Freezing point -- Water in gallon jugs?

When I was a kid, growing up in the wilds of the south west (Devon, UK), if it was particularly cold, my old Dad used to leave the light on in the outside toilet, in order to prevent the water in the toilet-cistern and pipes from freezing! Sounds like you need to leave a small heater on (and a fan, if possible) in your work shed (…c'mon, I'm sure you have access to an extension cord?) (…I won't even ask why you need to be storing so much water! )

 

i'll refrain from my old geezer stories but i suspect this question has too many variables for an accurate answer. plastic is a lot more forgiving than glass, i know that from experience.

 

Water will freeze at 32 period.

Duration of exposure could be hours or days before freeze

A dip below and above freezing each day could delay freezing indefinitely.

The floor of your shed might stay "warm" far longer than you expect.

No way to know without testing.

 

you need to talk to bill wilson about a prius generator. but anyway, if you insist i went out to the bahn the other day, and there was water all over the workbench. i couldn't for the life of me figure out where it came from. after a couple days, i looked up, and an old glass bottle that i dug up 12 years ago and had sitting on a shelf filled with water, had cracked, and the water seeped out onto the bench. it hasn't even been that cold here.

 

Looking at the problem from another angle.....what about a mechanical pump for the water?

 

It does sound cold enough to freeze the water.
How about leave one jug out there as a test case?

PS - be careful as the water will expand upon freezing...did you say plastic jugs? I remember in the old days at the cottage my grandparents would have nice clear glass jugs of water, and the sun would burn a hole in the wood deck like a magnifying glass.

We are trying to plan our attack on the Aug. 17 solar eclipse, but Oregon is considered ideal.

 

Underfill the bottles so they don't break. Pack them close together and throw a tarp over.

32 oF is the real number but it can take a while to settle in.

Winter camping in central Oregon, I poured water out of a gallon jug to heat for coffee. Upsetting the jug allowed the rest of it to freeze suddenly. It was actually beautiful to watch.

 

Oh - get a soap bubble blowing kit. When night is cold enough, take it outside and blow bubbles with (warm) lung air. Watch and listen really carefully.

I will not spoil the surprise.

 

Use antifreeze:

Don't forget the Kool-Aid:


Bob Wilson

 

Thread starter is planning 60 gallons for 2 people (and ? dogs) against 3-week loss of supply. Survivalists would see this as a 100-gallon problem; not fully prepared for here.

We don’t need to make PriusChat yet another survivalist website, but do y’all really have no stored potable water? No stored anything? Assuming you are then, that life supplies can’t possibly be briefly interrupted? Assuming you’ll be properly informed in advance?

Zero is not a positive number.

 

I say nah if the shed can be closed. Mulch and blanket like you would root crops or in the garden. I try to freeze 6 or 8 2 liter bottles outside for use as air displacing thermal mass in my little used freezer section. Same bottles for seven or eight years. Have to place and space them as far away from structures on already frozen ground and exposed to black night sky with single digit temps for 2 or 3 days. Shade and insulate by day. Not even close to those conditions this year. Kept together there's to much thermal mass heat in the ground, buildings, and water to freeze very fast but that will be some ice cold water.

 

I think most of us use big box mart communal storage. Working fireplaces to cook or heat? We got FEMA we're prepared.

 

Additives@11 refer to colligative properties of water. Science here? I think not.

Survivalist stored water has only two flavors - that you ingest and that you flush orwash with. To the former, add nothing. To the latter, plain old salt NaCl is lowest cost. Keep your ethanol and sugar for purposeful uses.

For potable water, bleach (sodium hypochlorite) has a role. But not in this thread, concerning 3 weeks and near-freezing T.

 

I was thinking about the 1 kW 'generator' that easily releases about 2-3 kW of heat. Assuming the shed has some degree of air tightness, the generator should be able to keep parts of the interior above freezing while it is running.

I had considered using the exhaust heat from the Prius-as-generator to provide warm/hot water during an outage.

Bob Wilson

 

These deep well pumps sure look nice. Anybody know anything about them? Deep Well Hand Pumps - BISON PUMPS

Broken glass starts most range land and forest fires is So. Cal. and other dry desert areas.

Water to water heat exchanger in parallel with the coolant line running to the radiator of the Prime in charge mode should provide more than enough hot water. Sous Vide Steak and Hot water Cornbread?

A watched jug never freezes.

 

Wind powered ones for agricultural use are still available.

 

900 feet? OK, that's a long way to pump. I was picturing a bicycle, held stationary, with an inner tube 'drive belt' to the pump. We all need fitness routines, right?