I see where the original poster is coming from. Tumblers are not as cheap as they should be and they don't process as much as an open bin can. For people living in a city though in either a condo, townhome, or a house with a small plot of land it's a good way to process the small amount of food scraps they produce. I have one and I'd definitely prefer to have a several cubic yard bin instead. If for no other reason so I could do true "hot composting". I've had it go stinky once when I was first learning and remedied it with some dry leaves and shredded paper. It's a batch system though so you have to let it finish cooking before you can use it. Initially that meant I stored all my scraps in the freezer for about a month while the bin finished. Now though I have a Vermicompost bin that I use to finish the compost. This way I don't care if the tumbler gets 100% finished as long as it gets close enough that the worms like it. It's not an ideal solution but it reduces the waste my family puts in the land full and it produces some good compost for our vegetable garden. Maybe someday I'll have a bigger piece of property so I can do a big bin, but for the foreseeable future, I'm happy wig how the Tumbler works into my garden system.

I have yet, after some 50 years, found anyone that has been successful in making compost with one of these. So that begs the questions: A) You haven't found anyone at all using one of these? or B) You have found someone that is using one and they haven't been successful? If so, how many, what feedstock did they use, did they follow instructions, was it batch or continuous and how many times had they used it? FWIW, I know of no one who uses one and am therefore not qualified to make a comment regarding their suitability. I have had people ask about them so I would also like to get factual information on the unit. Maybe I'm just better off getting one and trying it out myself. Lloyd

I've had an EnvirOcycle system now for 8 years and it works great for me. No inside fins, but I don't allow my contents to get that sloppy wet, if they do I just add some dry brown material and problem solved.Made in Canada, see http://www.enviorcyclesystems.com It sits on a platform that has rollers for easy turning, also the platform is a container for the liquids that drain, makes great liquid fertilizer.Produces up to 7 cubic ft. of finished compost.

What exactly are you worried about? Are you worried that the aerobic bacteria you’ve been growing will not survive the winter? It’ll be fine. The colder the microorganisms get the less active they are, and your rate of composting will likely slow way down. But when the winter is over you can return to feeding it (adding components) and it’ll start back up. That said, the bacteria decomposition itself will create heat if you have a sufficient volume of materials. So you can compost through cold weather, but you might need a larger pile to successfully build up heat, and you have to make sure your ratio of components is closer to optimal, with 4 key ingredients being carbon (brown organic materials like sticks, fallen leaves, sawdust, paper products) nitrogen (green organic materials like grass clippings, plant matter, or fruit/vegetable food waste.) water and oxygen.