Posted on 11/10/2010 4:53:32 AM PST by surroundedbyblue
Ok so I am new to all of this stuff. I need some advice about storing food & water from all of you who are much more informed than me. Please & thank you!!!
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Depends on whether you want a backpack portable or non-portable. Berky’s are about the best you can get for non-portable http://www.berkeywater.com/start.main.html
Big Berkey
I’d like to know as well. We’re storing water from our tap in 2 liter pop bottles - I’d like to know how long that water would be safe to drink.
I’m not much into buying jugs of water that have probably come from a tap somewhere else - and then having to lug those home.
We have used a British Berkefeld (also known as “Berkey”) filter for many years. These use four ceramic filter elements which last a long time and work very well. Our unit has a 2-gallon capacity. What sold us on the Berkey is the fact that these filters have been used by many years by aid organizations for water filtering in third-world countries—a proven design that is effective, practical and reliable.
advice about storing food & water
If you don’t, and come upon hard times, what then?
Cistern, drums under gutters, Water heater, bath tub, toilet tank, jugs of all kinds, and Clorox as a purifier. Filters cost money and aren’t necessarily needed in good times, when prepared folks store what is needed for the bad times.
Steripens (a water purifier, not filter) are great very portable but limited in capacity.
Katadyns are very good and portable but expensive and also limited in capacity.
Bleach has a limited shelf life. Pool shock (Calcium hypochlorite) has a long shelf life and can be used to make a solution for water purification.
“Clorox as a purifier.”
Clorox has a limited shelf life as it starts to degrade after about 6 months.
I have a countertop distiller and a reverse osmosis system.
“We have used a British Berkefeld (also known as “Berkey”) filter for many years. These use four ceramic filter elements which last a long time and work very well.”
If you ran it full out 8 hours a day producing clean water, what is a “long time?”
Think 5 gallon jugs unless you have a water source that does not depend on electricity. For very long term look at sand filters; they have and are being used in places without electricity for centuries.
What are you prepping for? Read “How Long Can You Tread Water”. It is a well documented analysis of how really bad things could get in a hurry.
Good luck.
Tom S.
Very very low tech.
Tanzanian villagers have begun using an energy-saving method to sterilise their drinking water - leaving the water under the sun.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4786216.stm
I would store Calcium hypochlorite if I were you it’s easy to transport as a bag will do about 10,000 gallons, it’s cheap, and if stored right last for ever.
It will show you how to use it.
For back packing I use a Katadyn Pocket, my buddy uses a MSR Sweetwater. I’d like to get a Big Berky for home. And I always have a bottle Iodine out on the trail.
For home stuff, Big Berky.
We have a Katadyn for camping, and the water is amazing - it is the only water that I’ve ever tasted that has no taste at all. It is not cheap though.
To extend the life of your filter, I have heard you can use Alum to make the heavy deposits in the water sink to the bottom of a bucket/barrel first, and then adding only the water on top to the filter.
Another cheaper alternative is a homemade filter made with 1/3 sand, 1/3 pebbles, 1/3 gravel. This would still need boiling.
In a pinch, what we do is use a clean t-shirt to filter out the icky stuff, and just boil the water for 10 minutes.
If you google homemade water distillers, or the Watercone, you’ll get some interesting ideas too.
Your source please.
I have two references one from American Red Cross, the other from Clorox. Neither one talks about shelf life.
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