Okay, so, I heard about this thing called a StormBag, which is supposed to be some kind of new sandbag alternative. I live near the coast, and yeah, we get some pretty nasty storms here, so I figured I’d give it a try. I saw it on Shark Tank, and it seemed pretty cool, so I decided to get some and see what the hype was about.
First thing I did was order a few online. They arrived pretty quickly, which was nice. They’re super light when they’re dry, like, ridiculously light. I thought they sent me an empty box at first, haha.
Next, I wanted to see how they actually worked. All you gotta do is add water. So I took one outside, put it in a bucket, and dumped some water on it. It started to swell up almost immediately. It says on the website it takes like 3-5 minutes to absorb about four gallons of water, and yeah, that seemed about right. It was pretty wild to watch, to be honest. It went from this flat, lightweight thing to a big, heavy bag, just like that.
Now, the real test was to see if it could actually hold back water. I built a little barrier with a few of them in my backyard, kinda like a mini dam. Then I turned on the hose and let the water flow. To my surprise, it actually worked! The water pooled up behind the StormBags, and they didn’t let any through. I was pretty impressed. These “sand-free” sandbags, as they call them, are actually pretty solid when they are full of water.
The cool thing is, they’re not just for floods. I found out you can use them to soak up water, too. I had a leaky pipe in my basement a few weeks ago, and I used a couple of StormBags to absorb the water. They soaked it all up, no problem. Much easier than mopping, that’s for sure.
I also read that these things are made in the USA, which is a bonus. And they dry out pretty quickly when it’s hot and dry outside. If you keep them wet, they’ll stay swollen indefinitely, which is kinda neat.
Here’s what I did, step-by-step:
- Ordered a few StormBags online.
- Received them quickly and checked them out – they’re super light when dry.
- Tested one by adding water and watching it swell up, which took about 3-5 minutes.
- Built a small barrier and tested its ability to hold back water from a hose – it worked!
- Used them to soak up a water leak in my basement – worked like a charm.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with these StormBags. They’re easy to use, they work as advertised, and they’re a lot more convenient than traditional sandbags. If you live in an area prone to flooding or just want a handy way to deal with water, I’d definitely recommend giving them a try. I’ve heard that after they appeared on Shark Tank, they sold a bunch and made a lot of money, so I guess a lot of people agree with me.
