Water Storage.

[Technik]

I think it's because he got them very cheap (or free + some delivery charge) off Craig's list.

Those IBC tanks are very good but at the moment I don't have the space for them.

[Rayman]

I'm collecting the 25p for 2ltr still spring water from Tescos, it has a bbe of oct 2014, so will keep good as drinking water in my preppers cupboard.

If you turn your tap on and nothing came out?, that would be a worry, bottled drinking water is what I am stocking up on heavily, can't come in wrong.

[pseudonym]

I'm collecting the 25p for 2ltr still spring water from Tescos, it has a bbe of oct 2014, so will keep good as drinking water in my preppers cupboard.

If you turn your tap on and nothing came out?, that would be a worry, bottled drinking water is what I am stocking up on heavily, can't come in wrong.

I've just refilled my 2 litre pop bottles and back into the shed for another 6 months.

( The bottles, not me )

[Rayman]

I'm collecting the 25p for 2ltr still spring water from Tescos, it has a bbe of oct 2014, so will keep good as drinking water in my preppers cupboard.

If you turn your tap on and nothing came out?, that would be a worry, bottled drinking water is what I am stocking up on heavily, can't come in wrong.

I've just refilled my 2 litre pop bottles and back into the shed for another 6 months.

( The bottles, not me )

yeah, just got another 8 ltrs from tescos tonight for a quid, spot on

[moocher]

bit of a side track those who are storing in water butts and ibc,s how will you prepare water for drinking boiling it or puritabs.

[skippy]

I guess a filter first, then while the tablets last I would use them. After they run out then a rolling boil for 3 minutes.
skips

[centralscot]

I have a Berkefeld, and a reasonably large sized pond, also it frequently rains here!
So up until now water storage is not my top priority. However , it get dam cold here in the winter, and I am worried that if I had an IBC full of water that froze solid at say sustained -15 C that it would be destroyed during the defrost.
Does anyone have experience of water storage under low temps?

[the-gnole]

I have a Berkefeld, and a reasonably large sized pond, also it frequently rains here!
So up until now water storage is not my top priority. However , it get dam cold here in the winter, and I am worried that if I had an IBC full of water that froze solid at say sustained -15 C that it would be destroyed during the defrost.
Does anyone have experience of water storage under low temps?

Important thing with ice is that it expands to twice (approx) its 4degC size, (Maximum density of water being 4degC) and after that it doesn't get any bigger whatever the temperature drop.

So to prevent too many problems first thing is don't over fill your IBCs, and second, put some rubber balls in, something like bald tennis balls of small plastic footballs and another option is to put a heating belt around the bottom third of water if you have a power supply handy that is.

The thaw won't "cause" any damage to your IBCs, the damage will be before that happens when it first freezes solid.

My IBC is full at the moment, same as last winter, didn't sustain any damage even though the 40gallon cistern next to it was swollen with the iced water in it.

[centralscot]

Thanks for the reply "gnole", my main point about the temperature is last year I had a water butt which froze solid i.e. all the way through top to bottom, and took several months to defrost, it burst . I can see a tennis balls might help relieve pressure as it freezes at the top of a barrel but can it do much if the whole thing was to freeze. I will have to think about weighing down some balls so they go the full height of the barrel.

I think your comments on heating it might well be the best answer, but the cost could be expensive as it can be months of significantly below zero, I think I will need to consider building an insulated structure around an IBC so that the heat input could be minimised.

[the-gnole]

A couple of rolls of cheap insulation from B&Q and some pallet wrap will help with that.

How about a getting a tube about 4 - 6" in diameterdrilled with 25mm holes about 4" centres at 90deg to each other and then gaffer tape the one end, fill with partially inflated party ballons and then tape the other end and force down into the IBC, as the water freezes it will compress the ballons and take up the gap.