This is a great product. I wish I had bought some sooner. The ring "snaps" on to the top of a 5 gallon bucket with the help of a rubber mallet. Thats the most difficult part. Place the bucket on a concrete floor as you need to strike hard to seat the ring. Don't worry it won't break. After that you can fill the bucket and screw on the lid. You now have an excellent water proof and air tight storage container. Fill it with dry goods for pest proof storage in a basement or anything you want to keep dry on a boat or camping trip. The best part is you can get at the contents without a lid lifter or hurting your fingers, just unscrew the lid.

I purchased these to store some dried beans from our garden. I was originally skeptical that one could turn regular buckets into a sealed container. We have always had trouble with "little friends" getting into our storage which is why we have not generally tried to store our excess - however we had such a good year we decided to try again. I tested them for leaks with water and even overpressure with an air compressor. If you seat the seals carefully and tap them home with a rubber mallet, they are great. I would also suggest a little Vaseline on the seals to insure they don't dry out and make good contact. If you don't go crazy you will not contaminate your storage and it will not go rancid like veg. oil will.

Tips, place the bucket on a hard surface. Clean the buckets first in and if you can, steam sterilize them. Wash the Gamma Seals at the same time. Start on one side with someone holding the other side down so it does not pop back on you as you hammer. Firmly drive the rim down but don't try to pound it down like a nail. Firm not hard.

Please check your lids when you receive them. 4 of 8 lids I have purchased, from two separate orders, using "SCS Collectibles" have either had broken or missing inner seal lids. Check out my picture I posted on the product description.

The first order from "SCS Collectibles" one of two lids shipped with a broken inner seal. The seal was laying in the boxes looking like a long noodle. The other lid was solid and appeared fine so I returned the broken lid and went ahead and purchased 6 more from Amazon using the same vendor.

This seal is crucial to keep out water. Why take all the time, spend all the money, only to find out that your stored item is wet and moldy since your container was missing a seal? That makes your preparation futile. You might as well spend less money and by the regular snap on lids for the buckets from Home Depot. There actually MORE waterproof then a defective Gamma Seal lid as the Gamma design (with a missing inner seal) will pool water on top of the bucket and slowly let it leak in. The Home Depot ones have a lip that fit around the bucket keeping the larger critters out (probably not ants/small bugs) and making the bucket splash proof. Home Depot lid link -[...] Less then a buck.

The Gamma Seal with an intact seal is a WONDERFUL product. I'm not really knocking the product when it is complete and with no broken parts. I would give it 4 stars if not 5. The 1 star is simply to get your attention so you check to make sure your lid has the inner seal.

Now before you rant about my rant I know that this area is for reviews of products, not distributors/vendors. My gut is that this inner seal is a weak area of the product and I just want everyone to be aware of it. If your like me you spent a couple of hundred hard earned dollars getting ready. Mylar bags, )2 absorbers, desiccant bags, plastic buckets, not to mention the bean/rice whatever it is your going to store.