Posted: 11/10/2010 6:50:09 PM EDT
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Fellas, I am about to pull the trigger on buying some pool shock to treat water. I have read several threads about this.
My question is, if you have halfway clean water to begin with, couldn't you just boil it to make it safe to drink? Or am I missing something? I can definately see the advantages of making your own bleach. I can see the disadvantages of having to start a fire and taking time to boil it. Just thinking out loud here because I would rather not have to store a nasty chemical in my house if I don't need to. |
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From a microbiologic point of view, the answer is - YES.
My question is, if you have halfway clean water to begin with, couldn't you just boil it to make it safe to drink? Quoted:
You probable already "store" regular chlorine bleach in your house already! (look in your laundry room)
Just thinking out loud here because I would rather not have to store a nasty chemical in my house if I don't need to. |
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Fellas, I am about to pull the trigger on buying some pool shock to treat water. I have read several threads about this. My question is, if you have halfway clean water to begin with, couldn't you just boil it to make it safe to drink? Or am I missing something? I can definately see the advantages of making your own bleach. I can see the disadvantages of having to start a fire and taking time to boil it. Just thinking out loud here because I would rather not have to store a nasty chemical in my house if I don't need to. Unless you have access to low cost, unlimited fuel, boiling all the water you are going to drink is going to use a lot of fuel! If there is some kind of emergency that is going to cut off your normal water supply, any form of fuel (Propane, kerosene, gasoline, etc) that you have is probably going to be in short supply and quite valuable. The exception might be for those living in heavily forested areas, but you would still need to expend extra work to gather the additional firewood. |
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Options. You are giving yourself options. People that get stuck or harmed or just are unlucky are greatly impacted if they don't have options. Pool Shock makes a chlorinated solution, sorta like bleach too. What can you do with bleach you can't do with clean (boiled) water. Dakins Solution, sterilize stuff, kill fish, and remove stains  . Pool shock gives you an option that is the equivalent of having a whole pallet of bleach available. Take a look at what happened in Haiti to all the trees even before the quake. Everybody was using wood to heat stuff, there are very very few trees there now and little hope for recovery. They no longer have as many options.
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Fellas, I am about to pull the trigger on buying some pool shock to treat water. I have read several threads about this. My question is, if you have halfway clean water to begin with, couldn't you just boil it to make it safe to drink? Or am I missing something? I can definately see the advantages of making your own bleach. I can see the disadvantages of having to start a fire and taking time to boil it. Just thinking out loud here because I would rather not have to store a nasty chemical in my house if I don't need to. Unless you have access to low cost, unlimited fuel, boiling all the water you are going to drink is going to use a lot of fuel! If there is some kind of emergency that is going to cut off your normal water supply, any form of fuel (Propane, kerosene, gasoline, etc) that you have is probably going to be in short supply and quite valuable. The exception might be for those living in heavily forested areas, but you would still need to expend extra work to gather the additional firewood. google bushbuddy stove, or kelty kettle . a backpackers dream. light weight and efficient. |
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Unless you have access to low cost, unlimited fuel, boiling all the water you are going to drink is going to use a lot of fuel! Yep - How many pounds of firewood does it take to equal the disinfecting ability of just a few drops of bleach? And considering the amt of time boiling takes... |
I just did a science project on this with my 1st grade son (who now knows how to filter water with household items and two ways to purify water afterwords, not bad for a 6 year old  ), and the conclusion is that boiling water is preferable, as it more evenly treats the weater and there are some risks associated with using bleach or pool shock bleach solution - namely that if incorrect amounts of either are used it may be hazardous. It also imparts a bleachy taste to the water which some may find hard to swallow.
Of course boiling water involves a fire risk as well, and it takes fuel to do it. I won't say it's more time consuming because while boiled water needs to cool before drinking (it doesn't take long to bring it to a boil), so too does treated water need to sit for at least an hour before it is safe to drink. Treating water is actually probably more time consuming in this way, though it takes almost no effort - less than boiling. We have both pool shock for use this way and ways to boil water; it is hard to argue against pool shock's ability to purify massive amounts of water, and in a long term situation where fuel may be valuable it is the way we will go. We also have Britas to make the water taste a little better, too, so that makes it a more palatable option. |
| I say pool shock unless you are boiling the water/have a fire going for another reason already. The last thing I want to be doing during SHTF is gathering wood etc....to boil water EVERY DAY. I have better things to do and it needlessly exposes you while you're out and about. Plus, smoke can attract people, not always the desired result. |
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google bushbuddy stove, or kelty kettle . a backpackers dream. light weight and efficient.
I have a couple of the Swiss/Swedish military versions that Sportsmans Guide had recently. They are rather large. I know the Kelly's are smaller BUT they also are good for only about a cup of tea in terms of size. Not a very good way to purify large quantities of water- several gallons a day per person. That whole " A gallon a day per person" is crap! You can survive- barely- on that- but don't plan on bathing at all or having much in the way of dehydrated food etc.....If you have small livestock (and you should) etc....forget it. |
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The pool shock is a lot of potential water treatment in one container. There are other chemicals for treating water and there are also methods of filtering water. As a single guy who might have too much fun with pool shock I don't own any pool shock. The idea is good but I don't feel like storing it since I rent and I would use it for starting fires in the burn barrel every day or some other cool use like that. We have had threads on making muddy water clean by using sand filters or even coffee filters to pre filter the water and then you work your way up to better filtering methods to do the final clean. Pool shock has its uses. I just know darn well I don't need to have any nearby. |
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You never know what life is going to throw at you, knowing how to make drinking water as many different ways as possible increases your chance of survival. Heres a site with a couple of other methods http://www.m4040.com/Survival/Skills/Water/Water.htm |
I keep pool shock on hand because I have a bored well (30" diameter x 55' deep, NOT one that doesn't know what to do with itself....  ) and 99.9% of the time the water from it is GREAT!!!!!
However, once or maybe twice a year it gets what we call a "mousey" taste and odor in it, making it pretty durn nasty. 
We attribute this to a mouse falling in the well, drowning, and contaminating our water supply. There are no openings that I can find that allow the critters to get in, but mouses are pretty durn creative individuals when it comes to infiltrating places they don't belong! yuk When this happens I pour about a quart or so of bleach down the well, and by the time the bleach odor is gone (usually withing a few days) so is the "mousey" taste and smell. I cannot imagine having to deal with this situation without bleach as a cleansing agent. If any of ya'll can tell me how I can boil out my well next time this happens, let me know, and I'll give up stocking pool shock!
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the conclusion is that boiling water is preferable, as it more evenly treats the weater and there are some risks associated with using bleach or pool shock bleach solution - namely that if incorrect amounts of either are used it may be hazardous. It also imparts a bleachy taste to the water which some may find hard to swallow. Using bleach in combination with a good activated carbon filter pretty much eliminates those problems. The filter will remove virtually all of the bleach, regardless of its initial concentration. You can hit your raw water with as much bleach as you like, without worrying about it being undrinkable after it comes out of the filter. Link to an excellent filter for cheap |
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Unless you have access to low cost, unlimited fuel, boiling all the water you are going to drink is going to use a lot of fuel! Yep - How many pounds of firewood does it take to equal the disinfecting ability of just a few drops of bleach? And considering the amt of time boiling takes... bleach requires contact time to work. Longer than to boil water, but bleach is a much better solution from a labor and labor hours per gallon purified. I have looked at pool shock before, but they always have a lot of ingredients. I never get which one to buy. what ingredients are okay to have? Don't remember the name of the chlorinating agent off the top of my head. What is a good pitcher type filter to take away the chlorine? Britta? |