Posted on 03/29/2013 6:42:31 PM PDT by backwoods-engineer
Imagine this scenario: for whatever reason, you are bugging out, and have to travel through an urban or suburban area, or even along an interstate highway.
It's hot. Dang hot. And you need water. There's no streams or lakes or ponds nearby. Nothing is open, and there's no power to operate a soda machine, even if there was one around. You've got a container in your bug-out bag, but you need a source of clean water.
If there are buildings, there is water available everywhere, but without a special tool, you can't get it!
What are you talking about, Backwoods?
Ever seen these special faucets on the side of a convenience store or gas station, or other commercial building?
[picture of sillcock hydrant]
It's known as a keyed sillcock hydrant. They are everywhere in the suburban and urban environment. They're used by building maintenance people for connecting water hoses for washing sidewalks, etc. It's a good bet that almost all have good water in them 24/7/365, whether the business is open or not. Even with the power down, there's probably going to be some pressure left, which allows you to get some hydration.
I recently drove around in the medium-sized town a few miles from my place, with an eye toward spotting these. I spotted keyed hydrants at the following places:
But you need one of these special keys to open one:
[Picture of Wolverine PST154 Sillcock Key]
Without a sillcock key, it's going to be hard to get the water. Yeah, you could probably use the pliers on a Leatherman or Gerber tool, but why mess with all that? Just put one of these babies in your bugout bag.
And for $6.42 on Amazon.com, why not?
Throw this little 3-ounce key in your bugout bag, and wherever you see a commercial building, most likely you can get some water, in an emergency situation and businesses are closed.
I've got one of these in every bugout bag in every vehicle in my family. They may even be available from your local building supply store; I haven't checked.
Just a little survival tip from Ol' Backwoods.
$8.24
USD? Yen? BitCoin? ;-)
“space credits”, being devalued at a rate of 6% per month.
4 10th oz silver coins?
Oh and I forgot I am also stocking up on lots of canned Gagh with Yamok Sauce!
Dang! We must be buying so many of these, we’re driving the price up!
That’s what I thought as well...
Thanks for the Preppers Ping. I should have asked for one when I first posted this.
MY COLD STEEL 24 INCH MACHETE CAME TODAY! This thing is so long, it's like Michonne’s sword on Walking Dead. I'm not kidding, it is so long I won't have to get close at all to those dead sharp thorned rose bush limbs to whack them off.
And for zombies - let's just say they will meet their second death with this monster machete. It is so lethal (looking).
Price jump of 20% due to sudden and inexplicable skyrocketing sales increase.
I heard of an experiment simulating a homeowner with a [marking] sword vs an intruder with a paintball gun. The homeowner got to pick his hiding place, and the intruder was not familiar with the layout of the building.
The sword “won” almost every time.
I consider getting one of those last year because I have some limbs from a yard behind me that, every year, puts new growth over my back wall and I have to cut that back or it will start shading the back left half of the garden. I used the manual clippers again and that isn't fun to hold that heavy thing up and cut.
I just went out there and took some swipes with this major machete and took down a lot of those dead thorny limbs fast. I have to wear a long sleeved shirt and gloves the next time to get the job totally done.
It's also so long I don't have to bend over a million time to get the dead limbs off the ground. I just stuck the machete on the ground next to a bunch of limbs and dragged the limbs with the machete to be all in one place.
This machete is my new best friend.
Great post, and in my consulting engineering days, I specified a zillion hose bibbs like that on offices, schools, industrial buildings, hotels, etc. Pretty standard for commercial work.
Just ordered one from Amazon. Only 3 left now.
LOL, you are too cool.
You’re making me want one of ‘em myself.
You know, we could use one of those things around here. I’m going to show my husband and tell him we need it.
If I get that, I’m gonna need a cape, though. My hair’s already long and curly, so dreadlocks should be doable.
Find one. Your very life depends on it.
I thought I knew everything in the whole wide world, and find I didn't know that. Darn, there may be something else in the world I don't know. I am really ticked off that has never come up on any forum anywhere or from any reading I have done.
What a marvelous thing to know. I must put that on Survival Podcast where I write. That is so easy to have an emergency water source if you are caught in a town or city and have to get home.
Someone said don't steal his water. I don't think anyone would do that on purpose when there wasn't an emergency (I haven't heard of that - does it happen?) but if “some” water meant having enough water to get home, I wouldn't care if someone did that if it was my water in a big building. We are talking about a commercial building and enough water to get home so that would be at the start of the problem and the person would be gone from there from then on.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.