"Preppers"? are you one?

We live on a main rail line and a major US highway. Like half a block away.

so a hazardous material accident like what happened in Ohio is truly a likely event.

We also live 30 miles downwind from a nuclear power plant. Something I don’t think a lot of folks take into consideration.

NRC Emergency Preparedness Maps

 

Ditto, keep the truck tank full of fuel as well so there isn't much ducking around to scoot.

 

My well pump casing got hit by lightning July 3rd evening, and I wasn't going to call anyone over the holiday. We have stored water so we were fine, on the 5th I called a local well company , I had a new pump installed by noontime. The well guy said he 8 had more lightning strike pump calls that day and he usually gets 1 or 2 a year.

 

As I prep my camper for this weekend I thought back to this post and keeping water in the fresh tank.
If anyone else does this, just remember to keep it fresh, fresh water tanks are not sealed. So they will need bleach/your chem choice to keep bacteria down,
It's recommended to drain and refill every 2 weeks to a month. Dosing it with bleach can extend that duration. (sanitizing once to twice a year)
I have a 3 stage filter setup for when I'm not filling at home and generally just use the tank for flushing toilet and washing stuff.
my filter isn't meant to clean pond water, just clean up the "clean" water. I have other means to deal with pond water.

 

Composting toilets or an outhouse would be an add.
Berkey water filters are the best. I bought their filters but built my own system out of food grade buckets. Its gravity fed, and holds 5G untreated, and 5G treated on the bottom.

 

The RV tank is not sealed but neither are any city water tanks. It's okay so long as you can keep the chlorine residual up. We swap the RV tank out at least twice per year. Of the gallon per person per day that they say you need that also includes non drinking uses. Most of my drinking is coffee so boiled. My sealed water barrels are also chlorinated and replaced yearly.

And of course, at home, we're on a well which is unchlorinated and vented so we'll use that first as long as we can power it.

Last resort is my sawyer filters that are rated for 100,000 gallons each and will remove anything I'm likely to come in contact with from the local creeks.

 

No water there

 

What about a root cellar type structure for storage?

 

Sounds like a more costly situation to achieve. A few ideas:

1. Keep place heated in order to prevent freezing. And hope electricity isn't interrupted.

2. Drain all water lines and leave only cistern container (only one?) with water in. Buy a circulating pump which will turn on by temperature and circulate the water in the cistern.........moving water doesn't freeze. And hope the electricity isn't interrupted.

3. Drain all water lines and heat only the cistern container to an above freezing temp. Some sort of insulated box and cover (maybe something like an outdoor hot tub?) would be required to help maintain the water's temps so the heater wouldn't have to be heating all the time. I'll bet WWW already knows someone that uses closed cell spray foam. And hope the electricity isn't interrupted.

4. Speak with a water well company and ask them for ideas? Probably a lot more experience regarding this than a wood burning forum... And you'll probably still have to hope the electricity isn't interrupted!

 

A root cellar may be your best bet with the lines planned to be self draining when not used.

 

Warner here it is

 

Thanks!

 

Maybe keep some there, let it freeze? Don't over fill containers.
If yall show up there, and bring a bit of water for a day or two, the rest should thaw when wood stove is fired up?
Stay up there for the winter?
Water softeners add salt to water. Run stored water through a softener?
Solar powered heating element run into the tank/cistern?
No well? Even a shallow well could provide water. I'd use a Berkey or the like for "surface water". If it is tested water, perhaps unfiltered it would be ok for cooking and cleaning.

 

All firewooders are Preppers by default. The mentality spills over.