Emergencies can happen and water shortages have been experienced in even the most modern cities during the least expected times. Often within moments of a storm's detection on radar, the news broadcast will send people flocking to stores where people clean the shelves of large containers of water, leaving nothing for those who delay.
This innovation will allow you to store water for washing and other uses during emergencies. Fill the apparatus while the water supply is still running and if you are unable to buy water.
You should be careful to use food grade plastics. Some trash bags are coated with pesticides & can release chemicals into the water. Trash bags are not recommended by the USDA for the storage of food.
This innovation will allow you to store water for washing and other uses during emergencies. Fill the apparatus while the water supply is still running and if you are unable to buy water.
You should be careful to use food grade plastics. Some trash bags are coated with pesticides & can release chemicals into the water. Trash bags are not recommended by the USDA for the storage of food.
Remove these ads by
Signing Up
![Drink Your Own Pee - [survival guide]](http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/F5H/0MIV/F8DOZPTD/F5H0MIVF8DOZPTD.SQUARE.jpg)
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
Yoav
Very very handy for the UK, where we dont have the USA's bath tub reservoir bags.
Going to get some big bags tomorrow and test this out. See which ones work the best.
Can even collapse the box, with the bag in, for storage, and pull out when needed.
10 outta 10!!!!
Cheers,
Yoav
First, make sure the bag is bigger than the box. This way any strain is taken by the box instead of bursting the bag.
Second, Wine boxes make great emergency water storage containers. Not as large, maybe, but they are pre-made and have built in valves. And you have to empty out the wine first.
No need to panic-spend or be gouged just because of the weather.
I like the comment on hanging bar soap in a stocking, no wasted liquid soap.
In Scouts we re-used boxed wine bags, rinsed of course.
They collapse and take less backpack space as they are used.
There would still be a slight hint of wine flavor but we liked "roughing it".
Yoav
(Never did find out who was wearing nylon stockings.)
Cut the top third of the bottle off and throw the bottom 2/3 away. Unscrew the lid. Put the top third part of the bottle inside the bag and screw the lid on from the outside of the bag. Twisting the top lets the water squirt out.
Just a couple of suggestions. Your idea is great if one is caught off guard and needs easy to construct containers from scratch. With a little bit of planning you can purchase the valves like those found on many large coffee pots and water coolers. I did a search for "Replacement Water Crock & Water Bottle Faucet" and found some on Amazon for around $5.00. Mount the spicket to the box with your plastic trapped between the nut and box and you have an easy dispenser!!
A great container for this purpose is 5 Gal buckets. A friend uses old pickle buckets from restaurants or sandwich shops. Once they have used the pickles they through or give away the buckets there also great for painting, washing cars and many other projects.
Go to to a wine/beer making supply house for food grade 7-10 gallon rigid food grade plastic containers with lids. Few drops chlorine per gallon and you can stock up at beginning of storm season, dump on lawn at the end, (or boil and make beer!). I believe they have big food grade plastic bags as well. Call manufacturer if you don't know. You can fit them with spigots as well.
E-prep is all planning and having it ready to go, in place, BEFORE you need it. This is quite elegant and doable If you get big bags that are not going to be useful w/o a real hard wall (milk crate) then line milk crate with cardboard. I used old wood paneling to make storage/moving tool crates that were screw nail shut and stackable.
great Instructable-elegant even
It would take some forethought, but a bit of flexible hose could be used to siphon out the water as needed. I think I got about ten feet of clear plastic hose for about $3 at the hardware store. Your method has the advantage of being pulled together at the last moment from everyday items.
If you haven't seen it yet, check out chapter 8 in Cresson H. Kearny's excellent and free Nuclear War Survival skills. He uses plastic bags like you do to store water. He encloses them in earth pits or burlap bags and he also used a siphon when possible.
Personally, I like to use 2 liter soda bottles. I rinse them out and fill them with tap water. I then date them with a Sharpie marker. There's enough chlorine to preserve the water for at least one year, and when it's "expired" you can just open it, water the plants, and recycle the bottle.
I also fill large pots and pans when I expect a "boil water" order to be put in place. This happened after Isabel, but we got through Irene OK this year.
After I fill the pots and pans, I fill the tub with water for flushing, and throw the main water valve. This gives me several gallons of drinking water in the pipes, plus all the water in the hot water heater. If I need to flush during the storm, I can just get a bucket of water out of the tub and pour it into the toilet.
Well Done!
I have been thinking that I should try and take a few more pictures of potential valves, one can find at home. Objects such as Black paper clip, rubber band, ViseGrip pliers with duct tape on their jaws to protect the bag.
Once I take the pictures (and test the valves first, I will post it on Instructables.
For over 60 years, we've lived in hurricane country [SE Texas on both the Gulf of Mexico and the Louisiana border], and waaaay back in the early days we used this technique for storing water.
Now we "stock up" on "drinking water" in 2 1/2 gallon "refrigerator containers" which have carrying handle and a spigot. We keep a supply of about 10 such containers, but date them [felt tip pen] when bought, and then use them regularly, using the oldest first. We keep one in the fridge so we've always got cold water [it 's HOT down here, usually from late spring to fall].
Back when we did make our own "cubetainers," we used whatever plastic bags were on hand [grocery, produce, trash, and the thin (doubled or trippled up) dry cleaning bags, etc.].
We did not worry about a valve or spiggot, we just tied the end of the bag and STORED the box with the openable bag end on top. When available, we also either used the large office clamp-type paper clamps, or even used wire [before produce bag wireties came along!].
As to sizing, I would not try to use a box/container size greater than about ONE CUBIC FOOT as has been mentioned by another poster, that will weigh about 62 1/2 pounds and anything larger is much more difficult to handle.
I also suggest stroring them on a sound, solid floor, NOT several [for example] on an ordinary table as you can easily overload a table, have it collapse, and potentially lose much of your water and/or create one heck of a mess!!!!
Also, for a large storage of non-drinking water for dishwashing, cleaning, bathing, etc., I've "rescued" [from curbside discard piles] a half dozen discarded water heaters. Most water heater failures are due to one or two small leaks [usually at a defective glass lining at the side seam] and after removal of the outer shell and insulation, the leaks can easily be plugged using a twopart epoxy [I like "J-B Weld"]. I then built a heavy duty [2x4s], stand to raise the "tanks" so that water can be drawn using the tank drain valve near the bottom.
In an emergency [for example, if you run out of potable water] this tank water can be made safe for drinking by boiling, OR using UNSCENTED Clorox [their website provides detailed instructions for using Clorox to disinfect water].
Although your plastic bag and cardboard box water storage is not new, it was an excellent idea to post your 'ible for those not aware of this technique.
Thanks for doing it.
Your in depth comment enriched and informed me and all of us who read my Instructables posting.
Best,
Yoav
We've had ~4 quakes here this year, each time water goes off for weeks at worst or hours at best. "Be Prepared" is not just for scouts.