I purchased six turquoise 6 gal water containers, "Desert" something brand, in the WM sporting goods dept; filled them with water and stored them in an air conditioned area of my home. Within 6 months everyone of them developed multiple pin hole leaks. You may want to look elsewhere for your water containers.

I believed I had the same situation, however after closer inspection, I realized that water was leaking from the "plug" area, where I had filled the jugs past capacity. They held for a few weeks, then started leaking. Not a problem if you don't overfill...don't know if this is the same situation your having or not, but worth looking into.

I have 8 of them (purchased at Sam's Club) and have had the issue with only 1, which was jostled around pretty good on a recent trip to the artesian spring. Still ticks me off a bit that it couldnt take a little abuse. I have a large semi-clear container that seems to be much tougher, but it was a gift and I dont know where it came from. Will have to research different containers.

If you want a tough water container, get these , the current USGI water container. Made in Canada (go figure), they are shaped like a regular jeep can, made of super heavy duty plastic. I have a five gal, and a 2.5 gal., they have been all over the western US, Canada, and Alaska, and have yet to spring a leak. One is hung on the back of our RV, no apparent effect by UV. You can get them at Brigade QM and other "military surplus" dealers...

I'll second OBGs recommendation. The USGI water containers are the best I've ever used. I use them for camping and have several set aside for emergencies. The 2.5 gal containers are easier to carry and pour from because of the reduced weight. I've ordered mine from www.actiongear.com. Look under "Survival & First Aid, Food Rations, Water & Fuel Storage" then "Boxes, Containers, Fuel Cans".

Thanks for the response.
My units were not over filled; developed pin hole leaks as mentioned and were never knocked around or abused in any way.

OBG: I will contact Brigade QM and others in the morning.

One bad thing about the GI cans: They have a large opening, with a screw on cap, and a smaller opening with a threaded cap in the middle of the large one. But they do not make a screw on spout for the small one, and it is a goofy size/thread, so I haven't be able to find one anywhere. I juryrigged a spout with some of the clear flexible PVC tubing you can get at any hardware store and a hose clamp. Without a spout it is very difficult to pour water into smaller containers (or your radiator) without spilling a lot...

OBG:

I understand the "hard to pour" problem. I also have commercial grade 55 Gal. water barrels and two hand pumps for "pouring".
I looked for a small electric pump but finally realized that I really don't know enough about them or how they operate to select one.

I pump water into the fresh water holding tank on our RV when we are boondocking with a 12v
bilge pump I got from Harbor Freight for about $40. It comes with alligator clips to hook to your battery, and will empty a five gal container in a minute or so...

Alvacado,

You should be able to use an evaporative cooler pump on those 55 gal drums. They are fairly straightforward, there's a gozinna and a gozouta and a place to hook up a power cord for 110 ac.

Also, I've seen drill mountable pumps that work with a standard power drill at many hardware stores.

Like OBG says, RV pumps that work on 12v dc and sometimes switchable to 110 ac are abundant and not too expensive.

There's also manual crank pumps that are used for siphoning that are pretty cheap.

Sorry to hear of your bad experience. I believe the name on the containers is "Desert Patrol"? Those are widely known to have problems. Even though they're from the same manufacturer of the Aquatainers, I have never heard a single good review of the Desert Patrol containers.

Try the Blitz 6 gallon containers, they're almost identical. I only have one so far, but from comparing the two, the Blitz containers seem to be better quality.