10 Common Prepping Mistakes

Urban Survival Site ^ | 4/9/11 | Urban Alan

[Kartographer]

With the abundance of bad info out there, it’s easy for new preppers to make a lot of mistakes. I, myself, am a new prepper by some standards. I’ve made many mistakes and I’m sure I’ll make more, but that’s part of the learning process. To help you speed up this process, here are some common prepping mistakes you’ll want to avoid:

[texgal]

Thanks for telling me this, I did not know.

[Kartographer]

6 mos. to a year is what I’ve read.

[Bean Counter]

I read an article several years ago about a fellow who was building a homestead, and installed a 20,000 gallon fiberglass watertank underground near the house and diverted 100% of the water caught by the roof into the tank. It took him 8 months to fill it, but he was able to install a sump through the manhole on top, and had himself one beautiful cistern full of free water.

He emphasized in the article that it was no simple matter to do...he had a significant excavation and several feet of packed gravel underneath the tank to support the weight.

Obviously that won’t work for everyone, but it’s a neat concept that is open to adaptation...

[bgill]

Interesting idea. Though my septic is right there so can’t dig. Can’t even put a cement porch there (which I’d like) and slope the water away. Can’t re-grade the yard because of the new septic. But hey, all’s good when it doesn’t rain, right? Can’t even remember what rain looks like and it’s already in the 90s so a long hot summer is just starting.

[Kartographer]

That's I wonder if some of these earthbag/cisterns tied together wouldn't work.

http://earthbagplans.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/earthbag-cistern/

[GOYAKLA]

My thoughts on being ‘Prepped” is leaning to, not being stationary.
Laying in big supplies may be the first option but I’m planning on being as mobil,as necessary. Have a plan as were to meet, family and those few, you trust.
The Katadyn products fit these plans. The acquisition for replacement filters is essential! Education of living off the land and away from”NonPrepped” is my choice. H2O is worth more than GOLD at times like those.

[BenKenobi]

Oh ok, sorry I misunderstood!

[Kartographer]

"H2O is worth more than GOLD at times like those."


See numbers 2 and 3.
From a Sarajevo War Survivor: Experiencing horrible things that can happen in a war - death of parents and friends, hunger and malnutrition, endless freezing cold, fear, sniper attacks.
1. Stockpiling helps. but you never no how long trouble will last, so locate near renewable food sources.
2. Living near a well with a manual pump is like being in Eden.
3. After awhile, even gold can lose its luster. But there is no luxury in war quite like toilet paper. Its surplus value is greater than gold's.
4. If you had to go without one utility, lose electricity - it's the easiest to do without (unless you're in a very nice climate with no need for heat.)
5. Canned foods are awesome, especially if their contents are tasty without heating. One of the best things to stockpile is canned gravy - it makes a lot of the dry unappetizing things you find to eat in war somewhat edible. Only needs enough heat to "warm", not to cook. It's cheap too, especially if you buy it in bulk.
6. Bring some books - escapist ones like romance or mysteries become more valuable as the war continues. Sure, it's great to have a lot of survival guides, but you'll figure most of that out on your own anyway - trust me, you'll have a lot of time on your hands.
7. The feeling that you're human can fade pretty fast. I can't tell you how many people I knew who would have traded a much needed meal for just a little bit of toothpaste, rouge, soap or cologne. Not much point in fighting if you have to lose your humanity. These things are morale- builders like nothing else.
8. Slow burning candles and matches, matches, matches

[Bean Counter]

Great concept, but if I were going to do that much digging I’d want a lot more than just 2000 gallons. From the description that looks like the biggest size you could build from earthbags....

[Kartographer]

Dig two and join them 4000 gallons then.

[RC one]

I read about it in 198? in a magazine called american survival guide. Think about the physics of it. You are distilling water out of a liquid with a higher boiling point (ethylene glycol). ethylene glycol boils at ~197 degrees celcius. Waters boils at ~100 degrees celcius. The water will evaporate while the ethylene glycol would remain behind nowhere near its boiling point. The only way I would do such a thing is if my life depended on it of course. It’s strictly a stranded in the desert with no alternative thing.

[metmom]

placemarker

[Bean Counter]

I’ll have to look around and find the site about well digging....

This fellow worked out a fairly simple system for use in Africa to dig shallow wells safely. He used a pair of steel rings that were about 5’ in diameter, that supported long planks that were wedged against the earth all the way around the excavation. It looked big enough for 2 guys max, but it was a very effective technique.

You dig out about 6” under a plank, slip the wedge and drop the plank to the bottom, then go to the next one. You need a hand winch of some sort above to lift out the buckets of dirt, but you keep on going, lowering the planks, rings and wedges until you’re below the water table, then you set a perforated plastic riser, backfill the hole with gravel and then sand, withdrawing the planks and rings as you go. You can cap the top any way you want and the riser is good for a hand pump or several kinds of water pumps.

It was fascinating reading and struck me as an outstanding thing to know how to do...

If I find the link, I’ll start a thread and ping you....

[djf]

I have one of those Eton radios. It has a hand crank and can run for a few minutes if you’re willing to crank it.
It also has a solar charger on it!
Plus, it takes regular batteries.

The only problem I found is that it seems I can’t turn it all the way to “off”. If I turn it to the “off” position, there is still some kind of residual drain on the main batteries.
So I put them in and stuck a small piece of plastic over the contact, which is easily removable.

AM/FM/SW, but the SW reception is sporadic. I suppose I could open it up and hang a forty foot piece of wire on to it an do much better!

[B4Ranch]

Thanks for the explanation.

[Vendome]

Yeah, it says three years but I just used one that was a little over 4 years old and who knows how long it sat on the stock shelf before they mailed it to me.

It’s a ceramic filter, like Berkey, and it should sit on the shelf indefinitely. They also say if you use it at least once and then store it the shelf life is then 5 years.

I don’t get it but....

So I like the Berkey for home or stationary sites.

But the Lifesaver fits the bill for portability and that’s why I like it.

We have two Lifesaver 6000’s and two replacement filters.

On the Berkey we have one at each of our homes and one at the office.

I’m going to make a Berkey per Kartographer’s instructions. for only $120!

[PA Engineer]

yeah, I was worried about that. Thanks for putting my mind at ease. LOL

Kartographer is correct on this one. We have a 120 gallon holding tank with a chemical feeder (using bleach - blue label only). Our well water, though safe suffers from the "rotten egg" (sulfate-reducing bacteria) smell.

The bleach is really only effective for one year and it is not possible to store for long periods. I purchase from Sam's and found about a year is effective however some say nine months. Chlorine Bleach Shelf Life

I finally purchased a case of 68% Calcium Hypochlorite pool shock. This was both a prepper and economic decision. Mixing my own bleach will save me hundreds of dollars over the next decade. I will be keeping some of the bleach bottles for the mix. This will allow many of the other materials in pool shock to settle out before filling the chemical feeder.

Kartographer is also correct when he cautions about storing the pool shock. In the past I had pool chemicals stored on metal shelving with paint cans. Everything corroded around the plastic containers. For the pool shock I use mason jars, rubber gasket, and plastic lid. This seems to be sufficient to slow down the corrosion problem.

Hope this helps.

[PA Engineer]

Thanks for the post. I purchased the British Berkefeld over 12 years ago and was wondering what the difference was.

[RC one]

I truly don’t care.

[PA Engineer]

I truly don’t care.

Then why are you posting here?