As I was celebrating the first anniversary of my water storage by dumping and refilling, I was wondering,  why couldn't several barrels be plumbed into the water system to allow for a constant rotation of water?  I currently use 55 gallon blue drums and they are quite heavy when loaded.

So I guess the question is.

1. Can the barrels withstand typical household water pressure?

2. How would you plumb it to ensure that water does not become stagnant anywhere in the system.

3. What about a backflow preventer?

Interesting idea.  This is sort of like using the water already stored in your hot water heater. If I lose all water pressure from the city I still have 40 gallons or so in my hot water heater in the attic.

One concern I would have is if the local water supply becomes contaminated - local authorities issue a "boil all water" directive, etc.  Then all your "stored" water is also possibly contaminated.

Granted this doesn't happen very often, but something to think about.  Maybe your plumbed in supply could supplement what you have stored so that 99% of the time you have a lot of good water, but you aren't totally dependent on it.

1. I think typical household water pressure is around 30 - 40 psi - this may vary quite a bit from area to area, but a ballpark figure.  I think plastic 55 gallon drums would rupture at that pressure - so that is not a good idea...  I would think this definately would not pass inspection for being compliant with local codes.

2. The first thought that come to mind is pipe! - lots & lots of pipe!!!  Using 2" I.D. pipe (just for example) you would need approximately 335 ft. of pipe to store the equivalent of one 55 gal. barrel.  Bigger pipe would obviously require less length.  If all the water is in pipes, there really isn't anywhere to stagnate.  On the other hand, I have never heard of a case of water stagnating in a hot water heater, so maybe several water tanks (steel not plastic) could be plumbed in line for this purpose.

3.  Simple check valve (or series of check valves if you want overkill) would solve this problem easily.

It can be

get extra "plugs"/caps

drill a hole and tap it with a 3/4 brass pex fitting,

connect the barrels with pex, crimped together

Make one a "inlet" and the other a "outlet", ie one hose should be at the bottom and one at the top like a water heater. Daisy chain together

put a valve on the inlet to shut off the water, If you don't want to keep constant pressure.

on the exit piece of pex put a valve/water hose connection

Now wash the car, water the garder etc, it will flush the barrels and make it easy to fill.

Keep the solid caps to seal the barrels if needed.

dont have pics as I'm away from the setup.

The pex/brass fitting makes it very easy vs ridgid PVC pipe

Plastic barrels aren't designed to take city water pressure.

An alternative idea is to use old water heaters where the heater element has failed but the tank is still good.  Plumb these in series with your normal hot water heater or in your cold water line.

Good luck.

Merlin

Good idea, thanks.

Oh.... You guys just gave me I bright idea on how I will do my water storage.

The Misses was wanting a sink in the basement.  It would be located next to the washer/dryers.  It also happens to be next to our basement sump pump location.

Here's my idea.

With 55 gallon drum raised off the floor next to the "sink" (Think like a fuel tank - i.e on its side.), easy to fill with hose.  Here's the neat part.  To cycle water, either drain water into the sink or drain into the sump pump location by using a normal hose & shutoff valve.  If I drain it to the sump pump it will then go out of basement to a hose connected to that outlet.  I then can use the 55 gallons to water plants.