Gentlemen,
What is your opinion of the commercial "Water Stabilizer's" on the market, and what is your best recommendation for the same of water stored in the Wal-Mart 6 gallon "Jerry Can" style container's? The wife and I have enough room in the garage to put up about approx. 66 gallons of water for LT storage..........Suggestion's Please........

Your assistance is Greatly Appreciated!!!!

Krell

Save your money, buy some fresh chlorine bleach and hyperchlorinate you water. Providing your potable water is of relatively high quality (i.e. little organics, not too hard, no heavy metals or pesticides) and maintained in a container designed for long-term storage, you should be fine.

Pete

Hyperchlorinate?....I am assuming you mean adding Chlorine Bleach to the water?......could you advise as to what amount, you would use for a 6 gallon, plastic "Jerry Can", type container?

I Appreciate your help Paramedic, Thank You!.......Krell

I agree with Pete whole-heartedly, water "preservation" is way overhyped... plain water will remain plain water as long as it's not contaminated by an outside source... and chlorine will do as much as any higher priced product on the market.

Troy

Unless Pete corrects me, 6 drops/quart, shake the container with loose lid to allow seapage, screw the cap down tight, and check and retreat roughly every 6-8 months.

Troy

Here is the information from the CHLOROX web site:

"Can Clorox® Regular-Bleach be used to disinfect water?
Emergency Disinfection: When boiling water is not practical, water can be made potable by using Clorox® Regular-Bleach. Before the addition of the disinfectant, remove all suspended material by filtration or by allowing it to settle to the bottom. Decant the clarified contaminated water to a clean container and add 8 drops of Clorox® Regular-Bleach to one gallon of water (2 drops to 1 quart). Allow the treated water to stand for 30 minutes. Properly treated water should have a slight chlorine odor. If not, repeat dosage and allow water to stand an additional 15 minutes. The treated water can then be made palatable by pouring it between clean containers for several times. For cloudy water, use 16 drops of Clorox® Regular-Bleach per gallon of water (4 drops to 1 quart). If no chlorine odor is apparent after 30 minutes, repeat dosage and wait an additional 15 minutes. Do not use scented or Splash-less Clorox® Bleaches for this purpose."

Clorox Company

Wildcards suggestion to use 6 drops per quart sounds reasonable. You want to have a clear odor of chlorine bleach before you screw down the cap to your container. If you want to get accurate, go to a pool store and purchase a chlorometer to which you add your bleach treated water to one tube add the color reagent and then hold it up to light and compare the color to the standard. Ideally, for long-term storage, I would want the bleach treated water between 12-15 ppm. Municipal tap water is generally treated to 2-3 ppm and by the time it reaches your tap it will likely be around 0.5-1.0 ppm. The use of a charcoal water filter will eliminate any residual chlorine in the water, if you find the water unpalatable.

One caution in general, not for water storage, but for general tap water: If you have an in-line charcoal filter be sure to periodically flush your water line, as the charcoal filter will remove residual chlorine. Bacteria, from the tip of your spigot can back flow into your water line and set up shop, since there is little to no chlorine to prevent growth.

Pete

Troy,

Appreciate the advice! I will heed your word and go with the 6 drops per quart. I'd rather "Be Safe, Than Sorry!" A bit of info here Troy, I went thru Jump School in the Army, and had an Instructor who liked to chop everyone's name up into "Nickname's". My last name is Rosenbaum.....You can probably figure out the rest for yourself! No one call's me by my first name....just my "Nickname"!

Krell
PS: Smile When You Say That Pardner!..LOL