Small Cabin

Small Cabin Forum
 - Forums - Register/Sign Up - Reply - Search - Statistics -

Small Cabin Forum / Useful Links and Resources / Safe Storage of Water is not as easy as you think
Author Message
rockies
Member
# Posted: 31 May 2016 20:24
Reply 


Info From "Happy Hovel Foods"
Water Storage Needs.
Water is THE most important item on your list. You can live for 10 days without food — you only have 3 days without water!


Water actually does have a shelf life — 6 weeks is the most before the oxygen in the water breaks down. Oxygen is water's life force.

Considering the above statements you must know how to preserve you and your water safely.

Some of you may have heard to use "Clorox;" however, you must know that Clorox is a halogen. A halogen is a carcinogen; therefore you do NOT want to use it to store your precious water supply.

You may have heard to use "Iodine," but you have to know that your body only requires a very tiny amount of Iodine in your system; therefore this would not be the best choice.

"Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide" is also not to be used in your water. This is what we call a nonstable product, that after 6 months the product is no longer working in your water. In addition, dosing your water with a small amount of Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide can also create another problem — diarrhea — which will of course make your body dehydrated. Therefore you don't want to use that either.
Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide has its best use in your first aid kit for cuts and scrapes.

The only product that passed all the above tests of safety and longevity of water storage is "Oxygen Plus." This product went through rigorous testing and came out as a product that would keep water oxygenated for a 5-year period and wipe out any harmful bacteria that may be present in your water supply! "Oxygen Plus" is great for the body and can be purchased from Happy Hovel Foods.

We also have "Oxygen Plus" available for 55-gallon Barrels and 500-gallon Containers plus larger requirements.

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 31 May 2016 21:42 - Edited by: MtnDon
Reply 


I agree with some of that. Oxygen does "disappear" in water stored in tanks, barreles, etc. for extended periods... any place the water is still. However, it only makes the water taste flat. It is still good water. IMO, the additive they sell is just a money maker for them. The key to keeping water is to avoid contamination and using a virgin container, that is a container that has never been used for any other use.

FWIW, many years ago we stored 55 US gallons of water in a virgin blue food grade, BPA free, barrel. Filled to the top. Left it sit for an entire year. The state environmental department tested the water at the beginning and end of the year interval. Results came back the same and 100% safe. It did taste flat at the one year mark, but after filling a gallon jug to the 3/4 level and shaking it tasted the same as "fresh" "new" water.

We also have had no issues at all with the water in the underground storage cistern.

Just my point of view.

Ontario lakeside
Member
# Posted: 31 May 2016 23:32
Reply 


Happy Hovel Foods....? Water stored in a food safe container that remains sealed will be good indefinitely.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXCnb4vUTeg

NorthRick
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 03:03
Reply 


I think all of that "info" is garbage. As MtnDon said water with out oxygen doesn't go bad.

toyota_mdt_tech
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 09:47
Reply 


I have a solar well, with sunlight and a flip of the switch, I have a steady stream at 2.8 gallons a minute. If there is no sunlight, I have a transformer/converter, plug it into my EU2000i Honda, running water at night. I guess my storage area in the earth. Its clean, cold and taste great too.

KinAlberta
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 09:51
Reply 


"Hydrogen Peroxide

One recent study has found that the wild Salmonella which would reproduce quickly during subsequent dark storage of solar-disinfected water could be controlled by the addition of just 10 parts per million of hydrogen peroxide.[28]"

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_water_purification

DaveBell
Moderator
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 18:15
Reply 


Quoting: NorthRick
I think all of that "info" is garbage.


Concur big time.

Rockies, chlorine keeps our drinking water safe. Happy Hovel Foods web site says Coming Soon.

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 18:33
Reply 


There is no doubt that our modern municipal water systems have reduced disease. There is recent evidence that there may be health risks associated with the use of chlorine though. So, like many things there are some trade offs. By and large IMO, chlorine has saved lives no doubt in my mind. But we remove the chlorine from our municipal water before using it to cook with or drink.

bldginsp
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 18:53
Reply 


Just today, the well driller installed a pump in my well, so for the first time I am pulling water off it. That water comes from 400 ft deep and has been there for millennia. Has it held onto oxygen that long, and now, if I put it in a tank it will lose that oxygen? There's something fishy in this water story and it ain't goldfish.

Chlorine itself is not a carcinogen, so I have read, but it combines in water with organic compounds to form chloramines which are. Chlorine is almost odorless, but it's the chloramines that you smell at the pool, which have combined with the stuff that comes off of, or out of, the swimmers.

silverwaterlady
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 20:19
Reply 


Hmm-well I haven't said anything about your agenda here Mr.Rockies but I'm gonna now.......

It seems you are always posting stuff about products. Just like you are promoting said products for a profit. But in a sly way.

Hey,if that's what you're doing than that's just not nice. If it's not what you're doing than disregard my post.

hattie
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 21:12
Reply 


I do a lot of canning. When we have emptied a can of fruit (mason jar), I put it aside until I have 5 empty jars. As soon as I have 5 jars, I fill them with water and can them in a water bath for 10 minutes. This way I have lots of jars of clean, canned water that will keep forever and my jars are kept clean until I need them for canning the next season. It also means the water is rotated because when I need jars for fruit, I just empty the oldest jars of water. We have a well for water, but I like the idea of having canned water in case the power goes out (which it does occasionally).

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 21:20
Reply 


I believe rockies is simply posting links to everything he/she happens upon that strikes personal interest. The link gets passed along for anyone else to have a look at. The recent link to REScheck would seem to bolster that; no money to be made by anybody to download that free energy efficiency software. However, this water info from HHF is misleading / incorrect at least in part.

Don_P
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 21:21
Reply 


I checked the dissolved oxygen upstream and downstream of one of our culverts. The drop out of the culvert is about 8-12" into a small pool where I took the downstream sample, which had about 7% more O2 than upstream. Pour long tea

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 21:28
Reply 


Or make lemonade and shake it, do not stir

rockies
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 21:58
Reply 


Dear everyone. I do not own or represent any product, company or service in any capacity for any fee, income or referral. I have recently retired after being an architect for the last 35 years and I don't want or intend to promote my own design or drafting services. What I do enjoy doing is trying to help people with their cabin plans but in that regard I have learned to try to offer "options" rather than "solutions".

I also like to wander around the internet and look at homesteading sites, survival sites, military supply sites, camping sites and building product sites, etc to see what may be new and improved. I offer all posts, threads and comments as a way to start a discussion, not to sell something.

So, DaveBell, I am not pushing any kind of BS. I found the info on the various methods of storing water on a prepping forum that had a copy of an article originally published on the "Happy Hovel" website. I thought it was interesting. I posted the info here. I did not know that the "Happy Hovel" website is down nor do I care. I am not affiliated with them or any of the other sites, businesses or products that I mention on this forum.

Silverwaterlady - if you have been having concerns for some time about my "agenda" I wish you would have asked me earlier. I did not realize that my researching products to try to help people solve a problem that they mentioned was being seen as a "sly way to make a profit".

SO! To repeat: I have never and will never represent in any capacity any website, product or service that I may post on this forum. I am not interested in making any financial gain from any website, business, product or service in any way. Any thread or information I provide is simply to start a conversation as to what is available in the marketplace at the moment. Thank you.

Don_P
Member
# Posted: 1 Jun 2016 22:08
Reply 


OK, but are you, or have you ever been a member of the communist party?

Your kind of blowing my conspiracy theory though. I figured you were trying to thumb through the entire Sweet's files .

DaveBell
Moderator
# Posted: 2 Jun 2016 03:46
Reply 


Quoting: Don_P
are you, or have you ever been a member of the communist party?


On the old SF86, we joked about answering that with Nyet.

Gary O
Member
# Posted: 2 Jun 2016 08:11
Reply 


Well


My cauldron has been roiled.

Funny thing, I was just considering the aspect of fouled water as I was looking at the four dozen juice/milk jugs we've accumulated over the year and a month here at the cabin.

S-u-u-u-u-u-mmer t-i-i-i-i-i-me

and the livin' is e-e-e-e-e-z-e-e-e-e (I love that opera)

The down side of summer;

Hot

Edibles left out go south

Water
Gets warm

Our water situation will remain primitive for another year as we're concentrating on building the shop, porch, deck and utility.

Our summer water system;

Pump it outta the well

Thru 200 ft of garden hose

Into the 125 gal feeder trough (bathing)
(Discovered the two 100 ft sections of garden hose is its own contribution to our passive solar non-system)

Onto the garden

Into the two 6.5 gal jugs dedicated to the washer

Into the water jugs (it's really cold after watering the garden)

Water jugs;
I have a sorta cycling system in regard to juice/milk jug longevity of service.
They go from clear to a greenish hue in around four months.
We have a half dozen gal size of which we've kept past four months due to them being a handy dimension for certain things other than human consumption.
They are now brown...with a greenish hue. The blue lids are now dark brown.
The other reason we keep these around is to enjoy the look on folk's faces when we offer them a drink...

Anyway, the green ones generly go bye bye.

We haven't experienced any noticeable ill effects from our system.

There was one time I took a sip from a milk jug I'd recently washed out.
The water had a distinct odiferous flavor.
The jug failed my sniff test.

Turns out some sorta cleansing agent must be applied when washing out milk jugs.
Juice jugs, not so much.

Cabi is quite fastidious with jug cleansing.
Me, not so much.
Cabi has taken back jug cleansing duty.

In regard to a large dedicated container for drinking water...I think the well is doing a fine job.

Synopsis;

Just, in his wizened farmer knowledge, was right when we first drew water from our well a year ago, 'run it til the spiders and webs are washed out, then taste it'.

I think our white toilet bowl society has gone a tad 'round the bend in regard to sanitation.

I do not clean things well.

NorthRick
Member
# Posted: 2 Jun 2016 11:45 - Edited by: NorthRick
Reply 


Quoting: bldginsp
Just today, the well driller installed a pump in my well, so for the first time I am pulling water off it. That water comes from 400 ft deep and has been there for millennia. Has it held onto oxygen that long, and now, if I put it in a tank it will lose that oxygen?


If you measure the dissolved oxygen (DO) content of the water right out of the well, you might very well find that it barely has any at all. If you put it into a tank and measure the DO a few days later, it very likely will have gone up, not down.

It's microorganisms and chemical contaminants that make water unsafe to drink. Not how much oxygen is in the water.

Mountain Madness
Member
# Posted: 2 Jun 2016 17:26
Reply 


DO in water is a direct result of atmospheric pressure and temperature.

Microbial growth/respiration and BOD load will alter static Do levels but if you have this occurring it will not be potable water. At least you shouldn't try to consume it

littlesalmon4
Member
# Posted: 2 Jun 2016 17:34
Reply 


I think I will go get the popcorn

AK Seabee
Member
# Posted: 3 Jun 2016 00:05
Reply 


Keep posting Rockies. 👍

Bret
Member
# Posted: 3 Jun 2016 08:05
Reply 


Yeah! The more information, the better. It's up to us to decide whether to use it or not. Lots of good minds here to help steer the process.
Go for it Rockies

tichalet
Member
# Posted: 3 Jun 2016 09:03
Reply 


Amen Bret. It's obvious to me that Rockies can't have a financial interest in all the products, services & methods he posts about, & he does it to invite others to share their thoughts and/or experiences & stimulate informative discussion.

He was successful in that 'agenda' here in my case, at least because I certainly learned a lot this morning from all the people who responded to his original post. And the ensuing discussions on many of these threads of his are some of the most interesting on the site!

As someone who isn't as experienced with cabin construction or, for that matter, isn't anywhere near as well-informed about *anything* as others here, and who can benefit from learning as much as I can from all of you, I'd like my name to be in the "Keep posting, Rockies!" column.

rockies
Member
# Posted: 3 Jun 2016 19:51
Reply 


Well, thank you everyone. That's very kind of you to say. One of the ways I try to find out about a product, service or business is that I imagine that I am buying that product or service myself. I figure that if I'm going to be "spending" my own money on something that I should find out everything I can about it, so when I wander around the internet and find something interesting or something that I had never heard of before I try to learn more about it. I also think that maybe people who are on a similar path as I am (getting out onto the land and living more sustainably) might be interested in the same things or have some practical knowledge of that product or service.

When I reply to someone's thread I do tend to post links to other websites offering products or services because I think the person asking the question should have a "jumping off point" as a reference. The product or service may not be exactly what they need or want but it gives them an idea of what is available.

For example, many people on the site post threads about them having a very small cabin and they wonder how to heat it? If I were to reply with a statement like "Use a very small wood stove" then I don't think that really helps them much. I'd prefer to mention a manufacturer or a brand, a make or a model of wood stove. Other people can come in and mention specific propane stoves or electric baseboard heaters or methods of solar heating. The more options the better.

I also try to provide a link so they can go to that website and see what I'm talking about. If they wish to purchase that particular product from that particular site is their choice or not, but at least they now know what it is.

I love it when discussions start and options are made available. The more knowledge the better Thanks for your encouragement.

bobrok
Member
# Posted: 3 Jun 2016 20:33
Reply 


and this is why I like this forum so much.


Your reply
Bold Style  Italic Style  Underlined Style  Thumbnail Image Link  Large Image Link  URL Link           :) ;) :-( :confused: More smilies...

» Username  » Password 
Only registered users can post here. Please enter your login/password details before posting a message, or register here first.