Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Tam had a post the other day about preparation, short version

"If you're ready for the zombies, a broken water line shouldn't be a big problem." Which reminded me of something Insty pointed to a couple of years back, and I finally found it: information on storing water.

Short version: bleach. Non- colored, non-scented, no soap, just bleach. They say 5.25% sodium hypochlorite, but most of the stuff I find is 6%, which seems to work just fine.

And this time of year, I think about it; tornados or windstorms or hail or a downburst can just ruin the day for electrically-driven stuff for a few days.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

If you are connected to a municipal water supply, I believe their tap water is sufficiently chlorinated that it will keep. Just pour it into jugs and seal them (I use recycled diet soda 2- or 3-liter bottles). After a couple of years, I've got no visible algae or other growths.

Firehand said...

You may be right. Be interesting to bottle some for a few months and then have it tested.

Windy Wilson said...

I subscribe to bottled water and always have at least 4 carboys on hand at any one time. That's at least 20 gallons and sometimes almost 24. I'm using water that is 8 weeks old that way and haven't found any problem. Of course I live alone, and I haven't quite figured out the water for flushing needs, so this situation may change.

MauserMedic said...

Sportsman's Guide has/had 25-liter Swedish water jugs on sale last week; $17 for 2 plus shipping. Picked up four myself. And 5 gallons of water treated with chlorine noted as above will keep 12 months in a cool dark environment, in my recent experience.

Keith said...

Small bottles of Milton baby bottle sterilizer are a good source of un perfumed soap free hyperchlorite. If you are into industrial scale hoarding, a farm store will have gallon and five gallon or bigger drums for sterilizing milking equipment.

If you know a dairy farmer, see if you can scrounge some of their empty drums. They're big, tough and sterile.

They also have similler size supplies of phosphoric acid (rust removing, pasivating and parkerizing) as milk scale remover. It's much cheaper there, than in car spares shops.