Storage........water and batteries.

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savageagle

HamRadio/Office of Emergency Services/Fire-EMT-SAR
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
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Location
Squaw Valley, California, USA, EARTH
Batteries.................

When stored at room temperature (i.e. 70°F/ 21°C), cylindrical alkaline batteries have a shelf life of 5 to 10 years and cylindrical carbon zinc 3 to 5 years. Lithium Cylindrical types can be stored from 10 to 15 years. Prolonged storage at elevated temperatures will shorten storage life.

Are batteries still good after expiration date?

Batteries operate on a chemical reaction. ... It is probably a conservative date, so most batteries will have a full life after that time. Better batteries will show a later expiration date. Alkaline battery life is so dependent on how the batteries are used, and there are no standards.

Water................

How NOT to Store Water

Let’s get some misconceptions out of the way.

First, just because the water is clear doesn’t mean it’s safe to drink. Contaminants are often colorless, and no one likes drinking poison (or parasites).

Two, water DOES NOT have a real expiration date. But that doesn’t mean that you can rely on the same water stored in the same container forever – even if stored in perfect conditions.

And three, yes, you can die if you do this wrong. It’s simple to store water safely for the long term, but if you do it wrong, you’re putting your life on the line.

At the very least, you’ll get sick, and getting sick or injured sucks (especially in a survival situation).

For that exact reason, before we get into how you should store water I’m going to explain how you should NOT.

DO NOT store water in anything besides food grade containers.

I am going to repeat that throughout this article so many times it is going to make your head hurt. ONLY FOOD GRADE CONTAINERS!

I know, those Home Depot buckets are cheap. They also damn near indestructible, you can buy lids for them, and they’re an awesome bright orange color. But you shouldn’t store water in them. You should never store water in anything not made for holding food/water.

You can tell if a container if food grade several ways:

1. Plastics #’s 1, 2, 4, 7 are the plastics used for food grade containers. You can find this number in the little triangular recycle symbol on the bottom.

Recycle Symbols

2. Also on the bottom, there’ll be a symbol indicating the container safe to freeze or store in a pantry.

3. The container often says on the package when you buy it, “Freezer, Refrigerator, Pantry Safe.” Or something like that to indicate that you can put food and water in there.

DO NOT store water in food grade containers that have previously store other items.

I’m talking about milk jugs, soda bottles, beer kegs, or anything that was used to hold another food or drink (or oils, chemicals, etc.).

Even if you’ve washed it out a thousand times! It’s extremely difficult (maybe even impossible) to rinse out all the sugars and bacteria left over.

And even trace amounts of sugar or bacteria it will taint your water.

DO NOT store water in cardboard containers. I know that sounds obvious – but I’ve seen boxed water before, and that cardboard crap won’t last very long. Don’t rely on it for long-term water storage.

DO NOT store water in metallic containers that aren’t stainless steel. If it isn’t stainless steel, it will corrode, and your water goes bad, fast. Rusty water is gross and not what you want here.

DO NOT try to store water in something that cannot be sealed. With only a few rare exceptions, storing open water is a bad idea because it’s open to contamination. Particles from the air, animals, and insects can fall into your water. Bird poop in your survival water is no good.

DO NOT store it in anything that has the chance of becoming contaminated. If you have any doubt the container could become compromised, don’t store water in that container. Find something else.

DO NOT store water in direct sunlight or heat. You want a shaded, temperature controlled room. Basements, windowless pantries, temperature controlled garages or underground cellars are smart locations.

Sunlight, heat, and temperature changes are hard on everything. These are the enemy of water storage and will contribute to faster spoilage. UV rays and heat is hard on plastic, and sometimes even glass can leach chemicals.

The Right Way To Do Water Storage

Now that you know what you shouldn’t do, and what rules to follow, this part will be simple.

The first things to discuss are containers. You already know the container needs to be sterile and food safe. But even within those parameters, there are a lot of choices. So, let’s delve into what materials you CAN use for storing water long-term.

Commercially, there are a lot of water storage containers options on the market. And they come in all different shapes and sizes.

What material you use, and what size you get is all dependent on:

How much storage space you have
What your budget is
How many people you plan on sustaining with your water supply
How long you’ll need water for
Where you live and your geographic relativity to freshwater sources
So, here’s a variety of water containers available on the market for long-term water storage:

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1 – Plastic Containers

The advantages of plastic are plentiful. It’s lightweight, durable, cheap, easy to come by and replaceable.

Plastic is the preferred storage method for many because it’s the most obvious choice. Unfortunately, plastic also has some serious disadvantages too.

For one, there’s a growing fear among food scientists that plastic leaches chemicals into water over time. This is especially true if introduced to direct light or heat.

But, if stored properly there’s less risk of these problems (so long as you occasionally replace your water) – we’ll hit details on this later.

By far my favorite plastic container (and favorite containers overall) is the Survival Water Brick.

Here are a few highlights of the Water Brick:Water Bricks Stacked

Holds 3.5 Gallons of Water, Dry Foods, or Ammo

Stackable to Maximize Storage Capacity

Easy-Grip Design Makes it Easy to Carry

Virtually Indestructible!

They are a solid investment and one of the best long-term survival storage solutions.

2 – Glass Containers

You can always trust glass, just sanitize it before putting your purified water into it.

Glass is classified by the FDA as “GRAS” which stands for “Generally Regarded As Safe”… so take that with a grain of salt.

If you’re hoping to repurpose an old glass container, but it was used to store anything else in a previous life, it’s best to find a different container.

The big disadvantages to glass are it’s heavy and breaks easily. But it can last forever, is dishwasher friendly, easy to come by, easy to sterilize.

You can reduce the chance of breakages by wrapping your stored glass containers with newspaper and cardboard.

Check out these highly-rated 18 oz leak-proof glass bottles for your water storage needs.

3 – Stainless Steel Containers

This is possibly the safest bet when it comes to storing water long-term. There are no chemicals that can leach into the water. It protects contents from sunlight, and it’s durable.

Unfortunately, this is also the most expensive option. Just check out the price of this 55-gallon stainless steel drum!

Stainless steel containers also tend to be heavy.

You also must be careful what you put inside them. If you store tap water that’s been treated with chlorine, it will erode the protective surface of the stainless steel. That’s called corrosion and corrosion is always bad. That’s how your water gets poisoned.

Make sure that your stainless-steel container is FOOD GRADE or FOOD SAFE!

4 – 55 Gallon Plastic Water Barrels

They take up a significant amount of space and are very heavy when full. But these plastic barrels are one of the most reliable ways to store water easily (and cheaply) for a long time.

Traditionally plastic water storage barrels are blue, for easy identification. And now for the much more reasonably priced plastic 55-gallon drum barrel.

5 – Water Blatters

I’ve heard survivalists talk about filling bathtubs and sink basins with water as soon as shit hits the fan.

That way, they claim, you have a solid amount of stored and usable water at the ready. In theory, this is a very smart, functional idea.

But upon closer scrutiny, it starts falling apart.

Mainly because bathtubs and sinks aren’t sterile containers nor can they be sealed off. But, the Water BOB is a simple solution to that very problem.

It’s a refillable bag you can put in your tub, shower, or sink and fill with water without the fear of contamination.

The bags hold as much as 100 gallons of water and can be emptied and packed down for transportation.

These are one of the best emergency water tools on the market, and I highly recommend investing in a few. Not only is it a great tool – but it’s cheap too!

6 – Large Water Cisterns

They are big, they are expensive, and they never move once in place!

But if you have a water cistern hooked up you’re going to be set on drinkable, usable water for a very long time.

Cisterns can hold anywhere from 1,500 gallons of water to tens of thousands of gallons. This is pretty much the ultimate water storage tool.

Here’s a well-designed underdeck water cistern that holds 250 gallons of water.

7 – Your Backyard Pool

Okay, let’s clear this up once and for all – yes, you can drink pool water if it’s treated properly. Even though it’s treated with chemicals, as long as it’s under 4 ppm it isn’t poisonous to ingest.

How many kids end up inadvertently drinking gulps of pool water? A lot. And when’s the last time you heard of someone keeling over sick because they drank water from their swimming pool? Rarely if ever.

That means in a serious emergency when all other water is gone and you need to start using what you have on hand.

Stick your head in the pool and start drinking the wet goodness. But there are some things to keep in mind:

First, you can’t seal backyard pools. So, they’re susceptible to contamination from bacteria and insects.

This means, if you want to use your pool water in an emergency you’ll want to have a purification and filtration plan. Because it isn’t going to keep very well/for very long.

Stored Water Tastes Funny.................

Because stored water “goes flat” (loses the oxygen within it) it almost always has a bit of a strange taste.

Don’t worry too much about this. This is typical and can be remedied by swishing the water around in your cup or shaking it up in a bottle.

Of course, if there’s a putrid, acrid, swampy smell to your water when you get it out of storage and it tastes terrible, DON’T SWALLOW IT.

The Final Word.............

Human beings can only survive without water for three days. Then we shrivel up like raisins and die.

There aren’t any survival resources that are more important than drinkable water. Which is why any survivalist who isn’t storing water is making a huge mistake.

Make sure that you aren’t one of them.
 

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