Sometimes small things can have a big impact. A little salt and pepper can really enhance the flavor of a boiled egg. The tiny cruise control can make driving a large vehicle much more pleasant. And a relatively tiny rudder can guide the mightiest ship across the trackless deep.
The Sagan Life AquaBrick Spigot is a small object that greatly enhances the ease of use of the Sagan Life AquaBrick Water Storage Container. Without the spigot, it can be somewhat awkward to pour water from the AquaBrick into a smaller container like a water bottle. With the spigot, the task becomes a breeze.
If you use AquaBrick Water Storage Containers, I highly recommend that you get a spigot to go with the containers. At the time of this writing, a spigot cost $21.99 at Sagan Life. (Full Disclosure: Sagan Life is an affiliate advertiser of SurvivalBlog.com. SurvivalBlog earns a modest commission on the sales of any items that are derived from visits to the Sagan Life site via clicks on the affiliate ad at SurvivalBlog or the SurvivalBlog Sagan Affiliate link).
Background
In February of 2024 my review of the Sagan Life Xstream Straw water filter and AquaBrick was published on SurvivalBlog. I have been using the AquaBrick Water Storage Container on a regular basis ever since I began working on that review in June of 2023.
I really like the AquaBrick. Its 3-gallon capacity is the optimum size for me for moving water from one place to another. I find carrying a 4 or 5 gallon container in each hand to be more strenuous than I would wish, while carrying a 1 or 2 gallon container in each hand seems to be a waste of steps. A 3-gallon container in each hand is “just right”.
The difficulty with using the AquaBrick came when I wanted to pour from the AquaBrick into a smaller container like a bottle or cup. A full AquaBrick was just too heavy to pour comfortably with 1 hand even though it has a sturdy, well-designed handle on the side. If I used two hands to pour from the AquaBrick, I did not have an extra hand to steady the bottle or cup into which I was pouring, not to mention a funnel to help with the transition from the big mouth on the AquaBrick to the little mouth on the bottle.
Finally, one day as I was pouring water from the AquaBrick into a bottle, I thought, “They really ought to make a spigot for this thing.” Then I thought, “Maybe they do.” A quick visit to the Sagan Life website confirmed that they do indeed make a spigot for the AquaBrick. In fact, all AquaBricks are now sold in bundles that include a spigot. That seems to be a wise and practical move on the part of Sagan Life.
With that in mind, I contacted Sagan Life to see if they could provide me with an AquaBrick spigot for testing and evaluation. They were kind enough to agree. Three days later, the spigot arrived in our mailbox via USPS Ground Advantage.
First Impressions
The spigot arrived in a 6×4.38×4.13 inch shipping box from Sagan Life LLC, 180 Sugar Ave., Suite#1, Sugar City, ID 83448.
The box contained a Sagan Life product brochure, a Kelly Kettle product brochure, and the parts and assembly instructions for the spigot.
The spigot is assembled by inserting the threaded end of the spigot unit through a hole in the cap with a rubber gasket on top of the cap. Then a plastic lock nut is twisted onto the threaded end of the spigot until it is snug to the cap. Then one should hold the nut while turning the base of the spigot clockwise until it will turn no further. The spigot is internally vented, so that it allows air into the AquaBrick while allowing water to run out. This makes it unnecessary to vent the AquaBrick itself.
The spigot is made in England. The material is a mixture of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), and polypropelene plastics and meets FDA standards.
Testing
I assembled the spigot and installed it on the AquaBrick in my pole barn. I use that AquaBrick to refill the water bottles that I drink from in order to keep myself hydrated while I am working.
The spigot made filling the water bottles much easier. It also did a great job of not leaking when it was turned off. I was fully satisfied with its performance throughout the testing period.
My wife, “Kari” saw the AquaBrick with the spigot installed on it in the pole barn. She said, “That would be perfect for a hand washing station for our next camping trip.” So the spigot will be put to use for more than just filling my water bottles.
Spigot History
There is a Norwegian saying, “Beloved children have many names.” By that standard, spigots must be greatly loved, because they are known by a wide variety of names including faucets, valves, and stopcocks in addition to spigots.
Some plumbing historians claim that spigots can be traced as far back as the ancient Minoan civilization of 2600 to 1100 BC. Although the water systems of Knossos and Phaistos are quite sophisticated, I have been unable to verify the existence of spigots there from primary source material. If any better-informed historians have access to such primary source material, please send me an email message at ThomasKChristianson at gmail dot com to fill out this gap in my knowledge.
Although I have doubts related to the use of spigots in Ancient Minoan Civilization, I have none in relation to Ancient Roman. The Romans use spigots extensively as a part of their elaborate system of water works. Their spigots featured a bronze plug valve design that would be easily recognized by modern plumbers. Plug valves consist of a cylinder or cone shaped plug which can be rotated inside of the valve body. The plug has a hole through the middle of the plug which can be turned to be in line with the entry and exit channels of the valve body in order to allow liquids or gases to flow through the valve. The plug can also be turned perpendicularly to the entry and exit channels in order to stop liquids or gases from flowing through the valve. This ancient plug valve design is the same basic design that is used in the AquaBrick Spigot, although in the AquaBrick Spigot it is executed in plastic rather than in bronze.
Water Container History
Broadly speaking, throughout history there have been three major categories of water containers. There have been stationary or non-individually-portable containers like cisterns, casks, and tanks; multi-serving, individually-portable containers like pitchers, jugs, and jerry cans; and more or less individual-serving-sized containers like bottles, flasks, and canteens.
The multi-serving, individually-portable containers were and still are today widely used to transport water from sources like wells, rivers, and lakes to homes for household use. In most cultures this has been considered a task for women or, in some cases, the lowest slaves.
Drawing water as a task for the lowest slaves is illustrated by Joshua 9:23, in which the Gibeonites were cursed to being drawers of water and hewers of wood for the tabernacle because they deceived Joshua and the elders of Israel about the geographical proximity of their city. Since I haul the drinking water for my family, I guess that means that I am the lowest slave.
Drawing water as a task for women is illustrated by the woman at the well in John 4:7. She went to the well to fetch physical water which can sustain life for a short while. While there, she met Jesus and received the living water which can sustain life for all of eternity.
Since males drew water so infrequently, Jesus was able to tell his disciples in Luke 22:10 to look for a man carrying a pitcher of water as an easily identifiable guide to lead his disciples to the upper room prior to the last supper. It was such an unusual sight that they were unlikely to be confused by seeing more than one man carrying a pitcher of water.
In the ancient world, ceramic vessels were the containers most frequently used for transporting water for household use. One disadvantage of ceramic vessels is that they are fragile. As something both fragile and necessary to sustain life, a broken pitcher by a fountain was used as a symbol of death in Ecclesiastes 12:6.
In Rudyard Kipling’s 1890 poem “Gunga Din”, the Indian water carrier Gunga Din uses a goatskin water-bag to carry water to wounded British soldiers in battle. Kipling uses Gunga Din’s courage in faithfully performing a humble task under fire as a symbol of true heroism.
Conclusions
The Sagan Life AquaBrick is a wonderful container for hauling water from a water source to the place where it is needed. The AquaBrick Spigot increases the usefulness of the AquaBrick by making it easier to dispense the water at the place where it is to be dispensed.
Disclaimer
Sagan Life provided me with a sample of their AquaBrick Spigot for testing and evaluation. They had previously provided with a sample of their AquaBrick water container and Xstream Straw Water Filter for an earlier article. I tried not to allow their kindness to interfere with my objectivity, and I believe that I have succeeded. I did not receive any other financial or other inducement to mention any vendor, product, or service in this article.