Tag Archives: water

Filtering

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So one of the the issues at the Beta Site is that to pull water from the creek you have to, obviously, drop one end of a suction hose into the creek to allow the pump to pull water in. Creeks are, by their very nature, rather open to the environment and get all sorts crap in them…dust, dirt, small bugs, pine needles, etc, etc. And thats in addition the stuff thats on the bottom of the creek…dirt, silt, degraded organic matter of all sorts, etc. Sucking anything up into your pump that is not water is usually a bad idea. Some stuff you can get away with if its small enough, but you really want to keep the pine needles and dead bugs outta the impellors. Pretty much any plumbing supply store will sell you one of these to help keep crap out of your intake:

But thats still a bit coarse. And I need to keep as much crap out of that water as possible so I don’t gum up the internals on the water heater. So, whats an effective solution I can DIY while standing in the plumbing section of the store? The answer, as it turned out, was this:

Its an inline filter used for irrigation systems. Unscrew the bulbuous part and theres a 75 micron screen in there. As it turns out, Rain Bird also sells screens of other size. Obviously this is not something that makes water potable…its for filtering solids, not Giardia and other biologics. So I hooked this up to one end of my intake hose and tried it out. Worked awesome. When I checked the filter there was plenty of small tiny bits of sediment and gunk that the filter had kept out of my pump and, by extension, out of my water tank. For fun, I also put one on the output hose from my storage tank so that if there is anythign that works its way into the tank, it doesnt get transferred into anything I don’t want it in.

Cost? Shoot, man…the filter and a couple 3/4 adaptors was less than twenty bucks. I decided to buy the next larger size, meant for 1″ pipe, and use a couple 1″-to-3/4″ adaptors to give myself a larger setup so flow wouldnt be restricted if things got muddy.

TPIWWP, so:

Its important to note that the 3/4″ thread on the filter is not the same as the 3/4 thread on your garden hose. You’ll need a 3/4fpt to 3/4fht adaptor (the brass thing in the picture) to get them to work together and you can find that easily in the plumbing section.

Its worked out quite well for me and I keep a couple spares in the box with the transfer pump. The more crap I can keep out of the water storage tank, the less frequently I need to powerwash it’s interior with bleach.

Again, this is not something that turns untreated water into drinkable water. That should be pretty obvious. But it definitely helps when its time to purify and treat water.

Shower

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One of the things that drove me absolutely nuts about The Walking Dead was how these people are running around in the summer, in Georgia, wearing the same clothes day after day, getting covered in sweat, dirt, and entrails…..and no one seems to develop an infection or skin ailment. And the notion that somehow, after the zombie apocalypse, soap would be unavailable seems terribly unlikely. After any disaster, of any size, I would bet folding money that if you went into ten abandoned houses at random, you’d find the remains of a bar of soap in at least half…in the bathtub , by the sink, under the sink, in the basement by the laundry sink, etc., etc.

Ignoring the health benefits of keeping a certain level of hygiene active, there’s a morale component as well. And let’s not even think about what your sleeping bag must be like after several days of sweating and getting dirty without a shower. But more than anything else, taking a freaking bath or shower once in a while, with a bar of soap, goes a long way towards keeping you from having all sorts of Middle Ages-era issues.

I mention this because when I had the hole-digging weekend a few weeks ago, it was dang hot out there and the sweat and grime were freely flowing. Now, I could have, I suppose, stood down there by the creek, lathered up, and scooped up water from the creek to rinse off. But…I’m a First Worlder with a job, a CostCo card, and an aversion to cold water bathing. So...I did this.

Having learned my lesson about not testing gear before the actual need, I set it up yesterday in my yard to see how it all came together. The propane hookup is pretty straightforward – screw it onto your barbecue bomb, open the valve, an you’re off to the races. The water output was even more straightforward – connect the hose with the showerhead on the end using the quick connector. The water input, on the other hand, was a different story.

The heater comes with a variety of fittings to accommodate a variety of inputs. The primary two inputs are either a garden hose, which is assuming a pressurized delivery of water, or the included 12v pump which has a draw hose suitable for jerry cans, buckets, etc. This does, however, mean you’ll need to have access to a 12v battery.

I hooked everything up and while it all worked, the water flow from the included 12v pump was, in my opinion, rather anemic. It would work, but it was akin to a kitchen sink sprayer on ‘medium’ setting. So the solution, in my opinion, was to either develop a pressurized water system or get a better pump.

As usual, when presented with a problem, I gave it some thought for a while and then moved on to other tasks. But I’ve learned that when I do that, theres a part of my brain that, unconsciously, keeps working on the problem even while I’m unaware of it. And, hours, or days later, even though I dont think I was thinking about the problem at all, a ‘eureka’ moment will pop out of nowhere and give me an answer.

I need a more powerful water delivery system, right? What if there was a powered water pumping system that was more powerful than the supplied pump, didn’t require hauling around a heavy battery, and was already within my logistics network? And then it popped into my head…use my Milwaukee transfer pump. It operates off the M18 batteries that I’m already using to power my StarLink, chainsaw, Sawzall, drills, lights, and other goodies. And, best of all, I already had a couple six-foot lengths of hose with garden hose fittings on either end so I pretty much had everything I needed on hand.

Slapped a battery in the transfer pump, hooked one side to the heater, hooked a draw hose to the other side, dropped the hose into a jerry can, and srted the pump. Sure enough, the heater fired up and a much more powerful flow of steaming hot water came out of the shower head. Success!.

I’m rather pleased with myself with this discovery. The streamlined logistics of using the M18 transfer pump is not an inconsequential thing. I already take it up there to fill containers from the creek, and everything I have runs off the M18 batteries, so I’m not bringing anything up there in this regard that I was not already bringing.

And, of course, I get to clean myself up at the end of the day and be daisy fresh for when I crawl into my sleeping bag.

Loewes water container

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I was heading back to work from my lunch break and cut through the Loewe’s parking lot and beheld these:

Hmm. Interesting. I was curious so I pulled over to get some detail. Its a 260-gal emergency water storage tank. Conveniently, it’ll fit through a doorway. Inconveniently, it’s about 2200# when filled…so strictly a basement or garage item.

I try to keep at least 75 gallons or so of water on hand at all times, and theres another 50 gallons or so in the water heaters, but if you ever need to break into your stored water you probably won’t think that a larger tank is ‘too much’.

The reason I posted this is because I find it interesting that something like an ’emergency water storage tank’ has gone mainstream enough to be at Loewe’s. I should also like to point out that if youre in Missoula or thereabouts, Murdoch’s and Mountain Supply both carry a very large variety of water tanks…from the convenient and small 35-gal. all the way up to the monstrous and useful 2500-gal.

When I get my little hideyhole squared away there will be at least a couple of these sitting around ‘just in case’.

Portable and potable

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Have you ever watched a movie where the hero is off in some sort of arid environment and there’s that classic scene where he tilts the canteen to his lips, a single drop drips out, he looks disgustedly at the canteen, and then throws it away?Why would you do that? Just because you don’t have any water at that moment doesn’t mean you’re not going to come across some later. And if you do come across some, and drink your fill, how are you going to carry some of that water with you since you threw your canteen away?

I mention this because I posted earlier about those water pouches and the conversation developed into a discussion about various water portage options. I always keep one heavy-duty-plastic bottle of water in my Bag O’ Tricks(tm) because you never know when you’re gonna get stuck somewhere. (I also keep a couple small ‘lifeboat’ ration bars in there too. If I’m gonna be stuck somewhere I’m not gonna spend the time listening to my stomach growl.) But in addition to the plastic water botle, I also keep one of these guys rolled up and tucked away. Although I like the Platypus, I go with the Nalgene because the mouth of this bladder takes all Nalgene lid accessories, including this one which I highly recommend. Importantly, the Nalgene version has the wide mouth so you can fill this thing in a hurry and even throw in snow/ice if you have to. And..I can fill it from a questionable water source and be abble to fit a LifeStraw through the mouth of it.

I carry it in my bag because I simply cannot carry as much water with me as I would like….its heavy stuff. But I can keep a water container with me in my bag so that if I do run across a water source…a natural body of water, a hose bib, an unattended faucet, or that sort of thing, I can supplement what I have.

You might ask, since I’m already carrying a plastic bottle of water, why not refill that? If it wer eempty, I absolutely would…every chance I get. But in a crisis I want more water than just the one bottle’s worth…more is better in this case.

Your mileage may vary, of course, but if you’re going to carry around a  (insert acronym here) bag, you may as well take the two ounce weight penalty and have the option to carry around extra water when you come across the opportunity.

Pouch water

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Something that has annoyed me for a number of years is that while I can find fruit-flavored sugar water in tetra-pak ‘juice boxes’ or mylar pouches in just about every supermarket I walk into, I can never find that kind of packaging for just water. Invariably, I have to order offa Amazon or some other place on the internet.

Given how everyone is all about walking around with a plastic bottle of water these days, you’d think the more convenient forms of it would be readily available. Nope. (And before you send me a link to ‘beer can’ water, and other forms of the stuff please note that by ‘readily available’ I mean in Aisle Six of most supermarkets.)

I bring this up because this arrived in todays package delivery:

When a 12 ounce plastic bottle of water, in bulk, is around fifteen cents, these pouches are a rather expensive way to carry around some earth sauce. Quite honestly, the little hand-grenade sized plastic bottles are a better choice in almost every way.

But, the qualifier there is ‘almost’.

I think I have a couple pretty good reasons for using the pouches for emergency water to keep in my vehicle. Both reasons are seasonal. For some reason, I just feel that leaving plastic bottles in a hot car in the summer for months on end is going to wind up leeching plastic chemicals into the water. Do I have anything like research to back this up? Nope. The mylar pouches, in my twisted brain, seem less prone to that although you could argue the mylar is lined with a similar plastic.

Where these pouches really shine is in the winter. They don’t burst when frozen and, most importantly, because they have the general profile of a Pop-Tart they are easily and quickly thawed by holding one between your palms, sitting on it, or tucking it under your arm for a few minutes. Try thawing a 20 oz bottle of water using just body heat. Youre gonna be a while.

I usually tuck these things into a plastic ‘ammo can’ to protect them from punctures and they just sit in the storage box in the back of the truck, there if I need them.

If I go on any trip out of town, even if it’s just a couple hours to Kalispell or Bozeman, I throw a five-gallon jug in the back of the truck in one of the gas can racks. Unless you’re drowning, more water is usually a good thing.

I don’t need to tell you anything about how much you need clean water. Every one of us has heard that ‘three days’ thing. But long before Day Three you’re gonna be a hurting unit to the point that your ability to function and operate optimally is going to be severely compromised. So…extra water. And note I said ‘clean’ water. Drinking from an irrigation ditch by the side of the road will keep you alive in the short term, but whatever you picked up from that water won’t do you any favors a few days later. But..even dirty water is better than no water in the short term. But why take chances? Carry water and have some purification options.

The day will come, someday, when you may have to leave in a hurry with whatever you can grab in your two hands as you run out the door. It’d be nice to have one less thing to worry about knowing you’ve got several days of water in your vehicle ‘just in case’…winter or summer. And, not to get judgemental, you really should have a pack with the essentials and a sleeping bag in your vehicle at all times to begin with.

And, finally, when I was a very young survivalist, I bought a bunch of these water pouches from Major Survival (remember them?). This was back in the 90’s for crying out loud. I still have a few in the freezer. I thawed one a year or so ago and drank it. Water was clear, tasted fine, and I’m here today to tell you that water ‘expiration’ is meaningless if the stuff is stored right.

 

Plastic container prep

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A few posts back I mentioned that I had bought a new bunch of Scepter water cans.

Any new plastic container is going to have ‘that plastic smell’. Also, you don’t know where that container has been or what its been exposed to in its time at the warehouse. So, the smart survivalist will clean these things out if for no other reason than to at least get rid of that unappealing strong plastic smell.

Ten bucks up at CostCo gets you about 14# of baking soda. You don’t need 14# of baking soda to wash out a water jug, but more is better, right? I err on the side of overkill, so I fill a gallon pitcher with hot water, dump in about a cup of baking soda, stir well and dump it into the water jug. Seal it up loosely so water can escape a bit and get the threads of the cap. Shake vigorously, shake some more, and then finally shake it vigorously.  I give it about 30 seconds of violent shaking so I can feel the water hitting all the sides of the jug. Don’t be gentle.

Now, if you’re just doing one jug, you can dump out the mix and then rinse the thing out thoroughly with cold water from a hose. But, since I’m doing more than one, I’ll dump the mix into the next jug and repeat the process. I’ll do this for two or three jugs and then use some fresh baking soda/water mix.

Keep in mind, when you dump the water/soda mix out of the jug it will leave traces of baking soda on the inside that will eventually dry to a powdery film. This is why the rinse with clear cold water afterwards.

By this method I either totally eliminate the plastic smell, or reduce it to virtually nothing. And, of course, I’ve now cleaned out the inside of the jug. If you’re a suspenders-and-a-belt guy you may want to disinfect or sterilize the jug afterwards. Thats pretty much the same process but using water/bleach instead of water/baking soda.

And, finally, when it’s time to fill these things you can add all sortsa ‘water preservers’ or bleach to promote storage life. Its my understanding that municipal water (“city water”) is fine to store right out of the tap since it has already been treated by the municipal water provider.

I should also point out that I do this for any large plastic container that I am storing something edible in. My buckets for rice, wheat, etc., also get this treatment. In that case it is imperative that you make sure the bucket is completely bone dry before you fill it with your food product. After cleaning I usually let the bucket/container sit in a dry place indoors for a few days to completely dry out.

Can I get away with not doing any of that and just fill the things up without going through that effort? Absolutely. But this is stuff you’re putting away for a rather dire circumstance. When that dire circumstance occurs (or is occurring) aren’t you going to want every confidence and advantage possible? Of course you will…so spend the ten minutes and do the work. Future you will thank you.

 

Scepter features

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I have often said that there will be no prize handed out after the apocalypse to the person who survived using bargain basement or ‘repurposed’ gear. Whether you ride out the apocalypse with washed-out 2-liter pop bottles of water or you ride it out with expensive purpose built five-gallon jerry cans, the results, if you survive, are the same. No one is gonna say ‘wow, you were a better survivalist than this guy’. If all you can afford is 2-liter pop bottles thats one thing, but if you purposefully cheap out when you don’t have to…thats kinda handicapping yourself from the start.

I mention this because I picked up ten new Scepter water jugs the other day and, lordy, they are not inexpensive. At the same time, the local Winco sells camping-style blue water cubes for 1/3 of what the Scepters cost. But, to me, in addition to the rather rugged build of the Scepters there are two other things that appeal to me – portability and adaptability.

What you see here, my friends, are what we survivalists back in the day bought for our bugout kits – an ALICE pack and frame. Here we see just the frame. We also see, mounted on the bottom of the frame, a cargo shelf. We also see two military camming load straps.

Those military-style cans, like the Scepter, are made to fit on that pack cargo shelf. You secure them with the straps and you can now carry that 40# jug of water on your back. That cargo shelf also works for cases of ammo as well.

Another reason I prefer the military style water jugs is the super wide mouth on them. It makes filling and dumping easier , and it lets me reach in there to clean the darn things.

But that super wide mouth also has another advantage. Do you know what a stirrup pump is? It’s a small hand operated pump used in conjunction with a bucket of water to fight fires. They made zillions of these things in Britain during the Blitz for putting out fires after the bombing raids.

The brass part goes inside your water container, usually a bucket, and you stand on the u-shaped metal footrest. With your foot holding the pump in place, you work the handle up and down. The pump ejects water on both the downstroke and the upstroke. Range is about thirty feet or so. One person can use this but its best used as a team. Where does the jerry can come in? Glad you asked:

A handy way of being able to deal with small fires in a crisis. Just the ticket for small grass fires or wetting down an area ahead of a fire.
As I said, unfortunately that sort of utility doesn’t come cheap. But, for me, I’d rather spend the extra money and get something that I have confidence in and that has the portability and utility issue going for it.

On a side note, it was a nightmare getting that stupid pump. Original ones from the WW2 era are available on surplus sites and if you replace the hoses and gaskets they might work just fine. I found this thing in the catalog of a firefighting supply company and they had to import it from Germany. And I had to wait about a year and a few months to get it. Major pain in the ass, but a very nice product. Theres a blog post all about it here.

A mile of dead wires

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Remember the coworker I mentioned a few posts back? She finally got power up at her place restored Sunday night. She’s having car problems and her and her husband are sharing one vehicle.  I offered to give her a ride home and to reclaim my loaned gear.

As I was driving her outta town I saw, literally, a mile of stumps and matchsticks where the powerlines used to be. Apparently once one or two go, they yank down the others. The wires were laying by the side of the road like garden hoses on a summer day. Some power poles snapped a few feet above the ground but it looks like some were snapped at ground level. It was a mess.

I did see quite a few power trucks and crews driving around so, despite the ‘the power company gives all their money to shareholders and not into maintenance’ ranting from the left here in town, progress is being made. But…those boys have really got their work cut out for them. I hope the folks out there are treating them right.

My new water cans arrived yesterday. Even though I personally suffered zero problems at my house because of this event, that doesn’t mean the possibility isn’t there. I had a half dozen of the Scepter water cans on hand in the basement. I just upped that number with another ten. Why that many? Three reasons: First, why not? Second, it makes it easier for me to help people that I choose to help (enforced charity, rather than charity-by-choice, is not charity), and finally, at some point I’ll need to be stashing some of these at an off-site location…could be Commander Zero’s Post Apocalyptic Bunker O’ Love And Lingerie Proving Ground, or it could be at a friends outbuilding along with a Pelican case of gear and some fuel cans. Regardless, they seemed like a good idea.

I really need to get my little hideaway set up and online. I am rapidly losing my ability to let living around these useless people not get to me.

A comment over at Bayou Renaissance Man really summed up the sheeple attitude:

A few years back, I read a piece on crisis management and why people screw up so badly, over and over. The writer, who is some sort of expert on the subject, said the chain of denial reasoning goes like this:

  • It won’t happen.
  • OK, it’s going to happen, but not to me.
  • OK, it’s going to happen to me, but it won’t be that bad.
  • OK, it happened to me, and it was so bad, there was nothing I could have done about it anyway.

This commenter is absolutely correct. As a disaster progresses, the unprepared go though those stages and never imagine that their level of suffering is inversely proportional to the amount of personal responsibility they’ve undertaken. The larger overall problem, I suppose, is that no one wants to take responsibility. In my town, like many other places, we have a huge amount of homeless people causing all sorts of problems. The lefties in town demand that we provide all sorts of services and accommodations for these ‘neighbors’. But, if you ask what about the responsibilities of the homeless to actively take part in their redemption…well, you’re clearly lacking empathy. The notion of taking responsibility for your situation is just not on the radar for these people….its all about the feels. Empathy, compassion, solidarity, etc, etc.

When it’s 2am and there’s no electricty, your water pump is dead as a doornail, there’s a puddle forming under your fridge, and the kids are telling you theyre scared….which would you rather have…empathy or a generator, some stored gas, and a few flashlights?

I really don’t want to be a misanthrope. I think that people are not fundamentally bad, but they are dangerous, not just when when they’re scared. It’s just downright foolish to ignore that the other person’s self-interest will usually trump yours. Men In Black was a popcorn movie but it had this nugget that will be forever making the rounds on the internet:

“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.”

And, worst of all, their vote counts as much as yours or mine.

I cannot get my heavily fortified little slice of Montana fast enough.

 

More lessons

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One of my coworkers is still without power, which means she is also without water. She’s been coming into the office and taking our spare 5-gallon water cooler bottles and bringing them home. I asked her how much water was she going through that she needed this many. And her response was….waitforit……”It takes a lot of water to flush the toilets.”

:::shaking my head:::

I grabbed an empty garbage can from under my desk and said “Follow me please”. We walked down the hallway to the maintenance closet where the slop sink was. I filled the itty-bitty wastebasket with about a gallon or so of water.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to show you how to flush a toilet with a bucket. Lets go.”

We walked into the bathroom. “Throw some toilet paper in there.”, I said, pointing to the bowl. She did as I asked.

“Ok, now watch. Slowly and then all at once.” I slowly poured the bucket into the bowl and then dumped the rest in. The water swirled, and -whoosh-, water and TP disappeared. I turned to her, “Ok, that’ll do the job and it uses a lot less water than filling the tank and flushing. Got it?”

After I got back to my desk, I forwarded her the YouTube video you see above.

It’s not her fault, I suppose. No one ever taught her this sort of thing, and its not the kind of thing that it ever occurred to her to investigate on her own. But, still, five-gallons of Culligan drinking water that we pay a guy to deliver should not be used to flush the toilet.

Shes also cooking on her grill but needs propane. Because I’m a soft touch, I pulled two barbecue bombs from my stash and four Scepter cans of water and brought them to work over lunch and loaded them in her truck. (Her husband is outta town on a job for the week and she’s left wrangling kids and job.)

We shall see if I get them back or not.

As for me, I’m using this learning opportunity to reinforce a few things. I’m picking up another couple flats of bottled water to distribute among my freezers, and I just ordered a bunch more Scepter cans.

Nice jugs

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Remember kids: guns are the sexy part of survivalism. There’s still a lot of other stuff involved that isnt nearly as fun or sexy. Case in point:


One

One of Canada’s few leading exports that isn’t toxic… (Canaduh is North America’s leading exporter of asbestos, acid rain, and Biebers.) The Scepter cans have a decent reputation and for water storage I rather like them. I don’t like them for fuel storage but then again I am not a fan of any plastic fuel container. When it comes to fuel, it’s Wavian/Valpro or nothing.

Anyway, I was thinking that it was time to replace my ancient surplus British water cans that I bought about 15 years ago. Or, at least retire them to secondary status. The thing I like about these Scepter cans is the enormous mouth on them. It’s large enough that  I can fit the end of a stirrup pump in there and have five-gallons of water for firefighting anywhere I can haul this on an ALICE frame. And, of course, the large  mouth makes it easier to get in there and clean.

I’ll rinse these out with hot water and dish detergent, and then it’s a fillup of clean water and baking soda to eliminate that annoying plastic smell. Then it’s time to fill them, hang them from the rafters with some newsprint on the floor below them, and check on them the next day for leaks. (You do always check your liquid containers for leaks before you commit to using them, don’t you?)

These cans aren’t cheap. I can get cheaper ones from Winco that will probably do just as good a job sitting on a shelf in my basement. But the apocalypse doesn’t always look like a simple trip to my safe, secure, well-lit, temperate basement. Sometimes it looks like heaving 40# cans of water into the back of a truck and bouncing them down a fire road as the bang up and jostle with other gear. Thats what I’m paying the extra for…survivability. Its a virtual certainty these will sit on the shelf in the basement until such time as I need them and their contents….and any reasonably well made plastic water container will work for that. But for that (waitforit) dark and stormy night at 3am where we’re tossing ammo, water, fuel, packs, and food in the back of a truck with the goal of getting outta here now now now….well, thats where the extra money is going.