Those Square 5-Gallon Collapsible Water Jugs

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Something has to give - regarding my lifestyle versus a herniated disc.

I have been using a total of (4) 2.5 gallon plastic jugs for my purified water. I can get help filling 5 gallon collapsible jugs and arranging them in the kitchen. The 5-gallon round transparent hard jugs are way too much for me to tip and fill pots, and containers.

I used to use those 5-gallon collapsible jugs 30-years ago on horsepack trips but they were and refilled daily under hard use.

So my question is this. For 30-years I have been isolated, so any "news" about possible chemical leaching into the water has not reached my eyes. Anyone know of any valid "issues"?

I used to buy them at a sporting goods store and they weren't cheap even back then. Is there a "preferred place" to buy them? Keep in mind the thread bandwidth I suffer. Most of the time Google won't load and Amazon and eBay freezes.

If I can afford it I am going to purchase 4 jugs. I just spent 3 days in bed because wisdom (and patience) failed me and I tried to manhandle a 5-gallon jug.

Thanks

[dclark1946]

I think in your initial post you mentioned collapsible water jugs. We use the Coleman 5 gal. cube version to transport water to our trailer from a central water supply while dry camping in the Smokies. We pump this water into our fresh water tank using a bilge pump after dumping the water into an empty ice chest. These containers can be set on a side with the cap/valve at the bottom so you can dispense water as you wish. We used to use a Reliant 2.5 gal version in our tent camping days that has a mounting hole on one corner that you could use a hungry cord to attach it to a tree. It has the same type cap/valve spigot so you could dispense water easily. The Coleman 5 gal. containers have two handles. One for the top for carrying and one on the side for pouring or putting it into position to use the valve/spigot.

[greenrvgreen]

+1 On the lousy hand pumps. IMO, if you want to go this route look for an expensive bilge pump that can be repurposed for potable water. I bought a hand pump with the idea of backing up my lousy ShurFlo pumps that were getting warranty replacements every 6 months. The shurFlos outlasted the hand pump.

[Almot]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
"I gotta get me wunna theeze!"

Hand pump on 5-gal jar sells on Amazon from $10 to $25, and is UNBELIEVABLY poorly made. Can last a week or several months.

First gallon goes easy. The less water remains, the more strokes it takes to fill a pot and the more efforts is needed.

Sometimes it falls apart - literally, into separate parts, or unscrews itself off the bottle.

Sometimes the long tube that you see in the bottle, falls off and you have to fish it out - though this happens mostly when you have to pump more vigorously because only little water remains.

[fj12ryder]

cmcdar wrote:
I use the hard plastic 5 gallon in my camper BUT - no flipping!

We also use that setup for our drinking water when we travel. I didn't recommend the pump because they are so flimsy I don't think they would stand up to day-in day-out usage. We've managed to break two of them so far. Not very reliable IMO.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

My Spirit is going to be plugged solid when I leave here. Roof rack and all. I need to really keep purchases to a minimum size. In effect, when I buy new clothes the old one's get tossed. I am checking with Jesús constantly to see what I am going to be forced to bring. My Oster convection oven, and microwave get left behind. Work bench too. ACK!

[Naio]

Mex, I didn't think about this till now because I use jugs, too, but why don't you have a tank and electric pump? Or 5gal and electric pump? Too hard to get parts?

[MEXICOWANDERER]

"I gotta get me wunna theeze!"

[cmcdar]

I use the hard plastic 5 gallon in my camper BUT - no flipping!

[Naio]

Lol, didn't realise that post would start a new page and be out of context. On my phone, so can't easily fix.

[Naio]

I really need a new starter motor for my body.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

"He is moving around.
Semi-permanent location , as I understand. RV hooked up to rented house, to use electricity."

Quicksilver remains at Rancho Laybacklenny in Michoacan. Here, I am ensconced on a 400 sq ft shack, consisting of 5/16" plywood nailed to 2X4's set on a cracked concrete pad. If I lean on one unsupported interior wall it may not remain as a wall.

The only thing separating the ho-hum indoors from the great outdoors is 5/16" plywood. No interior paneling and no, ahem, insulation. I think Ross Perot gave a slide show showing the neighborhood when he was running for president.

The '95 Spirit continues to break small things and I continue to have them fixed. Rear window motor broke, and now it is rebuilt. The car gets a new alternator, starter, fuel pump, master cylinder, and transmission cooler before I go home.

It's a race, to see who gets rebuilt more - me or the car. I forgot to mention the group 31 AGM battery for the car. Long repair lists, me and the Spirit...

[Naio]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:

I think I have the Firefox add on (No more 404's?)

I googled that... I think it is unrelated. I posted a link -- click on 'this' as in, 'I use this one'. Let me know if I should just repost. I really think this thing will improve your life :).

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Down here, the amoebas have thirty three eyes. No way José, does that get ingested. Thanks for the recycling codes. My coffee cup is a Wal-Mart 20 oz Bubba,

I think I have the Firefox add on (No more 404's?)

I'm at the store. Both it's modem and Niner's G-4 phartsmone internet have to travel south 500 miles by microwave towers to La Paz, where an Internet Service Divider, that I suspect consists of (5) Pentium 1 computers, connects to a 900 mile long fiber optic cable that runs north to Tijuana. After that only God knows where the signals go. Or don't.

[Almot]

Bleach is the only thing that kills bacteria. With chemicals it "reacts", destroying some and changing others.

In water it breaks down "mostly" into table salt. But it also releases hydroxyl radicals "HO", that can oxidize organic compounds present in water. This is where my understanding of chemistry ends. I guess possible dangers will depend on what organic compounds are there.