Back-To-Basics Water Storage Part 2: 55-gallon Water Barrels

How is your water storage coming along?  Did you take the challenge from my first post and store water for your family?  I hope you did, but if not, get going today!  I took my own advice and got around to a project that I have needed to do since I moved into my home a year and a half ago.  

When I moved, in January, we (I say we, but it was really my husband) emptied two 55-gallon water barrels, that were frozen solid.  My husband, bless him, never complained, just added more hot water and loaded the empty barrels on the truck.  And empty is how they remained until this past week.  

  

I needed to move the empty barrels from the garage into the storage room.  Right where that pile of junk is.  It took some maneuvering but I got them in there.

 

After the 2 barrels were put into place, they needed to be filled up.  Empty barrels defeat the purpose of owning them!!  One of the barrels was pretty dirty and so I added some water, swished it around and dumped it out. 

 

 And let me tell you what....I am so glad that I flipped that bad boy over....there was an entire family of spiders living on the bottom of this barrel.  There was even an egg sack!  If I hadn't checked they would have moved into my storage room....yuck!!!

After the spider removal I used a bung wrench (make sure you have one!!) to open the barrels.  

Then I filled them up.  I am really lucky that I have a hose hook up in my garage that uses culinary water.  The hose isn't used for yard work and I felt it was safe to use to fill up our water barrels.  

 

I thought I was going to be there all day filling up these barrels, but I was completely done in about an hour and a half.  That included moving all the stuff around, cleaning them, and filling them.  The actual filling only took about 20 minutes for two barrels. 

 

 After they were filled I put the caps back on and they were good to go.  There is no need to add cleaners or purifying ingredients if you use culinary water to fill up water containers.  The water is already treated and if your container is clean, you shouldn't have an issues with bacteria. 

Don't forget that if you ever need to get the water back out of the barrel, that you'll need a pump, siphon, and a bung wrench to open the caps.  I keep my water barrel paraphernalia close by but out of the way.  I would also suggest having a few 5-gallon water containers with a spigot to siphon the water into.  Five gallons is a manageable size to carry after filling it.  I have no intention of moving my 55-gallon barrels for a long time, but if I needed to get water out they aren't too far away from my kitchen or backyard.  Lugging a 5-gallon container from the big barrel to wherever we need the water is something I thought about before filling the 55-gallon barrels. 

Okay, it's your turn!  Did you get any water stored this week??