Had a 1 year old Lowes bucket create a 1 inch crack on the bottom and dribble out about 2.5 gallons where I certainly didn’t want it. I’ve never had one crack on me like that.
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Dang man. That’s garbage. I bought a homer or a Lowe’s bucket recently. It’s been years, I end up with so many 5s as a byproduct of my work. I noticed that the quality has gone way down on them. If you want a quality 5. Like for real indestructible I know Sherwin Williams used to sell 5s. Not the crappy blue ones they have for home owners on the sales floor, but those heavy duty gray janks that the paint comes in.
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I’ve had it happen on a Lowes bucket too. The bottom sags and breaks over time. I switched to either small 3 gal buckets or just dragging my hose inside if I’m feeling lazy
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I’ve got some HD buckets that are nearing a decade of miscellaneous use both indoor and outdoor. Most have lost their handles but up until reading this I’d still trust them to hold. Hopefully yours is just a freak exception and not some early indicator of quality standards of the future…
…Or maybe not. I’m gonna have to keep bottom support in mind in the future.
Recently found these 5 gallon square babies at Wally world, will take a 3" bulkhead. I don’t have much confidence in the handles holding up to carrying much weight (5g of liquid) but for my use they won’t be moved/movable when they’re containing things.
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It’s the weight of the water. 3 gal doesn’t weigh as much so I haven’t noticed the bottom sagging. Plus it feels better on my back vs a 5gal.
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I get mine from Menards and have never had any problems, it’s been over 10+ yrs. and still no problems…
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Home Depot buckets are far superior to Lowe’s buckets.
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I’ve got shitty buckets that crack all the time. I’ve got nice buckets that don’t crack.
I have to take extra care moving the cracked ones. The other ones are bulletproof.
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$60 each, but we can discount for quantity. 
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No I just been 20 of these!
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Lowe’s 5G buckets suck!!! Haven’t had one last more than 6 months or even to the finish of a run. I’ve got some Home Depot buckets going on 11 years. As my Lowe’s buckets fail, I’m replacing them with well washed degreaser buckets from my shop, as we go thru quite a bit of it with our floor scrubber. 110,000 sq ft is quite a bit to keep clean, so we usually go thru 4-5 buckets a month. There’s something in the Lowe’s buckets plastic mix that doesn’t seem correct, as every one that has cracked on me is all in the bottom. I thought it might be the weight causing sag, so I even went as far as to sand the lip down so that the bottom sat flat, no luck.
I wouldn’t recommend them to anyone, as unsuspectedly it will crack and cause a big mess and heartache in someone’s grow area. As stated above, Sherwin Williams buckets are probably the best out there next to my free degreaser buckets.
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Most of my 5g buckets held 60lb of honey, once upon a time… but I do have one Lowes bucket from about a decade ago, maybe a little longer. It’s lasted fairly well. Maybe the newer ones are flimsier? Gotta pad those profit margins somehow, and the only way to do that without increasing the price we pay is decreasing the price they pay. If it also decreases the quality and keeps us buying more often, win/win for them. Until people stop buying them, anyway.
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This is why I tend to throwdown the coin on hydro black buckets. You can find ones that are clearly reinforced as you can see a hex structure on the outside walls.
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I love the Duron paint store for freebies there five gallon buckets are great and so are the deuce buckets 🪣! They are rate in my price range FREE! 
