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602 Garrison Street, Suite 101 | Oceanside, CA 92054 | (760) 966-3600 |
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
How much water do I need?
Can I just buy the water bottles from the store and use those for water storage?
What is the best method for long-term water storage?
What kind of emergency do I need to store water for?
Why should I make water a priority when there are other things I need to do to prepare?
Can you explain what the difference in the types of additives?
Which size of water barrel or drum do I need?
Can I use another color of drum for water?
How do I fill the water drums?
Can I store the drums in a shed or garage?
Once I have stored the water, how do I get it out?
What if I never rotated my water?
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How much water do I need?
Answer: Do not believe those who tell you one gallon per person per day.
That is a bare minimum. We recommend 20 gallons per person per week.
Why? Because you're not just going to drink the water.
You'll also need it to wash yourself, your clothes, your wounds, prepare food,
clean up the dishes, keep the counters and the kids and the house clean.
Don't forget that hygiene is a must, so that you don't come down with diarrhea or
vomiting that make you dehydrate faster than you can hydrate. Remember that the pets
and the houseplants will need water, and most likely your neighbors will too.
The more water the better! Those who do not have it will quickly become very desperate.
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Can I just buy the water bottles from the store and use those for water storage?
Answer: Yes, if you drink a LOT of that and keep it rotated quite frequently.
But I certainly don't recommend it.
Why? Because the quality of the water varies from poor to good depending on the brand,
and you don't know how much bacteria has grown in it. The plastic bottles are made to decompose,
so they will leak and be unreliable over several months. They are transparent and let UV rays
in to let algae and bacteria grow.
Use these bottles only for water you drink and rotate frequently.
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What is the best method for long-term water storage?
Answer: There are water barrels designed specifically for this purpose.
We use only the top brands, which are triple tested for leaks, have only one seam,
are dark blue and thick for keeping out UV rays and sunlight, are very long lasting and
have never been used to hold any other substance. They can be sealed airtight, are stackable,
and have the necessary accessories readily available in the right sizes.Once you've got the
water drum or barrel, you'll need a drum wrench, a spigot or drum pump, and something to add
to the water to keep it drinkable over time. There are different types of additives, the best
being calcium hypochlorite tablets or Aerobic .07. You can also use iodine tablets, a few drops
of chlorine (bleach is not recommended because of the detergent/fragrance additives), or just rotate that water every six months.
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>What kind of emergency do I need to store water for?
No matter what, you have to have water.
It doesn't matter if it's a flood, earthquake, bird flu, hurricane or anything else.
There is never a day or circumstance when you and your family and neighbors do not need
water to stay alive, so make this a priority wherever you live.
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Why should I make water a priority when there are other things I need to do to prepare?
See the answer above.
Water, water, water!!!
You can survive without other things for longer, but you will quickly die or get into a
desperate situation without ample water. If you have enough water, you will be a survivor,
not a victim, of a disaster, and everyone you can help will stay alive because you were prepared.
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Can you explain what the difference in the types of additives?
One of Seychelle's calcium hypochlorite tablets will purify 5 gallons of airtight water indefinitely,
and their pack of 20 will handle 100 gallons.
Use the Seychelle water filter bottle or Pump-and-Pure Seychelle water filter pump to eliminate
any taste or impurity in the water and to ensure the best quality, purest tasting drinking water
available, even if the water has been stored without rotating for 20 years or more. This is our highest
recommendation!! The fact that the tablets are individually sealed in very specialized packaging
makes them retain their individual potency for two years. These tablets can also purify contaminated
water before drinking, but take 30 minutes to do their job first. Run questionable water through the
water filter bottle to eliminate all taste, odors and contaminants other than salt.Before the hypochlorite
tablets came out, we only recommended Aerobic .07. This liquid also handles 100 gallons--without
any flavor added to the water-- but it lasts 3-5 years depending on the conditions under which the
barrel is stored. The liquid inhibits bacteria growth when it’s added to the water at the time of storage.
It is also used daily as a nutritional/health supplement to oxygenate the blood and boost the immune system.
Iodine tablets come 50 in a bottle and also can be added to contaminated water for 30 minutes before drinking.
They are not as effective as the calcium hypochlorite tablets, especially regarding cryptosporidium cysts.
Although there is a claim to a 4-year shelf life, you need to realize that once the bottle is opened, the
other 49 tablets quickly lose their potency and shelf life, so do not expect to just use those tablets
intermittently in a 4-year span of time. You pretty much need to use up the bottle as soon as it is opened.
Each tablet purifies one pint of water, so 50 tablets only purifies 6 ¼ gallons of water total.
There is also a claim that they are tasteless, but our experience has proved otherwise.
Stomach upsets can occur in sensitive people. But it is better than bleach or no additive at all.
Bleach is not recommended. The best chlorine for water storage is pool chlorine, but chlorine
in and of itself helps promote cancer, so less is better. Also, bleach has detergents and
fragrances added, besides water diluters, so you can add 8 drops per gallon to keep bacteria
out for about six months only, if you have nothing else, but I would suggest you find something else.
Do NOT use empty bleach containers to store water in. Those become toxic and are not safe to drink.
Also do NOT just add more chlorine instead of rotating the water, or you will not want to drink it at all.
After not rotating the water at all, this is the next worst thing you can do, and it is a mistake
too many people will regret making when they need to drink that water and can't.
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Which size of water barrel or drum do I need?
Remember that water weighs just over 8 pounds per gallon, so even a 5-gallon container weighs around 41 pounds.
These containers come in different sizes: 5, 15, 20, 30 and 55-gallons. The 5, 15 and 20-gallon sizes are
portable (with help) and come with handles. The 30 and 55-gallon sizes are not portable, but they are definitely the most economical.
You will want to have both portable and stationary drums so that you can have plenty, but be able to take
some with you if you are in an evacuation situation. Remember to have at least 20 gallons per person per week.
Do not plan for only one day or three days. Plan on at least a week and then store more where possible.
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Can I use another color of drum for water?
Drums are basically color coded for content.
Blue is for water, white and black for chemicals.
Never store water in a drum that has been used for anything else, and remember that blue is for UV and sunlight protection.
We have had too many customers come in at their wits end how to get the nasty taste out of their water
after they used drums that had been previously used for fruits, juices, etc. Do not do it! You will waste
your money and not have drinking water when it is most critical!
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How do I fill the water drums?
Fill it from a garden hose that is safe for drinking water, add your tablets, fill until water begins to
spill out so that you know there are no air pockets left, and then seal airtight using the bung wrench made for this purpose.
Keep out of sunlight as much as possible, but if not possible, that is OK if you are using the hypochlorite tablets especially.
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Can I store the drums in a shed or garage?
Yes, but put something flat like a sheet of wood or heavy cardboard between the drum and concrete,
or the plastic will actually absorb the taste of the cement (or chemicals, paint, fertilizers, etc.)
through the plastic. So watch what you put around your drum and keep it off the cement.
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Once I have stored the water, how do I get it out?
Use the tools that are designed for it: bung wrench to open the drum, drum pump, especially the
Pump-and-Pure water filter pump to bring water out in measured amounts, the siphon pump to drain
the drum all at once, or the spigot for use on a drum that can be turned on its side and drained with a tap.
These tools can be used interchangeably for all of the sizes of our containers, so you only really need one of
each, no matter how many drums you have.
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What if I never rotated my water?
Bad move! But any questionable water can be run through the Seychelle water filter system,
through the water filter pump or treated with the calcium hypochlorite tablets, so make sure you have those on hand,
and you will still be all right.
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