Hello Tom and others, An emergency supply of water is supposed to be for drinking when the regular source is interrupted or contaminated.
There are at least a couple of major earthquake fault lines running through the Salt Lake Valley. I was in grade school more than 45 years ago when a minor tremor happened in the Salt Lake area resulting in very little damage. We are just waiting for the "big one" to happen. Two of my three barrels are perhaps 42 gallons, and the third is smaller. If I calculated correctly, 42 gallons of water weighs about 350 pounds. I would not trust that much weight to be anywhere but on solid ground. If it was a block of ice when we need it I am afraid it would not be easy to get a couple of quarts out of a barrel, so I will keep them in the basement. Earthquakes are not our only concern. We live near the I-15 freeway on one side of us and only a block and a half from the railroad tracks on the other side, and a couple of oil refineries within two miles of us. Some disaster could happen at any of those locations. That sounds bleak, but it is still a clean, likable community. Like Larry has mentioned, we should store some water in smaller containers. We are told that the 2-liter soda pop bottles are ideal for that once they have been properly washed. The hard plastic barrels were a hot item in this area to prepare for Y2K, and that is when we bought them. Wayne ----- Original Message ----- From: Tom Hodges To: [email protected] Sent: Saturday, November 01, 2008 7:33 AM Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Hard Plastic Water Barrels You could always try to putting in a submersible heater. And just being curious, why do you want/need emergency water? _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Wayne W Hinckley Sent: Thursday, October 30, 2008 2:04 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Hard Plastic Water Barrels I have three hard plastic water barrels for an emergency supply of H2O sitting in the furnace room in the basement. It is long past time to exchange the contents for fresh water. My wife wishes they were not in the furnace room because at least one of them restricts access to shelving there. The only other places they could go are in the garage or the shed. We live in Utah near Salt Lake City and the water will freeze during the winter in any unheated location. In fact, our fall and spring seasons have many freezing night and warm days giving us a repeated freeze and thaw cycle for days at a time. Do any of you have experience with these barrels, and will freezing them make them break? If not a problem, how much head room should there be to allow the water to expand as it freezes? Thanks for any feedback. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
