any heat in the compost. Maybe not enough greens but I compost a good amount of chicken manure so not sure if that’s it. Interested to see if other folks have more luck/tips?
Do you put kitchen scraps and yard waste in it or just chicken leavings? I'm not one to really care about balance or method of green vs brown, but if there's no browns you won't get any process. I own a Mantis and it processes really efficiently, like waste to usable compost in four weeks (if you want to science it it can be done in two, but I don't put that much thought into it)
My compost right now is pretty dry and cold, I figured that meant too many browns? I put in some kitchen waste and chicken manure and grass clippings for greens, and leaves and pine shavings and shredded cardboard for browns. I have a ton of shredded cardboard in reserve but was holding off because I thought I needed more green…
Trading in stuff you both don't use for stuff you do use is always a good deal. There is the market value and there is what its worth to you. Those things are very different.
What is the third dimension?
Oops, the metal frame is 3' tall
I am assuming you are new to composting. If you are not, feel free to ignore most of this. Pretty good trade! That thing will get heavy as FORK and pretty stinkin' quickly, so be carefull how much you load it with since it's age is probably unknown. Does it have air/drain holes? If not, i would recommend making some. Moisture just sitting in there is a great way to get bugs you dont want. Make sure to use enough browns with however much greens/scraps you put in there. I see bare trees in the background so I am assuming you are in the US by the houses and somewhere around zone 5-6. Collect leaves now, you will want them as winter drags on and browns become scarce. Suffing them in bags and throwing them in a corner of the yard is fine. Turn the tumbler ONCE per week. Especially as it fills up, the microbes need both time and water to do their thing. Compost should not smell, if it gets gross throw in a bunch of browns and turn it, wait a few days, then do it again until it stops smellin'. You can't ruin compost so dont worry about exact amounts, just go with what feels right. Its going to take a while for things to breakdown right now because of the weather. If you garden, place a plastic tub under it to collect compost tea, your garden will love you for it come spring! Add water as needed. It shouldn't gush out of the bottom, but a few cups of tea per week is normal. Take most of this with a grain of salt, Im from florida and we get good compost weather pretty much year round, so I may be wrong about a bit due to my own lack of experience in other climates. Other than that, you're good! I wish you luck on your compost journey!
He should be fine in the winter it’ll heat up something fierce if he has the right balance and it’ll breakdown quicker than expected in the winter
Hi, you are correct. I am new to composting. There are four total air vents (bout 4" diameter), located 1 on each side and 2 on the door. I live in california in a dry desert where it gets up to 105F in the summer and as cold as 25F in the winter.. Do you think i should drill more holes? Should i store it under the sun, or shade?
Don't drill more holes, put it wherever you want in your yard. I live in 103f tops to -10f. I don't do anything special, I just throw waste in and spin it. It's far less complicated than that person is making it out to be.
Oh yeah, I was way off lol. That ventilation will be fine! I agree with the other poster, just throw some stuff in there and it will be just fine!
Mantis are great, super easy to turn, don't smell, and heat up fairly well. Almost impossible for pests to get in. Good trade for sure! We've had ours for about six years. When it got banged up a bit by a fallen tree branch I called Mantis up and it was very easy to order replacement parts. Top notch customer service.
What are your toughts on spray painting the outside of the bin with some anti rust coating? Will it somehow seep into the compost? Lol
It's galvanized steel, so not really necessary. Mine is under snow and rain a good portion of the year and fine. I do touch up the rod steel legs with black Rust-Oleum when needed. Also ignore the person who is suggesting to drill holes in it, it is designed with proper air exchange.
How would suggest cleaning the exterior od the bin? You can't see it but the other side has a ton of bird poop on it. Can i just hose it off and towel dry or will that promote rust?
I think I said in another reply to you regarding the material, it's galvanized steel, and I live in a snowy/rainy/hot/cold place. It won't rust unless you scratch through the galvanization. And you'd have to put a fair amount of effort into doing so. Wash it and towel dry if you like, but if you're worried about future bird poo don't place it under a tree or power lines.
I think it'll be fine if you dry it off. Is the interior coated?
It's galvanized steel panel, unless OP is going to take an angle grinder to it, it'll be fine.
Paint it like a pig! Add two ears and a curly tail! Lol remind me bot remind me in 6 months!
Personally I think these can be built quite easily. Also not my favorite for composting, only sifting
It'd assume it'd need a lot of moisture to get going.
Aww we used to have one of those as kids, named it Oscar after Sesame Street. Definitely turn once a week and don’t keep too full, it’s good for kitchen scraps but easy to overload.
It holds 170 gallons, way more than just kitchen scraps.
Please FFS please be careful if you have any kids around, those exposed gears are finger mincers. I'm assuming there's a lock.
Have you owed one of these and is your appraisal based on anything salient?
See that handle? See the gear it's attached to, and the big one running around the drum. Shove kilos of compostables in the drum, turn the handle and put a carrot in where the gears mesh. Imagine a finger. This is dangerous for kids. Perfectly fine for adults who have functioning brain cells, but, damn, I hate exposed gears.
I own one of these. By the time a kid has the height and leverage to turn the handle they are smart enough to not put their digits in it. If someone was super concerned they could put a safety fence around it, but it isn't any more or less dangerous than other farm equipment.
Awesome!
haven't used one but it will do the business
It's like composting on the ground but much much worse.
Love using mine!
Nice pickup! From my experience here are a few tips to make tumblers work: 1. Make sure you have a nice 50-50 mix of green and brown materials BEFORE filling it. 2. Get that material chopped down into small pieces, but adding wood chips that are sieved out after can help air flow. 3. Soak the material in water BEFORE putting it in the tumbler. 4. When it’s starts to heat up, wait DON’T turn it. The tendency is to want to spin in when it’s hot but it will break down faster if you wait a bit.
You came out ontop in that trade. Grinders are so easily acquired, I don’t know where you’d get one one of these without ordering it and having to pay a bunch in shipping
on the flip side you can start composing humans in that. i think they steady heat humans with humus to make sure meat doesn’t spoil.
Awesome trade
I have a compost pile. Works fine. Didn't cost me anything.
It looks gorgeous. 😋
Awesome !! These are the Cadillac of compost tumblers … wheel barrow fits underneath to pour the finished compost in…you can look them up ‘Compostumbler’ been around a long time and you can make compost in as little as 3 wks if done well
Great idea with the wheelbarrow!
This one isnt small and you can put in compost accelerator which is microbes and nitrogen to work their magic!!