Posted: 1/23/2012 2:57:34 PM EDT
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As I just started preeping just a couple of weeks ago, I would a couple opinions on my Water Storage ideas.
As of right now I am starting to use the kids old Hawaiian Pucnh 1 Gallon jugs... They drink about 2 gallons a week. So I have been cleaning them with bleech and water and then refilling them. Then I put them in my sunlight less basement. ( I should add a couple drops of bleech...correct) I have a water cooler and I usually buy the 4 or 4.5 gallon plastic jugs from Sams Club. They seem to have a good shelf life. I was thinking of stocking up on those and then use them upstairs when needed. ( Should I stockpile on these) My other idea is Home Depot 5 Gallon Bucket and Lid. They run about $5 for the pair, then I would have to fill it with tap water. (are these a good idea?) Thanks |
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You are on the right track with the juice jugs. They are pretty durable and should last a very long time. You can stack them if you put something between layers. They come into stores on pallets with just a box and cardboard slip sheets and are stacked about 6 high IIRC.
i use 2 large commercial size water tanks (330gal/ea) but not everyone has that kind of space. I use Aquatainers from Wal-Mart (8 gal with a spicket and very cheap) for my medium size requirements and then I use the juice jugs for small (1 gal) amounts. Another tip I ran across is to fill the juice bottles (or 2 liters) with clean water and freeze them. They will keep your freezer from warming up quickly in the event of a power outage and the water should keep indefinitely when frozen. |
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If the Hawaiin Punch are like the gallon milk jugs they will break down and leak on you - Ask how I figured that one out.. LOL We had about 20 milk jugs in our crawl space and it was like the gravel punctured the jugs..
If you really want to reuse something - From what I am told, bleach bottles are good to go (havent found a source of new ones though). The apple cider vinegar bottles appear to be very heavy duty as well.. Also 2 L soft drink bottles B |
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remember, you have about 40-50 gallons of perfectly usable water inside your hot water tank. Just remember to turn it off, before you drain it. This is what i use to store my water. I have other means of getting water and I have a Sawyer .02 micron bucket filter for long term use. |
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If the Hawaiin Punch are like the gallon milk jugs they will break down and leak on you - Ask how I figured that one out.. LOL We had about 20 milk jugs in our crawl space and it was like the gravel punctured the jugs.. If you really want to reuse something - From what I am told, bleach bottles are good to go (havent found a source of new ones though). The apple cider vinegar bottles appear to be very heavy duty as well.. Also 2 L soft drink bottles B If they are the same as the bottles my kid's apple juice comes in, and I think they are, then they are much more durable than milk jugs. They are thicker plastic than the 2-liter soda bottles and should last a long time. Milk jugs are about as cheaply made as a gallon jug can get and are not a good choice for the reason given. |
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remember, you have about 40-50 gallons of perfectly usable water inside your hot water tank. Just remember to turn it off, before you drain it. This is what i use to store my water. I have other means of getting water and I have a Sawyer .02 micron bucket filter for long term use. +1 on the Sawyer. I have a couple to filter water because no matter how much you store it will not be an infinte supply. |
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Milk jugs are HDPE (a cheaper plastic) are very thin- walled and have a limited shelf like 2-years when filled. there are thicker HDPE containers that will last longer.
Most clear plastic containers are PET, like 2-L soda bottles.. This stuff is a bit stronger and longer lasting for the same weight. |
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I found this site that sells HDPE #2 bottles (and a lot of other containers) I have it filtered to just show the HDPE #2 stuff
Our crawl space is not very tall and bigger containers would be hard to move in and out.. Would some of the 1 gal or 2.5 gallon jugs from the link be adequate for potable water storage? Brian |
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The Juice bottles are thicker then milk jugs for sure. Its funny we put a box of 3 gallons of walmart water in the basement a couple years back. When I started cleaning up for my prepping a couple of weeks ago. I moved the box and one of the jugs started leaking, barely being touched. Space is going to be an issue for me. I only have a half basement(can't stand up all the way) I plan on storeing some wood in it for the woodstove I am getting. with 2adults and 3 kids I don't know how I can possibly keep 5 gallons a day kind of stash on hand. I do plan on buying some kind of filter at some point. I do have a river in my back yard, however its 30-40 feet straight down to it. I am thinking some sort of rope/bucket system may work.
Thanks for input so far. |
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Milk jugs are HDPE (a cheaper plastic) are very thin- walled and have a limited shelf like 2-years when filled. there are thicker HDPE containers that will last longer. Most clear plastic containers are PET, like 2-L soda bottles.. This stuff is a bit stronger and longer lasting for the same weight. if not mistaken, #2 HDPE is safer for food products than #1 PET/PETE (Polyethylene Terephthalate) in that the #1 will leach toxins into the food stuff if microwaved or frozen. Not to mention that my 55 gal drums are of the #2 HDPE variety. My other idea is Home Depot 5 Gallon Bucket and Lid. They run about $5 for the pair, then I would have to fill it with tap water. (are these a good idea?) I would use the Homer buckets for storage if they were lined w/ mylar or such due to the "orangeness" of the buckets ymmv |
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Here's the plan I'm building toward:
I drink bottled water all the time, so I have a couple cases of bottled water that get rotated. I'm going to be using some cranberry juice jugs as well, plus some water jugs for camping. That and my hot water tank are my short term water supply. Next I hope to get some pool shock to purify water (Leslie's Power Powder Plus - a little goes a long way), and I have some coffee filters to get big junk out of the water. That'll do in the short term until I get a good filter, but I'll still use the pool shock as it'll kill anything a filter might miss. Unfortunately I live in town on a hill and use city water, so I'll have to figure out a way to procure water in a big SHTF situation. I'll be looking into using my gutters as a water collection resource in the spring. That's a rough 2 in the AM outline of my plan, but maybe that'll help. |
| Store away and welcome to the wonderful world of prepping! One school of thought - and I subscribe to it - is to store now and treat later. In other words, get it put away and as you need it, treat it. Others will treat and rotate and thats fine too. You will find lots of ways will get you to the same end point - surviving! |
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I found this site that sells HDPE #2 bottles (and a lot of other containers) I have it filtered to just show the HDPE #2 stuff Our crawl space is not very tall and bigger containers would be hard to move in and out.. Would some of the 1 gal or 2.5 gallon jugs from the link be adequate for potable water storage? Brian The HDPE bottles degrade over time. The PET bottles are much better. |
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Lots of good - and bad - containers discussed here: Water Storage Container FAQ
Good luck! |
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I found this site that sells HDPE #2 bottles (and a lot of other containers) I have it filtered to just show the HDPE #2 stuff Our crawl space is not very tall and bigger containers would be hard to move in and out.. Would some of the 1 gal or 2.5 gallon jugs from the link be adequate for potable water storage? Brian I have bought from them before, no problems |
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Here's the plan I'm building toward: I drink bottled water all the time, so I have a couple cases of bottled water that get rotated. I'm going to be using some cranberry juice jugs as well, plus some water jugs for camping. That and my hot water tank are my short term water supply. Next I hope to get some pool shock to purify water (Leslie's Power Powder Plus - a little goes a long way), and I have some coffee filters to get big junk out of the water. That'll do in the short term until I get a good filter, but I'll still use the pool shock as it'll kill anything a filter might miss. Unfortunately I live in town on a hill and use city water, so I'll have to figure out a way to procure water in a big SHTF situation. I'll be looking into using my gutters as a water collection resource in the spring. That's a rough 2 in the AM outline of my plan, but maybe that'll help. What type of roof do you have? It is my understanding that standard shingles will leach toxins into the water. I'm currently building a pole barn with a steel roof and will be putting my water collection system on that. |
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[snip] What type of roof do you have? It is my understanding that standard shingles will leach toxins into the water. I'm currently building a pole barn with a steel roof and will be putting my water collection system on that. Standard shingles 
I wouldn't sweat it if it gets rained on a lot and use a Sawyer & charcoal filters if you want to be sure. Roof water is a great resource. |
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[snip] What type of roof do you have? It is my understanding that standard shingles will leach toxins into the water. I'm currently building a pole barn with a steel roof and will be putting my water collection system on that. Standard shingles
I wouldn't sweat it if it gets rained on a lot and use a Sawyer & charcoal filters if you want to be sure. Roof water is a great resource. I can't say how much of a big deal it is, but IIRC they discuss it here, which is a fantastic resource about rainwater collection systems, When I have time I'll skim it again and try to find the reference. Found it on page 5: "Due to leaching of toxins, composite shingles are not appropriate for potable systems, but can be used to collect water for irrigation." |
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[snip] What type of roof do you have? It is my understanding that standard shingles will leach toxins into the water. I'm currently building a pole barn with a steel roof and will be putting my water collection system on that. Standard shingles
I wouldn't sweat it if it gets rained on a lot and use a Sawyer & charcoal filters if you want to be sure. Roof water is a great resource. I can't say how much of a big deal it is, but IIRC they discuss it here, which is a fantastic resource about rainwater collection systems, When I have time I'll skim it again and try to find the reference. Found it on page 5: "Due to leaching of toxins, composite shingles are not appropriate for potable systems, but can be used to collect water for irrigation." I'll have to read over it and see how much toxins we're talking about. If it's not too bad, a filter might be a good solution. If it's too much, maybe it'd be good bath/toilet water, and if it's too much for that, then it won't be worth the trouble. I certainly won't need much irrigation with the small yard I have... Thanks for the link. When the Internet is working properly and I can use a laptop and not my phone, I'll check it out. |
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[snip] What type of roof do you have? It is my understanding that standard shingles will leach toxins into the water. I'm currently building a pole barn with a steel roof and will be putting my water collection system on that. Standard shingles
I wouldn't sweat it if it gets rained on a lot and use a Sawyer & charcoal filters if you want to be sure. Roof water is a great resource. I can't say how much of a big deal it is, but IIRC they discuss it here, which is a fantastic resource about rainwater collection systems, When I have time I'll skim it again and try to find the reference. Found it on page 5: "Due to leaching of toxins, composite shingles are not appropriate for potable systems, but can be used to collect water for irrigation." I'll have to read over it and see how much toxins we're talking about. If it's not too bad, a filter might be a good solution. If it's too much, maybe it'd be good bath/toilet water, and if it's too much for that, then it won't be worth the trouble. I certainly won't need much irrigation with the small yard I have... Thanks for the link. When the Internet is working properly and I can use a laptop and not my phone, I'll check it out. I don't remember that resource getting into specifics about the toxins or the levels but my concern would be using it for drinking water, particularly long term. I certainly don't want to make my family sick or give them weird problems caused by long term exposure to toxins, especially post SHTF. Because of those concerns I put off the rainwater collection system until after the contruction of my barn (in progress as I type) and, instead, went with large volume storage capability as well as a backup method for getting water from my well if power was not available (simple well bucket system). |
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As I just started preeping just a couple of weeks ago, I would a couple opinions on my Water Storage ideas. As of right now I am starting to use the kids old Hawaiian Pucnh 1 Gallon jugs... They drink about 2 gallons a week. So I have been cleaning them with bleech and water and then refilling them. Then I put them in my sunlight less basement. ( I should add a couple drops of bleech...correct) I have a water cooler and I usually buy the 4 or 4.5 gallon plastic jugs from Sams Club. They seem to have a good shelf life. I was thinking of stocking up on those and then use them upstairs when needed. ( Should I stockpile on these) My other idea is Home Depot 5 Gallon Bucket and Lid. They run about $5 for the pair, then I would have to fill it with tap water. (are these a good idea?) Thanks I keep a rack with 4 5 gallon jugs for my water cooler, plus one on the cooler itself. These get rotated completely about every 2 months. Aside from that I have a stack of reliance aqua-tainers piled up next to the water cooler jugs. Between that, the water heater, and all the various stored bottled water and juice I have at any time I am confident I good for a little while at least. I also have an MSR miniworks. to continue filtering water if they run out. |