I headed out to my storage room today, as I needed to retrieve a couple of tools and store away some extra parts and project supplies that I won’t be needing for a while.
The door was hard to slide open, and I soon discovered why.
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A short stack of 4 Rubbermaid Roughneck totes had collapsed. There was one larger tote on the bottom, and three smaller totes on top.
I haven’t been out to storage since maybe sometime in July, so this was a surprise to me.
There wasn’t too much weight in any of the storage boxes, but I guess summer heat made the plastic a little soft. Although that doesn’t seem very probable. It’s hard to say which tote deformed first. One of the smaller totes has reshaped itself significantly but not catastrophically, but the tote on the bottom was completely crushed and deformed. There are tears in some areas where it looks like the plastic pulled apart.
The weight of the smaller totes wasn’t enough to crush the larger tote on the bottom, but I guess summer temperatures helped lead to this inevitability. That shouldn’t have happened, though.
My Sterilite Ultra totes, Akro-Mils attached lid containers, Dewalt ToughSystem cases, and Bosch L-Boxxes were all unaffected.
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Sterilite markets their Ultra totes as being resilient even in cold temperatures, when certain plastics tend to get brittle and easily cracked, but I never considered that warmer temperatures could lead to such structural failure. Although my Sterilite and Rubbermaid totes seem to be made of similar materials, the Sterilite totes were all perfectly intact.
Each of the smaller totes was loaded with maybe 20 pounds of stuff. There might have been 50 pounds of weight on top of the tall Rubbermaid tote that was on the bottom.
I don’t think I can place the blame on Rubbermaid for this, but I will certainly think twice about buying any more Rubbermaid Roughneck totes. I bought about 8 smaller totes back in June, and the blue tote shown in the second photo has served me for at least 8 years now.
At least part – or all – of the blame rests with me, although I’m not sure what I could or should have done differently. Another thing to point out is that the totes were placed near the metal roll door. Although the door is never really anything but warm to the touch, maybe it radiated extra heat to the totes. That also seems unlikely.
Storage totes, even totes warmed by summer heat, shouldn’t fail like this. Maybe I loaded them down with greater weight than I thought? Although, I always consciously place heavier totes on wire shelving units, as these types of storage boxes tend to bulge if you put any more than 20-25 pounds – evenly distributed of course – on top. Or I use heavier duty boxes on top of dunnage racks (also made by Rubbermaid) or pallets.
The more I think about it, the more I believe that the stacked weight caused the bottom one or two totes to very slowly bulge and deform, until they toppled forward. Then, the uneven weight distribution caused additional buckling and deformation. That makes more sense than thinking the plastic softened enough in summer heat to plastically deform and collapse under load.
Luckily, nothing was damaged, only my pride. I really should know better about these things. The only thing that makes me feel better, aside from the lack of obvious damage to tote contents, is knowing that I can’t be the first person this ever happened to.
Fazal Majid
I’ve had this happen to me with a stack 4 boxes deep of the Roughneck boxes in my garage, filled with books, which would be heavier than 50 pounds total. Heat was not a factor (San Francisco, we have constant 65 degree weather nearly year round).
cb
You certainly nailed the issue and Heat would certainly play a part. I know heat with these new plastic shouldn’t be a factor but I live in Los Angeles (the warmer part) with outside temps reaching 107 degrees this summer (not fun) and inside my storage building it’s substantially higher. The plastic totes are getting as soft as Gumby and if you take the tote up to it’s max spec. weight or more then things will slightly move then a small domino starts to take effect
A bit of compression weight that’s not quite balanced correctly and whamo, we have failure.
I found these really do substantially better when they are packed with weight evenly distributed around the entire tote and stacked carefully, any off center or slightly leaning to one side will help accelerate the failure; but hey there storage bins, there made to just throw stuff into them so you can get on with your life.
I’ve had the same results just like what your photos are showing, mine were Sterilite and Rubbermaid as well, both failing.
Have to admit some are heavy, on those really hot days I could just press my finger on one of the side walls under pressure and watch the whole tote start to fail.
Stan
Sterile boxes and other items are 100% American made and are made out of quality components. Save for the wheels that come with storage bins though, those are imported, but everything else is USA made.
Last I checked, Rubbermaid Roughneck boxes were no longer 100% American made, but either made in USA of global components or made in Malaysia. I know a family member that has owned several 100% USA made Rubbermaid Rough Neck boxes and none of these boxes are light in the least and are exposed to heat as well.
Personally I tend to stick with Sterile has I’ve never had an issue with any of their products.
Stuart
COO has nothing to do with this. These were made in the USA. As mentioned, the blue one is at least 8 years old. The last I checked, it was 100% made in the USA. But what does that have to so with anything?
Greg Post
“Really useful boxes” are the only thing I use for storage. I wait until Staples or Office Depot have a buy 2 get 1 and load up. I tried almost all the other storage brands at the big box stores and was not impressed.
joe
“San Francisco, we have constant 65 degree weather nearly year round”
Out of topic, but man, that’s perfect weather.
Cinderella
Totally on-topic, IMHO.
He said he had similar failure, but that heat had nothing to do with it, as his area ever gets over 65° year ’round.
Just sayin’.
Cinderella
oops.
My bad, didn’t understand, now I do.
Apologies.
As you were.
Jim Felt
Geez. Not pretty at all. However I’ve got literally dozens and dozens of hinged top stackers from good old Costco, many with nearly solid material inside, and never a failure. Or deformity. At home and at work. And at home they are all stacked 5 high. These are the clear sided color hinged lid versions. Not the solid black industrial versions. Which I tested years ago and they perform for me at least effectively the same. Many are 10 plus years old. Plus I like to see what’s inside regardless of my Brother brand labeling.
But never in a “high temp setting”. That would affect what I’m storing.
I’d ditch those round edge consumer tubs. Really.
Kevin C
I use lots of these:
http://t.homedepot.com/p/HDX-27-gal-Storage-Tote-in-Black-207585/205628022/
Very rigid. I have them stacked 5 high full of stuff and can’t imagine them collapsing like this. Cheap too.
E. Baker
I have many of these totes…or rather I should say, many of the older version/model. The older ones were all purchased prob. around 5 or so years ago and are substantially more robust than the current tote masquerading as the same.
Don’t get me wrong, the current tote is still a step above the rest with regards to their durability and toughness…but definitely not on par with what you could get several years back.
Kevin C
Yeah these are somewhat peculiar. There are two very similar models sold by Home Depot at different times, and the lids don’t interchange. One has squares on the lid, and the other has diamonds. I have to be careful which I buy so they are the same size as the ones I already have. Compared to the softer totes seen in this post, however, either could be used as jack stands. Much much sturdier.
Jimmie
Occasionally on sites like pintrest, you’ll see images of DIY overhead garage storage where people have assembled a rails that hold these plastic totes by their perimeter lip leaving the rest of the tote to hang in the air.
This sort of plastic failure is precisely why these storage schemes make me shudder. Most people’s garages tend to get rather toasty in the summer, especially near the ceiling. I’d hate to have a 40lb tote drop 6 or 7 feet onto me or my car.
Bryanska
Actually, the lip is the most resistant to deformation. You’ve got the benefits of very short vertical and horizontal planes resisting twisting and deflection. These totes are injection molded, so although you don’t have thicker plastic as you would in cheaper sheet formed totes, the polymers in that region are likely denser and more cross-linked.
I wouldn’t fault the totes in this situation. Any low-density polyethylene product like the Roughnecks must make a compromise between pliability (the natural tendency of LDPE) and strength (not LDPE’s natural tendency). Remember the old commercials that would show a car plowing into a Rubbermaid trash can, and it bouncing back? That’s the same “feature” that’s proving to be a bug in this case.
Roughnecks are molded so that compressive forces acting on the natural soft tendencies of LDPE are distributed to the corners and angles, therefore transforming compressive force into tensile force. A constant load and heat will deform any LDPE even under tensile force. Only a few MM of deflection is enough to reduce the tote’s resistance to “creep”. The polymers are pulling apart and losing shape under constant load; heat accelerates this.
It all boils down to the glass transition temperature of LDPE, which is -125C. Above that shatter temp, LDPE is basically in a half-molten state. That’s why LDPE is the go-to polymer in winter temps, but not a reliable stacking-strength polymer in summer.
Mike
It’s not uncommon for storage units to routinely hit 130 degrees F or higher in sunny weather, even at moderate ambient temperatures. They’re usually steel buildings, no ventilation, little insulation (usually only a thin sheet of poly foam under the roof), in continuous sunlight all day, and surrounded by asphalt. Those temperatures are well within the softening range for the LDPE that the Rubbermaid totes are made of. The same properties that keep LDPE soft at low temperatures make them really soft at higher ones.
Not to mention the rust those high temperatures in storage units can cause when combined with a little humidity…
I don’t know about the others, but I know the Akro-Mils containers are HDPE and the Dewalt Tough System boxes are polypropylene, both of which are more tolerant of high temperatures without softening. Sterilite products are almost all PP although those Ultra Totes seem a little too flexible for that.
Bryanska
Right – that’s why HDPE will crack in severe winter temps (as I found out when I tried to deform a piece to patch a large hole in my bumper in january).
Matthew Fant
That’s crazy! Wow. I hate to say it bro, but you’re right. You have way to many tools. Time for a garage. I can only imagine how big of a pain in the ass it must be to dig through a bunch of bins, looking for that one odd tool. As an apartment dweller, I feel your pain however. As far as the bins go, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I feel myself saying that old saying my dad used to: “They don’t make them like they used to.” It’s kinda sad really. Technology keeps improving, but products keep being made more and more poorly.
Dave L.
I would suggest building separate shelves for each “story” of boxes unless putting very light items in them. That way you don’t have to rely on the boxes themselves as load bearing structures. More expense and less available space, I know, but used industrial shelving is available or else shelves could be fairly cheaply built out of 2×4.
Stuart
I have a lot of shelving units lining the walls, but totes on industrial dollies allow for easier sorting through the storage space.
Don
I’ve owned Rubber Maid for decades with no problems and it seems like just in the last few years the product/plastic there made of has gone to sh!t, I’m looking for a better product to replace all my Rubber Maid as the fail, to bad they made a good product not anymore.
Da Wiz
I have well over 200 14-gallon RoughNeck totes that I store stuff in, BUT I do NOT stack them. I don’t know what the suggested weight limit is for them, but mine typically weigh between 200 and 300 lbs. when filled. I have never had one fail like is shown in the picture. The only failures I have ever had were broken handles ONLY on BLUE totes, NEVER the red, green, & gray ones that I have. I have never bought a black one, so have no idea how good they are.
I have tried many different brands over the years, but NOTHING holds up like a RoughNeck. The WORST ones that I bought were Sterilite – they are so brittle that even bumping them causes them to break.
Stuart
I’ve had more Roughneck failures over the years, but never Sterilite Ultra totes, at least not yet.