How do you keep water from freezing...

[JD31]

I know that someone is bound to post, "Keep it above 32 degrees!." However, my question is serious. i did a quick search of the water storage posts, and I have read the posts for quite some time in this survival category. From that reading, I know that many store emergency water in many different ways, but now that our first really cold days have visited this year, I want to prevent some of the mishaps others have experienced.

I have not seen any posts on how people store their water in cars, garage or other cold prone areas, in order to ensure the containers to not burst when the water is frozen.

How to you store your water in the car, in large barrels in the garage, etc. without them freezing during winter storage?

Thanks,

JD31

 

[eldirector]

The bottled water we get by the case seems to take freezing well. We'll freeze a couple for a cooler in the summer. No leaks yet. They are in our car's winter kit, inside a ziplock freezer bag (just in case).

Not sure about larger-scale storage. We just keep 3-4 cases of bottled water on hand right now.

 

[mrjarrell]

I add large amounts of vodka to them.

Seriously, tho. I keep stuff like that inside with a steady temp. Changing temps, thawing and freezing aren't good for preps and water will go bad. I've never had any in my vehicles freeze up, but I use my garage for vehicle storage so the temps never get that bad. If you're storing it in a place prone to freezing temps, it's gonna freeze on you. You could try insulating large barrels. Other than that...add vodka.

 

[Farmritch]

Also keep water from sunlight for long term storage, it will promote bacteria growth no matter what the temp.

 

[HandK]

How do you keep water from freezing...

Drink it!!!








sorry I could'nt stop myself!!!

 

[cubby]

once it gets to a certian temp there isn't really anything you can do......

every winter i lose about 6 gallons out of about 65, to burst containers. but they are typically overfilled or in containers which were probly stressed (some of the cheaper milk jugs).

 

[Indy_Guy_77]

Difficult to keep water from freezing...

The real worry is "can my container take it?"

As we should all be aware, as water freezes, it expands. Ever blow up a pop-can or beer bottle in your freezer?

If you use regular plastic bottles, still factory sealed, it won't take too many freeze/thaw cycles and you'll have useless water storage. They'll develop holes and cracks.

If you're storing tap water...or are collecting water, you can add bleach to it to help kill some of the baddies.

0.5tsp for 5 gallons.
8-10 drops per gallon.

 

[JD31]

I will put my large water storage stuff indoors for the winter, and I remember using the milk jugs to make ice for our coolers as a kid. They always split. That is the reason why I wondered if anyone had some miracle container or method to store water in cars or garages that did not suffer the same bursting fate as everything I have thought of so far.

I liked the "drink it" post. I failed to see that one coming.

 

[ThrottleJockey]

Alcohol and salt will both lower the freezing temp, but will need to be boiled or filtered out to use, I'm not sure but I believe storing it in a pressurized container will also lower the freezing temp. but not sure what to use or what psi is effective........

 

[eears]

My grandma had an old wood barrel that she caught rainwater in. She would put a wood post in the barrel in the winter and always said the ice would crush the post and wouldn't break the barrel. I'm not sure if she knew what she was talking about, but she had the same rain barrel for a lot of years. It might be worth a try on a small scale, like a dowel in a milk jug of water. It wouldn't keep it from freezing, but it might save the container.

 

[Gray Squirrel]

I know that someone is bound to post, "Keep it above 32 degrees!." However, my question is serious. i did a quick search of the water storage posts, and I have read the posts for quite some time in this survival category. From that reading, I know that many store emergency water in many different ways, but now that our first really cold days have visited this year, I want to prevent some of the mishaps others have experienced.

I have not seen any posts on how people store their water in cars, garage or other cold prone areas, in order to ensure the containers to not burst when the water is frozen.

How to you store your water in the car, in large barrels in the garage, etc. without them freezing during winter storage?

Thanks,

JD31

Let it freeze.I refill my wife's water containers she buys distilled drinking water in and I don't fill them compleatly full and they do fine.When they thaw there might be a small amount of calcium scale but no big deal.

 

[Jack Ryan]

once it gets to a certian temp there isn't really anything you can do......

every winter i lose about 6 gallons out of about 65, to burst containers. but they are typically overfilled or in containers which were probly stressed (some of the cheaper milk jugs).

I don't save that amount of water but if I wanted to store it long term, keep it from freezing...

In order of first choice

1. Keep it in the house
2. Keep it in the basement
3. Keep it in an attached garage, put the jugs in some type of large box/tub/dog house metal barrels and pack insulation around it
4. Keep it in the crawl space under the house
5. Bury it
6. Buy and install an additional water heater. You can get he water out the bottom you know if the utility shuts down and you'll never run out of hot water. You could even put it in so it can be used or not and then just rotate out the water once a week with nothing but the turn of a couple valves. Pretty easy way to always have an extra 50 gallons of water available with out all the other work once it's set up.

 

[csaws]

My grandma had an old wood barrel that she caught rainwater in. She would put a wood post in the barrel in the winter and always said the ice would crush the post and wouldn't break the barrel. I'm not sure if she knew what she was talking about, but she had the same rain barrel for a lot of years. It might be worth a try on a small scale, like a dowel in a milk jug of water. It wouldn't keep it from freezing, but it might save the container.

Interesting theory, however I think path of least resistance works here not the wood. If the barrel had a hole in it to allow the post to stick out then water/ice could also escape through the same hole causing it to "bleed" off pressure thus not allowing the barrel to split

 

[rhino]

Leave some empty space in your containers if they're going to be exposed to cold temperatures. That will allow the water to expand as it freezes without damaging your containers.

 

[Jay]

Plumb a water line so that it passes thru a warmer environment and circulate the water with a solar pump....like into and out of your house, or into and out of a 36" deep trench in the ground, back into the storage container. Like geo-thermal heating systems.....

 

[Arm America]

On large containers like barrels or the large 4 x 4 skid storage containers,
a larger aquarium pump with an air stone suspended near the bottom
will prevent freezing.

On smaller containers, like 5 gal. jugs, you could connect the same pump or smaller thru a valved multi port box with individual 1/8" tubes feeding near the bottom, again with the air stone.

Cheap to operate, and will aerate the water just like an aquarium,
to help prevent stagnation.