Texas SOT

Need recommendation for water storage

C

Cogent Design

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I live in a tiny 2 bedroom apartment with my wife and child. 1025 square feet fills up fast!

I am looking for some stackable water storage containers that I could put into a closet and keep out of sight from the maintenance men. 5 gallon containers would be nice. I looked on Amazon a bit, but the containers seemed a bit pricey at $20/piece.

Hoping to store 50 gallons for <$100.

What do you all use? Bonus points if you live in an apartment and share experience.
Texas SOT
 
R

Recoil45

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I'm told the Homer 5 gal paint buckets at Home Depot are of food grade material (pickles and other foods come in the same type). They run about $5 each with lid, so you'd be under budget. Round buckets create a lot of wasted space in a square closet but that may not be an issue for you. Just verify what I was told is actually true if you go that route.
 
Byrd666

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Try going down to the Denny's or whatever full service restaurant around and see if they have any 5 gal. buckets to get rid of. Might even try some of the fast food joints too. They both get quite a bit of food product shipped to them in those buckets. I had gotten a bunch of them like that when I needed them for a friends kid school project.
 
C

Cogent Design

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I work in a fast food restaurant and have access to tons of pickle buckets. I just don't want my water to smell like pickles.

I've heard both sides of the Homer buckets.
 
Byrd666

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Put a cup of bleach in with the regular tapwater and that should clean it out. If not, a clean 'em out with a bit of baking powder that should do it.
 
Byrd666

Byrd666

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...And I used to live in Midland, so I REALLY understand your water storage problems.
 
Texasjack

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How long do you think the water is going to be good for? 50 gallons of water also weighs 400 lbs. (1 pint weighs 1 lb.) That's not trivial in an apartment that might not be designed for the weight. A company I used to work for had a large fish tank. One weekend it sprang a leak. By Monday, the damage to the floor below was in the tens of thousands of dollars.

You might be a lot better off with a smaller amount of water storage (that you rotate periodically) and some water treatment packages. Less space, more practical.
 
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Booyah

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Depending on how you intend to use it, drinking only or cooking and hygiene as well? If your main concern is drinking, you might consider storing cases of bottled water rather than spending decent money on bulk storage containers. I buy cases from Costco that have 35 half liter bottles of water for ~ $3-$4. That comes out to just under 5 gallons per case. It is very easy to store 2 stacks of 5 in a closet and that puts you just shy of 50 gallons...it is already packaged for drinking, rationing is precise and easy and it is easy to rotate through normal daily use. Even though I am in a house and do have bulk storage as well, this is an important part of my overall strategy.
 
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rsayloriii

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Texasjack said:
How long do you think the water is going to be good for? 50 gallons of water also weighs 400 lbs. (1 pint weighs 1 lb.) That's not trivial in an apartment that might not be designed for the weight. A company I used to work for had a large fish tank. One weekend it sprang a leak. By Monday, the damage to the floor below was in the tens of thousands of dollars.

You might be a lot better off with a smaller amount of water storage (that you rotate periodically) and some water treatment packages. Less space, more practical.
Click to expand...
As long as it's not contaminated, water is good indefinitely.
 
Davetex

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Where are you, I've got some square 5 gal buckets with hinged lids I'd like to get rid of. They're nice and clean.
 
C

Cogent Design

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The bottles water is a good idea. How long does that normally last?

I am located in Midland. At this point, I am thinking bottled water for drinking and pickle buckets for hygiene if needed.

Anyone have a usage amount for daily hygiene?
 
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rsayloriii

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Cogent Design said:
The bottles water is a good idea. How long does that normally last?

I am located in Midland. At this point, I am thinking bottled water for drinking and pickle buckets for hygiene if needed.

Anyone have a usage amount for daily hygiene?
Click to expand...

rsayloriii said:
As long as it's not contaminated, water is good indefinitely.
Click to expand...
The only reason bottled water has an expiration date on it is because it is classified as a food, thus requiring an expiration date. Secondary is to help with stock rotation.

Beware, however, that plastic is permeable and can allow odors to pass through into water. Also, stored water can taste flat. Swishing it around helps to oxygenate the water and refreshen it again (water needs to be an open container like a cup, obviously, because a sealed container won't introduce fresh oxygen to the water).
 
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Booyah

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It is difficult to put a number on the amount of water needed for hygiene because it can vary widely depending on the conditions you, and those with you, are willing to put up with. So focusing more on being as frugal as possible with what you have is one way to approach it. Bathing/showering, even as economically as possible, uses far more water than most people are able/willing to store. One way to minimize using water for that is keeping a healthy store of baby wipes...a trick we used in Scouts when primitive camping...works wonders.
 
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jordanmills

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Just get a couple of 55 gal poly drums off craigslist. If it's drinking water, you'll need to make sure they didn't hold anything too nasty. But most of them are used for soap, which is usually food grade.
 
TX69

TX69

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Save your money and look for a small house to rent. Home come with all kinds of places to store water and most have it already on site.
 
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