storing water ...

[jeffryscott]

With summer fast approaching, or in Arizona basically here, I have a 10L Sceptre water can I carry in the 4Runner, but am curious how long I can safely keep water in it before I need to drain it and refill it?

Any tips for "additives," like a few drops of bleach or iodine that will keep it fresh longer?

thanks,

Jeff

 

[mountainpete]

In a proper container and properly sealed, water is easily storable for up to a year.

 

[jeffryscott]

In a proper container and properly sealed, water is easily storable for up to a year.

That's my concern, with air in the jerry can, I know it is not properly sealed for such long term storage as say bottled water from the store. I'm curious if a week is too long, a month? etc ... before mold starts growing and making the water unsafe/unpalatable.

I don't want to start growing mold in the nice container ...

 

[DaveInDenver]

There is no shelf life for stored water as long as it's free of bacteria. So if you start with a clean jug that is opaque with good water, it can store indefinitely. That assumes it is sealed and cannot get contaminated.

The way I've stored water before is to use is 16 drops of chlorine per gallon of water (something like that undetermined 'capful' per 5 gallons). City water already has chlorine in it, so this is really redundant, but our tap water seems to change composition and so this is so that I know it's state. I fill my container to the rim and put the cap on, spill a little in the process. I use 2 gallon Nalgene jugs, but anything that is not clear will work. I understand that in this state you can leave the water for as long as you want, but the longest I went was about 6 months before I just used it up. You want a very faint bleach smell, like a clean kitchen. If the smell is strong, then you have too much. You are looking for concentrations of about 1 to 5 PPM for drinking water, anything higher is more for sanitation (where you want 50 to 100 PPM).

 

[pwc]

I've stored water in the 20L Scepters for 4 months with no noticable difference in taste or smell. This is indoors and not in a vehicle.
All my cans have water in them constantly as I use them for my emergency preparedness water source. As mentioned, as long as they are clean and clean water goes in, then sealed up, they are fine.

 

[crawler#976]

In my case, our water already has algae in it from the tap. If left in a container, it turns orange...

And that's good old Prescott city water. Yummy!

So, I clean out the 2.5 gallon container monthy and add a tablespoon of chlorine for good measure.

I also carry a Katadyn filter bottle in the truck.

 

[Robthebrit]

Purogene is awesome for sterilizing water while in the holding tanks, the mix rate is very low so its practical but it may be difficult to measure for a jerry can, i think the mix rate is 1oz for 30 or 40 gallons. It seems to be identical to the 'sweet water' sold by MSR, the water has a nice taste even before going through a filter.

Another problem is it's difficult to find the US but can be purchased from http://www.3rodorcon.com/id3.html, they are in NV. You can buy it in quarts or gallons and with the low mix rate its easy to take enough with you.

Rob

 

[p1michaud]

Water Storage

With summer fast approaching, or in Arizona basically here, I have a 10L Sceptre water can I carry in the 4Runner, but am curious how long I can safely keep water in it before I need to drain it and refill it?

Any tips for "additives," like a few drops of bleach or iodine that will keep it fresh longer?

thanks,

Jeff

I'd posted this previously in the Water storage thread, but I'll put it here for your reference. I had found a paper called Water Storage Container FAQ by Al Dolney a while back and it's a very good read. Take a look.

Cheers :beer:,
P

 

[jah310]

Wanted to see if anyone had any more thoughts on this. I'm wondering about my two 5 gallon front runner cans that I have partially filled with water storage on my trailer in my garage. Should I drain and refill, drain and dry, or not worry about it?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,

 

[PaulCA]

That link to the paper on water storage seems to be dead, but found it here for those that are interested:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/8521220/Water-Storage-Container-FAQ