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

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.

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-270Gorilla 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

We've just started using our composter. It seems to be great - I have high hopes of great easy compost for the garden. It took two grown men over 3 hours to assemble - it's fiddly and the assembly instructions aren't IKEA standard. The instructions on how to use were in Swedish (not super helpful for non-Scandis). However, I found the instructions on-line and downloaded.

Had high hopes of this product, it arrived well packaged and I and a couple of friends set about assembling it. Very disappointed to encounter problems with panels that didn't go together as expected, the insulation seemed to be proud on a number of panels and only through brute strength did we manage to get the self tapping fixings in place.Noticed that there was daylight between most of the panel joints and wasn't overly surprised when water ingress through these ill fitting panels made the proposed compost very wet.Used a silicone sealer on the ill fitting joints and things are better but I will wait and see how things develop. Perhaps I just got a 'Friday afternoon' unit or maybe it's a very good idea poorly executed ( and I speak as someone who built up an engineering manufacturing company from scratch such that I was able to sell it for many millions and retire at 56 I.e. I am not a mug punter when it comes to manufacturing and engineering)Overall I would think that caution should be exercised if you buy a Joraform, at the first sign of ill fitting parts, package it up and send it back, I should have !

It has been almost 3 years now since I purchased this composter. It has held together well, and in good conditions it still composts well, however, the foam insulation has shrunk somewhat and now that there are gaps between the pieces the insulating value has dropped. It is not possible for me to keep the unit composting through the winter unless I have a perfect combination of greens and browns and rotate every day, sometimes twice. Currently, despite a relatively warm Ohio winter, I have a full, frozen and unusable composter. I'll be happy again once spring sets in, but in the winter, after a year or two, you will need to keep this thing in the sun as much as possible.One tip: If you find you don't have enough "browns", go to a store where they sell bulk wood heating pellets and purchase a bag. I have a bin that holds 20 lbs right by the composter and I can throw in a handfull with each load of kitchen compost. Since the pellets are compacted it doesn't take many of them to balance out your compost.I felt it necessary to review the delivery and assembly of the JK270 due to many of the negative reviews about past problems. The JK270 came to my doorstep in two boxes, on two consecutive days, in perfect condition and DAYS earlier than expected :)I unboxed everything and immediately went to YOUTUBE to watch the assembly videos referenced here. They make the process quite simple. All the parts were there, everything went together nicely (it does take some effort to install the panels while the tumbler is standing up (in hindsight I would do the panels with the tumbler tipped over onto the floor). I assembled it in our living room (after making sure the front door was wide enough to move it through AFTER assembly) and have not used it yet.We've been having record cold temps and I thought I'd wait until the thermometer got above freezing to get things started. In the mean time we are putting composting materials into our freezer in plastic containers, so by the time the temp rises we should have a good quantity to start. Even though I have plenty of leaves on our lot, I bought cheap wood pellets for the carbon end of things (under $4 for a 40 lb. bag) just to make it easy to get the mix right.So far this looks like a VERY durable and reliable mechanism for composting. I'll follow up with a comment about how it works once we get going!March 16 update: I finally "pitched" the first load into the Jora on March 6 (44 degrees outside). After a few days I realized I had gone overboard with the "browns" and added too many wood pellets. I have purchased a 2.5 gallon plastic container (like you would put cereal or flour in for your pantry) to contain the daily compost material until it is full, then I take that container to the Jora outside. In the meantime I keep the container in the freezer and take it out each time to add material from meals, etc... When full, I take it out all day to thaw and then dump it in the composter.Anyway, I start by putting a handful of pellets in the bottom of the container, but I quickly realized that our waste (napkins, paper towels, pizza box, etc...) has enough browns without the addition, so for now I'm leaving them out. After about a week I was a little discouraged. The temperature had dropped several times and I simply wasn't seeing any "movement" in the composter. Today that all changed! I just went out to empty the container and when I opened the Jora STEAM CAME OUT :) It's working away perfectly and I couldn't be happier. In only 10 days with NO compost starter and a difficult start with too many browns, I've already corrected enough to have this thing cooking away (I might add that the temp was in single digits this week!) If I could add a 6th star at this point I would do so.April 18th update - It has now been nearly 6 weeks since I started using the Jora. Despite the fact that I empty a 2.5 gallon container into the Jora, on average, about every two days, I can still see the center post in the one side I've been using, so I've put about 50 gallons of material in a 35 gallon pot... it's been composting down quite nicely. Every once in awhile I'll find it's too wet and smells bad, but after adding a few more browns it's corrected the next day. Yesterday I ran my lawn vacuum and placed several handfulls of yard scrap into the container so that it would be "full" - now I'll start using the other side. I've really done nothing to make extra work for myself (no cutting up fruit skins, etc...) and have simply dumped things in. SO EASY to use! Assuming it takes me 4-6 weeks to fill the other side, I'll come back and update with pics of what I get out of the first side.