55 gallon water jug - Costco

[bryanrheem]

For my family of 5, this would last about 11 days. Good buy?

http://www.costco.com/.product.11766218 ... RRWidgetID

[VACoastie]

125 for a 55 gallon plastic barre (tax included)l? Seems kinda of up there in price to me, especially for 5 of them in which I doubt they'll give you a discount for.

Have you tried looking elsewhere for these? If it's a last ditch thing and all searches have turned up dry I'd say have at it.

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[ShotgunBlast]

Craigslist is your friend. People sell these all the time. They've usually had some kind of juice product in it. Just rinse it out and put in your plumbing and you're good to go.

[ProShooter]

I buy these food grade barrels, minus the pump for $15 each. We use them at our range as barricades.

[dorminWS]

I buy these food grade barrels, minus the pump for $15 each. We use them at our range as barricades.

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You getting them used?

[ShotgunBlast]

I buy these food grade barrels, minus the pump for $15 each. We use them at our range as barricades.

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You getting them used?

http://richmond.craigslist.org/grd/4070414503.html

Lots of sellers on Craigslist.

[SHMIV]

For long term storage of potable water, I prefer glass.

Plastic breaks down over time, and will release chemicals into the water that can't be good for you.

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[dorminWS]

Yes, there might be some small chance of component leaching over a very long term. But used plastic drums can also carry over odors and flavors from the original use. For instance, it is impossible, I can tell you from personal experience, to purge the flavor and odor of Dr Pepper from the 14-gallon plastic drums they ship their flavoring extract in. Dr Pepper-flavored water might not be so bad, but what if the original food content was chopped garlic? You could use some strong sanitizer or disinfectant on them, but you may then get a worse carryover from the cleaner than the original contents; and it could possibly leach substances out of the plastic, too. Stainless steel containers would be ideal, because they are inert, durable, and unbreakable. Not sure how much a used 55 gallon stainless barrel would cost. Upwards of a damnsight, I reckon. You can buy the 5-gallon ball-lock "corny-keg" tanks sometimes for $20-$30 each. They cost nearly $300 new. Then there are beer kegs that hold 31 gallons; and there is such a thing as stainless steel wine barrels, too.
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EDIT: 55-gallon SS barrels for $275:
http://shop.usedstainlesssteelbarrels.c ... UMS_c2.htm

[ShotgunBlast]

SS barrels would make this expensive!



You definitely want to ask what was in the barrel before you purchase it. Stay away from the heavy things like soda ingredients and liquids that would stain the barrel. A light juice would be perfect. A little soapy water or bleach to wash it out and you're good to go. Once the barrel is full you'll most likely add a little bleach to the water supply anyway. I wouldn't worry about leaching on these food grade barrels. Just make sure what you get is food grade.

[dorminWS]

14 55 gallon barrels would be 770 gallons. I've bought used stainless process tanks before for 50 cents a gallon. That would be $375 for a 750 gallon tank. Still more costly compared to a $15 per 55 gallon barrel deal (that would be 19 tanks times $15, or $210), but you gets what you pays for. Plus you'd save a little on all that plumbing.

[ProShooter]

I buy these food grade barrels, minus the pump for $15 each. We use them at our range as barricades.

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You getting them used?

Yep, used...and most of them smell like pimientos!

[bryanrheem]

The barrel is new, BPA free, and comes with a water filtration system. I would prefer not to go through the trouble of buying a used barrel.

[gunderwood]

A 55 gallon drum is very economical, but once filled you realistically can't move it (easily...think of the conditions where you need it and need to move it) and refilling is interesting. Plastic isn't the best, but the reality is that it works well enough and we drink from it all the time. My preference is for more portable containers, but they cost a lot more. E.g. waterbricks. I would start with a small stock of a good, strong, portable water container until you have a minimum of 1-2 weeks supply. Then get the larger containers to augment and provide longer term storage. You could easily use the portable containers to refill the larger as needed or have enough to get out of town as required. Same should apply to food IMHO. If had the luxury of stockpiling a remote location, then I'd spring for the stainless steel barrels and some waterbricks (they exceptionally tough and designed to work in Africa as most portable water solutions fail miserably).

Don't forget to treat the water and to rotate it. While bleach works, it's not the ideal chloride for the task. A much better solution is to use an actual water treatment solution. I use http://www.waterpreserver.com/waterpreserver.htm and it recommends a rotation of 5 years, but has been demonstrated to work beyond a decade with good containers. The only thing to be aware of is that it is a sodium hypochlorite which is not long term stable in concentrate form (what you buy). You must use it by adding to your water stock in about 9 months or the effectiveness is significantly reduced. Each bottle is marked with an expiration date and it's easy to use.

[dorminWS]

I've always wondered what happens to all that water that preppers store over time. Most bottled water has been ozonated just before it was packed, and therefore is sterile and has a shelf-life of some years. But when you start filling barrels with a garden hose with water from a public waterworks or a private well with a chlorinator, whatever residual chlorine that is in it will dissipate in 2-3 days. Stands to reason it would go stale, then grow slime, then get REAL nasty.

I just assumed the best solution to water purity would be a small hand-pumped RO system. I was under the impression they were pretty inexpensive. So what IS the standard prepper plan to keep the water potable?

[OakRidgeStars]

This is an interesting article but it doesn't go into a lot of detail. However, the food-grade buckets and Gamma Seals are excellent for storing food preps and bulk water.

http://modernsurvivalblog.com/preps/dri ... long-term/

[OakRidgeStars]

Water storage ideas
http://beprepared.com/water/water-storage.html?limit=48

[bryanrheem]

wow, great information! Thanks all... good reading materials.