Category: Water Storage & Filters

Water Works- Part 4, by JSP

Other Projects, A Future Project, and “War Game” Potential Problems In this final section addressing survival related water systems, I will outline a few projects we have completed, talk about a future project, and “war game” potential problems that could arise. Our personal outlook is that, when things crash, people who are previously identified will be coming to our place of retreat, and we also have to be open to the fact that the Holy Spirit may direct people to us who we don’t currently know. Our main residence has a standard septic tank and drain field, two bathrooms, and …


Two Letters Re: Water Works, by JSP

Hugh, Reference “Water Works, by JSP”. Back in 1960’s Dad buried a 250-gallon steel fuel oil tank. The oil tank was buried in heavy clay soil. In the 1980’s Dad retired and since he no longer needed the fuel tank, he left the tank empty. After an unusual heavy rain fall, the oil tank had floated out of the ground about one foot. Since the author is burying plastic tanks, I feel it is very important to strap the tanks to a concrete base, if he wants to keep them buried. – R.L. o o o HJL, In reference to …


Water Works- Part 3, by JSP

Hot Water Grid Down or When the Schumer Hits The Fan Let’s all agree that we can survive without hot water. Yet, as some have successfully argued on this blog that when it comes to food “variety is the spice of life”, I would ask why it is important, especially in a survival situation. “Morale” would be my answer. We could all survive on rice and beans, but it would be hard to keep group morale up if after a supper of rice and beans the group only could look forward to a breakfast of rice and beans. My personal …


Water Works- Part 2, by JSP

In part 1, I explained several things we did to take our water preps to the next level, which felt good but was still lacking in some areas. So, let’s start by looking at the potential problems of that system. Problems of Our Water System At This Point First, at this point, the poly tanks are not “plumbed” to anything; they are simply static, stand-alone storage vessels. Make no mistake that is way better than having no water on hand but not ideal either. Secondly, the primary grid down backup plan is a gas generator. Many people would argue that …


Water Works- Part 1, by JSP

Many years ago I became friends with an older gentleman who was a retired farmer. It seemed to me that there wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix or build, whether small engines, regular engines, diesel engines, electrical, electronics, welding, and so on. Not having been raised around people like this gentleman, he was a good role model for me, especially when it came to problem solving. He and his wife had retired, sold their farm, and moved to the “city” of 30,000 people. One day he told me that they were selling their home in the city to move to a …


Letter: Good Idea for BOB Water

Hugh, I thought I’d seen it all. Well, at my age I have seen most of it, but it’s not often I see a prep idea I haven’t seen before AND that makes this much sense. Access to water is one of the very top preps. Many places you will see an outside water faucet (aka hose bib or sillcock). But the owner has removed the handle so only he can use it. It’s a deep hole and very difficult to manipulate without the proper handle or tool, which is by design. Enter the 4-way Sillcock Key. It’s $8.50 from …


An Alternative to Calcium Hypochlorite, by TLS

I have read articles and posts, as well as listened to preppers discuss the use of Calcium Hypochlorite (Cal-Hypo) as a water sanitizer in The-End-Of-The-World-As-We-Know-It (TEOTWAWKI) situations. I owned a swimming pool business for over 20 years, and during that time I used Cal-Hypo, Sodium Dichloro-S-Trianzinetrione (Dichlor), and Sodium Trichloro-S-Trianzinetrione (Trichlor) extensively in both commercial and residential swimming pools. I also installed and maintained many salt-chlorine generator systems. Every time I read about someone planning to use Cal-Hypo for long-term storage to provide water sanitation in TEOTWAWKI, I cringe. Cal-Hypo has many serious shortcomings. The disadvantages are: Cal-Hypo degrades and …


A Project to Produce and Store Heat, Energy, Water, and Food, by T.S.

We all know that we can’t survive very long without water, food, and heat. Because we live in uncertain times, the benefits gained by this project would more than offset the initial cost. In a grid down situation, the extra heat, stored water, energy, and food production would be invaluable. The list of benefits include but are not limited to: Heat production to help heat the house. Water storage plus heat storage. Solar energy production and storage. Food production. Three years ago on a sunny winter day, I went out on our south (well, more like a southwest facing) porch, …


Two Letters Re: The Harsh Truth About Bugging Out of Cities

Hi HJL and JWR, The Harsh Truth About Bugging Out of Cities was an awesome article. Patrice Lewis definitely addresses the knowns, the unknowns, known unknowns, and unknown-unknowns in her article! I totally agree, based on the same data that she and her husband are looking at that most people won’t make it out of the cities alive. As a collapse theorist myself, if we do indeed have a fast crash (as compared to the slow one we’re currently in), I believe that the current societal trends– the suicides, the mass-shootings, overdoses of legal and illegal drugs, et cetera– would …


Pat Cascio’s Product Review: Day One Response Water Filter

Depending on which survival expert you talk to, they all have a slightly different list of things you need in an emergency, and what order you should do things. Some say shelter is the first thing on your list, followed by fire, then water, and lastly food. While all of these things are important, and I have no argument with them, one of the first things I would recommend is that, whatever brought on your emergency should be looked at closely. If a tornado is headed your way, the first thing to do is get to safety – whatever the …


A Beginners Guide to Practical Prepping: Lessons From a True Story of Disaster, by R.L.

It was September 1989, a time in history that is forever burned into my memory. I was working as a firefighter in a small town outside Columbia, South Carolina. Hurricane Hugo had developed in the Atlantic, it was ripping apart the Carribean islands and it was headed our way. All the news on television and radio were inundated with updates on this killer storm; we were tuned into the Weather Channel at the firehouse carefully watching and waiting. The original forecast was that the Category 4 hurricane would turn north and only threaten the North Carolina coast. It was assumed …


A Portable and Easily Constructed Manual Water Pump – Part 2, by G.G.

Parts Required First, here is a picture of the necessary parts. All metal parts are made of brass, and all plastic parts are made of PVC. Brass parts and seal: 1 @ 1/2” x 3” brass nib 2 @ 1/2” x 1” brass nibs 2 @ 1/2” threaded brass coupler 1 @ 1/2” threaded brass ring/nut (I had to sand mine down as it was hexagonal) 1 @ piston cup seal – McMaster Carr part # 9411K12 1 @ 1/2” brass check valve (I used Merril 800 series CV50) 1 @ 1 1/2” brass check valve with filter screen PVC …


A Portable and Easily Constructed Manual Water Pump – Part 1, by G.G.

“Water, water everywhere but nary a drop to drink” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Finding water becomes the major problem faced by people in a survival situation. Go without water only a few days and death ensues. Storing water in the form of barrels is a logistical nightmare. They must be drained and refilled annually. Further, you only have as much water as you have stored. Living in Idaho gives those of us who live here access to one of the world’s largest aquifers. In fact, that body of water lies only 70 feet below …


Letter Re: Air Lift Pumps

Using compressed air to lift water from a well does work as described in the previous article; however, one must insure the compressed air comes from an oil-free compressor. If the air compressor has an oil-filled crankcase, the delivered air will have oil vapor/oil mist in it, which is not something one should have suspended in their drinking water. Do not trust an oil/water separator on the compressed air unit to remove oil vapors; they will eventually saturate and become pretty much useless. To confirm what your compressor is doing, check the condensate drain on the air tank. If it …


Compressed Air Well Pump and Pressurized Home Water System Bubbles- Part 2, by H.W.

Acquiring Parts To build this pump, I wandered for about two hours through the plumbing section of one of the big box home improvement stores. I love it when the guys who work there come up to me and ask what I’m looking for. I tell them I have no idea, and then I show them the back of my envelope with still-wet scribbles, as I design my project in real-time while I’m walking through the store! They see this a lot, I think. It might be called Home Depot engineering. I’ve noticed that the big box stores have stopped …