Jora Composter JK 270 - Outdoor Dual Chamber Compost Tumbler - 70 Gallon - Galvanized Steel Construction

Works great. Assembly was somewhat challenging, but not too much so (make sure to watch video on YouTube first). Composts very well, minimal leaking, takes about 4-5 weeks for a chamber to ripen fully. Terrific solution for kitchen waste. We bought two, so in winter, when composting will slow down, we will not run out of space. Built well, solid and sturdy. Very, very happy with the purchase. Update after almost three years of use: Well, these composters are one of the best thing we ever bought. We live in climate zone 5a, so winters are somewhat harsh and rather snowy. Our composters work year round without fail. All kitchen scraps, food leftovers, some (but far from all) garden waste, paper towels and napkins are now turned into prime quality compost. There is minimal leakage from the bottom of the barrels, but since they are located outdoors, it is not an issue. In winter we can see steam rising from the venting holes, that is how hot it gets inside the chambers. I have been playing with different proportions of the brown/green waste. Sometimes I add peat moss, sometimes alfalfa (buy it in the farm store, where they sell it as food for rabbits), sometimes just shredded paper (checks, documents etc) from our shredder, sometimes shredded leaves. It always, always works. A couple of times felt that it would be beneficial to use compost accelerator. Just so the chambers get somewhat of a "do over". Used it, again results were great. We are now never without compost. With four separate chambers in different stages of ripening I always have some compost ready to add into the planting hole or just spread around. The paint on the composters faded a little bit in the sun, but they still look pristine. Rain washes them, wind dries them off, no other maintenance is required. Also worth mentioning. I have two old metal wheelbarrows (got one at a yard sale for $1 and another came with the house). They are beaten up, but I will never get rid of them, since they fit perfectly underneath the composters for emptying. These wheelbarrows have low profile and are entirely made out of metal. I just roll one of them underneath the chamber to be emptied (right to the cross on the back), open the chamber door and rotate the composter. Works like a charm. It sounds ridiculous, but these composters now are one of my most prized possessions.... Yeah, I know, gardeners are nuts..... Update after 7 years of use: Still using this composters and still loving them! Came to check if these were still available beacause I just recommended them to someone. Was astounded to see a negative review (with photos). I do not know who these people are, I do not know what their deal is, but their composters had to be fully submerged in acid to look like they do. Here are pictures of our composters, located outside (no protection) in zone 5, after seven years of use. I rely heavily on reviews when purchasing new items, hopefully this will help.

Well, I finally got a compost tumbler. After much research (I originally wanted a mantis) I found that most people using a tumbler preferred the Joraform. It looks nice, is sturdy, well made. Why not? I don’t spend large amounts of money on myself, so I asked for it for Mother’s day. My husband finally ordered it around June. (Late, I know.) It arrived the last day of August. So shipping through Amazon was unexpectedly long. No biggie. I have a lot to learn about composting and wasn’t expecting to get it going in any real significant way this year. It wasn’t until mid September that I had a spare day to assemble it. Since my hubby had a project going outside, I thought we could spend the day doing our projects together, 6 feet apart. (Sounds Covid-y.) He started installing his cold air intake and I started on the Joraform. I actually did as he did and pulled up the assembly video (made by Joraform) on youtube and watched the whole thing first. Then I rewound it and started with each individual step. It was surprisingly easy. I even stopped to help hubby with a fee issues he was having with his project. It finally came time to put the panels on. It all went to hell from here. Now, to be fair, the assembly video said you “may” need a second person to do this. It should have said “You will need a second hand and a 250lb gorilla to accomplish the next several steps.” I managed to place the first panel on my own. It was tough, but I got it and my false sense of accomplishment set in. Then, panel number two. Holy crap. There was no way that thing was going on. The foam inside, while snug, was so tight fitting that there was no way I could line up the holes. I struggled. I got mad. So I stopped and helped hubby finish the cold air intake in exchange for help with the Joraform. We attacked together. Even my husband, with his sexy arms of steel, were no match to push down on the panels to align the holes for the screws. We maneuvered and turned and swapped places with no avail. There was no way of getting enough pressure onto the thing to align it all. I finally suggested we should lay the thing in it’s side and have him and his 200lb self sit on the panels. It mostly worked. I still had to exude large amounts of force to get the screws to go into place. I did not realize, but at one point I was grunting to get the screws in. I glanced at my hubby and he had that silly grin and was raising his eyebrows at me. He mentioned liking the noises I was making. I very quickly made sure there was no more grunting of any kind, but that didn’t stop him from copping a feel every moment he got a chance. I finally told him to finish the screws. (Another cheeky grin from him.) But alas, my weight was no where near enough to press the panels down to align the holes. Fatty had to go back to sitting while I did all the work. We finished a couple hours after I started on it. I think it’s going to be a great tumbler, but don’t order it unless you have a gorilla or a horny hubby to help you assemble the darn thing. Don’t trust the assembly video. It is NOT an easy process. On the upside, he got his cold air intake installed and I got my tumbler assembled and we both got a workout in more than one way!! 😉

So for my wife's birthday, she decided she wanted to start composting after talking about it over dinner with friends. I decided given our suburban neighborhood that a tumbling composter would be best, and after some research and given we are in the Northeast, the Jora insulated composter. So I got the JK270, which might be too big for our needs, but it has been working like a champ. In 3 months we have produced one huge load of compost (which we combined with some potting soil for our strawberry and lettuce bed) and now have the second chamber going strong at 140F this morning when its 40F outside. I am still learning to get the moisture levels right, let it get to wet during the first batch at one point and it reeked a little then and had the dripping out the bottom, but doing better this time. I use mostly wood bedding pellets for the browns, occasionally paper shred. The best part though is since the JK270 is steel construction, and insulated, we are able to throw pretty much everything in it. Expired eggs, sauced vegetables, anything really is working well. We avoid bowls of liquid, but other than that, everything goes into the kitchen counter composter and then into the current chamber in the composter. Since its gets to 140F+ and holds that temperature, it kills anything of concern, and we havent had any issue (yet) with critters due to having meats/cheese in it. Yes, it was a PITA to put together, but it appears to be worth it and working very well. Sure we coulda gone cheaper, but this works for our lifestyle and location and the fact we can keep going during the winter is even better. Here are the extra things I got to support this in addition to the JK-270 Gorilla Carts GCR-4 4 Cu. Ft, 300-pound Capacity, Poly Yard Cart, Black/Yellow - Fits perfectly under the JK270 on its stand. Easy to wheel around. Holds a bag of soil + load of compost. Tierra Garden GP104 2-in-1 Galvanized Woven Wire Garden Sieve, Soil Sifting Pan - Perfect for sifting the compost into the Gorilla Cart and then dumping unfinished stuff back into the other side. This lets the microbes carry over and makes the compost fine enough for ready use. Reotemp 20 Inch Fahrenheit Backyard Compost Thermometer with Digital Composting Guide - Keep it in and check temperature each morning before rotating (though you have to remember to remove it or you end up losing it in the compost, and no, it hasnt happened more than 2x, really. American Wood FIBERS PELLETS PinePellet Bedding, 40 lb - Working well, no additives, great Brown part and also helps control odor. Jobe's Organics 09926 Fast Acting Fertilizer Compost Starter, 4 Pound - Not sure this was needed, but used some in the first batch and havent needed to since. Rust-Oleum 7701830 Stops Rust Spray Paint, 12 oz, Gloss Crystal Clear - I had seen some issues with the JK's having rust forming, so i got this and used it to coat anywhere i accidently scratched the paint putting it together, or where screws went through. Maybe not needed, but for the cost i want the JK to last. EPICA Stainless Steel Compost Bin 1.3 Gallon-Includes Charcoal Filter - Our kitchen counter bin for the kids and us to dump into and empty into the JK every day or so. Has a charcoal filter on lid to minimize odors

I like puzzles. My friends invite me over to put together their IKEA furniture because I'm fascinated by the way things fit together. I love intricate logic tests, even when they are crudely translated from Swedish. But it's been decades since I tried to follow such poorly written assembly instructions. This is a spectacular composter, and I hope it is worth its steep price. But at this price, the nice people at Joraform should have hired a technical writer to make their assembly manual understandable and accurate. If you buy this composter, note the following: 1) In Step 4M, there is an inexplicable instruction to "Note that the locations of holes are not symmetrical on A." What this means is that one of the legs of each of the tubular steel stands has an extra set of holes in it. In step 8, you'll use these holes to mount the diagonal braces. Make sure that these extra holes face the same side. Or you'll have a lot of disassembly and reassembly to do just when you think you've finally made it all the way through the bad Swedlish. 2) In Step 5, make sure that as you assemble the walls of the composter drum, the wall flaps go on the outside of the drum ends. I felt silly after assembling them incorrectly the first time, but it is not clear in the written instructions or in the sketches. 3) As you assemble the drum, it's easy for the divider between the two chambers to become a bit misaligned. Try to keep it aligned with the octagonal drum ends. Even if it becomes misaligned, it's possible to shift it into its proper place by reaching inside the drum and tugging the divider in a circular motion along its outside edges. For the purposes of composting, I'm hoping that the Joraform will get a full five stars. But its assembly manual gets zero. Averaging up from 2.5, let's go with three.

This review is only on the assembly of the Jora Composter, not its performance. This thing is frustrating and difficult to assemble! When you purchase this, do not use the instructions included in the box - the drawings are too small to be of any use, a dozen steps are combined into a single complicating jumble of a very poorly-drawn diagram, the pictures give instructions that if followed will damage the plastic guide post, and not all steps are included in the instructions, you'll have to figure a few things out on your own. Instead, go to their website and watch the assembly video. It took me about 4 frustrating hours to muscle this thing together; following the video it should take a fraction of that time. The threaded rod is too short. The instructions call for two 4-inch plastic tubes to be placed on either end of the unit against the metal octagons, but if both of these small tubes are used the threaded portion of the rod will be covered and it cannot be attached to the second V-frame. I had to remove one of the 4-inch plastic tubes and discard it. I finally got it put together, after damaging the main plastic tube by following the written instructions, throwing away a small plastic tube, and damaging the foam plastic octagons with the plastic screws (there are no pre-tooled screw holes, you need to thrust the screws through the plastic foam piece and hope your aim is perfectly straight and it goes through the screw hole in the hard plastic on the other side, otherwise you will have to repeatedly stab the screw through the foam until it aligns). Edit: Follow up after a few weeks of use: it leaks, so be sure to place it where the rank stench and drippage aren't an issue. I'd also recommend wearing a dust mask when you open the lid after it's been composting, the bugs love this thing and you'll inhale half of the colony that will rush your face when you open it.

This is a really solid, well-designed piece of equipment. I was concerned about the stability of the steel tubing stand, but it is rock-solid when assembled, thanks to the cross-bracing on the bottom and back side of the stand. The materials used appear to be very high quality. The bolts are stainless steel, and all the metal tubing appears to be as well. The main drum is made of galvanzied steel sheets that have been powder coated (a low-visibility sage green color). The handles are solid molded plastic, and are pre-attached to the side panels. Not all side panels have handles on them, so pay attention to which panel goes in which location while you are assembling the unit. The compost tumbler was shipped and delivered much faster than the "advertised" time -- a Fedex Ground truck showed up at the door two days after I ordered, a pleasant surprise. It comes in two large boxes, and everything is double-boxed to prevent damage during shipment. Assembly instructions are sparse, with a number of small illustrations and almost no text. The manufacturer has an online video to guide assembly. I found it unnecessary. If you pay attention to the drawings, the unit goes together well. The assembly instructions strongly advise having two persons available for the assembly job. This is good advise, although I was able to do the entire job myself, using one tool (a 3 foot pipe clamp) that is not specified in the assembly manual. Assembly is straightforward and fairly easy until the last step, which is to assemble the 8 sides onto the two end panels to make the 'barrel." The side panels are lined with stiff plastic foam (insulation to keep the compost mixture warm as it "cooks"), and that foam must be compressed with a good deal of pressure to bring the pre-drilled screw holes into alignment for each panel. (Two stainless steel M3.5-15 sheet metal screws are used to hold each end of each panel in place.) I found the assembly went much easier if I used a pipe clamp (a woodworking tool) to hold the side panel in place while inserting the screws. It's tempting to use a power drill with a Phillips-head bit to drive those sheet metal screws into their holes. Don't do it. Stainless steel is not as hard and strong as carbon steel, and it is very easy to strip the heads on the screws with a power driver. I stripped several screw heads in the process and had to buy replacements. The only other "trick" in assembly is used in attaching the two end panels to the hexagonal sheets of foam that go on the ends, and similar assembly of two sheets of solid plastic to form a "sandwich" with the foam sheet in the center partition that separates the two sides of the composter. These sub-assemblies are held together with nylon bolts. There are no holes in the foam sheets (about 1.5" thick) so you have to push each bolt through the foam. I found it easier to push the bolt part way through one direction, then remove it and push it all the way through the other side. One could use a power drill, but it is not necessary. The sparse assembly instructions assume a certain basic knowledge of mechanical systems. They do not, for example, say which size wrench to use for which bolts.The 9/16" wrench is used on the head of the six metric bolts that attach the cross-braces. The 1/2" wrench is used on other nuts. (Metric equivalent wrenches would be 14 mm and 13 mm.) The instructions also don't describe the orientation of the self-locking (aircraft type) nuts that are supplied for application to the six M8 bolts and two long steel shafts at the top and bottom rear of the unit's stand. If you are not familiar with these nuts, the plastic "rim" that is visible on one side of the nut points out toward the thread end of the bolt (away from the head). Read the assembly instructions carefully and make sure all the parts are in their correct position before bolting things together, and you'll do well wih assembly. At the time of this review, I haven't actually started composting with this product, but it certainly looks like it will do the job well. The heavy duty components and thick foam insulation should help to retain heat in the composter and speed the composting process.

This thing works great. It was easy to put together. It's easy to turn. Easy to fill. It's a little bit of a chore to get the compost out of there once it's filled, but still reasonably easy enough. Enough. Looks good. It keeps mice, raccoons, etc from being able to get at it. Mine naturally developed a strong black soldier fly larvae population which accelerates the composting nicely.

My main reason for spending so much on a composter is that it's made of metal, and I didn't want a bunch of broken down plastic ending up in my plants. Well, the entire interior of this is foam. So there goes that. My second issue is there's no way this is 33 gallons with all that foam inside. I have a big five gallon container for water, and I don't think much more that that could comfortably fit in each side. A review said this was a good size for two people. I guess we'll see, but so far I'm quite skeptical. I think we'll fill this up in no time. Third issue is that putting it together is quite difficult. It's not complicated, it's just difficult to get the pieces to align. My husband is quite strong and struggled even with me helping. Once you get it together it's sturdy. I just can't believe I paid this much money to have my compost be full of plastic anyway, and for something much smaller than anticipated.