Help! I am severly math challenged. I found some pool shock at the hardware store. The most I could find is 52% CH. I can't buy some online because I dont have a credit card. My problem is I dont know who much to use if lets say I want to treat a 5 gallon jug of water. I don't trust my math skills and am afraid to poison my family. Also I'm a little scared because the packaging says NOT to mix with a little bit of water. Now what? Did I buy the wrong stuff? Any help would be really appreciated. Thank you in advance. Marylp
Please help me do the math! (Calcium Hypoclorite)
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All you need is regular (5%), unscented chlorine bleach. Use about 16 drops per gallon, and this should be normal drinking water that you are wanting to keep for long term storage. Non-potable water raises other concerns: boiling water is not recommended unless you are using a distillation apparatus, otherwise you will just be concentrating any impurities. Filters, especially the carbon filters, do a good job of cleaning out the impurities, then you can use the bleach to kill any little bugs that manage to get through.
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Check youtube, there are a couple good videos on using pool shock crystals to purify water.
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If you use the 52%, you WILL kill yourself ! I am assuming you want to use the powdered form of chlorine because you want it to last longer?? Because as previously stated, use regular non scented household 5% bleach (16 drops per gallon) or if you have city water it already has chlorine in it so I only use a couple drops of bleach if I am going to store water.
Regular bleach will store approx 18 months before beginning to break down and eventually turn into water.
Regular bleach will store approx 18 months before beginning to break down and eventually turn into water.
1 lb of pool shock generally treats ("shocks") 10,000 gallons of water. A shock gets the chlorine level up to around 20ppm, not safe to swim in let alone drink.
If you were going to treat say 1 gallon of water I assume you would use 1/10,000 of a bag of shock, or 1/10,000th of a lb. Even still that would be the equivalent of of shocking a gallon of water, raising the level to 20+ppm, so you would have to wait a few days for the level to drop to a reasonable level.
Personally I would just go with liquid bleach and rotate it out fairly often. I work in a swimming pool store over the summers and deal with cal-hypo daily, and I wouldn't feel comfortable using it to sanitize small volumes of water, so definitely proceed with caution if you go this route.
If you were going to treat say 1 gallon of water I assume you would use 1/10,000 of a bag of shock, or 1/10,000th of a lb. Even still that would be the equivalent of of shocking a gallon of water, raising the level to 20+ppm, so you would have to wait a few days for the level to drop to a reasonable level.
Personally I would just go with liquid bleach and rotate it out fairly often. I work in a swimming pool store over the summers and deal with cal-hypo daily, and I wouldn't feel comfortable using it to sanitize small volumes of water, so definitely proceed with caution if you go this route.
Chlorine bleach degrades quickly, losing its strength. Powder or crystalline hydrogen hypo chloride is the way to go.
Check online, just goggle treating water with calcium hypo chloride. Basically you make up your own "bleach" solution, and then use that to disinfect your water as needed. You don't add the powder directly to the water unless maybe you are treating a large batch (55 gal or more?)
Making and using your own solution is no more dangerous than adding household bleach to the water because if you follow the directions its diluted to the same strength as Clorox. That way your hypo lasts much longer and you make up small batches of solution when needed.
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Don't risk the pool shock. Buy some regular chlorine bleach at the grocery store. It will kill all of the bacteria and viruses. Iodine can do the same thing, but I'm not sure how it compares to the bleach. If you want to get rid of the Iodine or bleach taste, buy a Berkey Filter with Black filters and filter the water through it.
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Amazing how much pool shock was touted as the best stuff to use and these are the results so far.
I trust my math about the same.
Hang in there and someone will come along.
I got a gift card at wally world to do the online thing...
I trust my math about the same.
Hang in there and someone will come along.
I got a gift card at wally world to do the online thing...
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Marylp Google it, like said above. Look for the survival topics web site lots of good info there.
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One of the problems with any formula is that it's assumed the water is already clean. I don't care if it's a dew drops of Clorox or a pinch of Hypo it's all guesswork.
My questions to those doing this is what's the bacteria and virus count in the water you're treating? If you don't know how can you know if your putting in enough to kill everything.
And those touting Clorox would likely be ill if the grid goes down. It's constantly loosing strength. The warmer it is the quicker it happens, but it's always happening.
For safe water you want to test it. Residual chlorine is easy to test. Most hardware store, Lowe, Home Depot or pool supply stores all sell a cheap test kit.
With it you can check and be certain that you're using enough or too much. You want a range from.5 ppm to 3 ppm. More or less then this isn't safe.
I work in making potable water and there's no way I could make safe drinking water without this test. We constantly monitor with inline meters and also are required to test every 2 hours just to make sure the inline meters are working properly. If they fail I'm required to test every 15 minutes.
And it's not like clear looking water is always the same. We're frequently adjusting the amount added, occasionally huge changes, though the water 'looks' the same. Muddy water just compounds the problem.
For SHTF situations you'll want to make a solution. Doesn't really make much difference in it's strength but say 1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon to 1 gallon of water. Mix it up and let it stand for a while, maybe 1/2 hour. Most will dissolve but some will sink to the bottom. From this you'll gradually add this to the water you want to treat. Start small so you don't over dose it, like maybe a teaspoon (maybe just a few drops, depending on the strength of the solution and how much stuff is in the water.) Stir it up, wait a few minutes and test. If it's in range you're good to go. If low add some more, if high dilute with more water.
Sorry but there isn't an easier way if you want safe water. Anyone giving you a simple equation to treat water is a danger to themselves and other. They'd never make it in my profession.
My questions to those doing this is what's the bacteria and virus count in the water you're treating? If you don't know how can you know if your putting in enough to kill everything.
And those touting Clorox would likely be ill if the grid goes down. It's constantly loosing strength. The warmer it is the quicker it happens, but it's always happening.
For safe water you want to test it. Residual chlorine is easy to test. Most hardware store, Lowe, Home Depot or pool supply stores all sell a cheap test kit.
With it you can check and be certain that you're using enough or too much. You want a range from.5 ppm to 3 ppm. More or less then this isn't safe.
I work in making potable water and there's no way I could make safe drinking water without this test. We constantly monitor with inline meters and also are required to test every 2 hours just to make sure the inline meters are working properly. If they fail I'm required to test every 15 minutes.
And it's not like clear looking water is always the same. We're frequently adjusting the amount added, occasionally huge changes, though the water 'looks' the same. Muddy water just compounds the problem.
For SHTF situations you'll want to make a solution. Doesn't really make much difference in it's strength but say 1/8 to 1/2 teaspoon to 1 gallon of water. Mix it up and let it stand for a while, maybe 1/2 hour. Most will dissolve but some will sink to the bottom. From this you'll gradually add this to the water you want to treat. Start small so you don't over dose it, like maybe a teaspoon (maybe just a few drops, depending on the strength of the solution and how much stuff is in the water.) Stir it up, wait a few minutes and test. If it's in range you're good to go. If low add some more, if high dilute with more water.
Sorry but there isn't an easier way if you want safe water. Anyone giving you a simple equation to treat water is a danger to themselves and other. They'd never make it in my profession.
check this site.
http://www.survivaltopics.com/survi...-use-calcium-hypochlorite-to-disinfect-water/
"How to Disinfect Water Using Calcium Hypochlorite
Using granular calcium hypochlorite to disinfect water is a two step process.
To make a stock of chlorine solution (do not drink this!) dissolve 1 heaping teaspoon (about one-quarter of an ounce) of high-test (78%) granular calcium hypochlorite for each two gallons (eight liters) of water.
To disinfect water add one part of the chlorine solution to 100 parts water to be treated.
Let the mixture sit for at least one-half hour before drinking.
Be sure to obtain the dry granular calcium hypochlorite since once it is made into a liquid solution it will begin to degrade and eventually become useless as a disinfecting agent. This also means you should make your treated drinking water in small batches, for example enough for a few weeks at a time at most."
Hope this helps.
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Thread that discusses water purification - http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=90938
List of threads about water purification - http://www.survivalistboards.com/tags.php?tag=water+purification
List of threads about water purification - http://www.survivalistboards.com/tags.php?tag=water+purification
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The reason people are choosing calcium hypochlorite over bleach is that bleach has a short shelf life and calcium hypochlorite can last for years. With calcium hypochlorite, you can make bleach on demand any time you need it, for water sanitizing or other household uses.
1 heaping tsp of shock to 2 gallons of water will give you solution. Now take 1/4 cup of solution and add it to 6 quarts of water and this will give you bleach. Now take your bleach you have just made adn take a dropper and get 5 drops of it and add it to 1 gallon of water adn voila!! This will make you shock last a very long time.
:Edited to add, MAKE SURE CALCIUM HYPOCHLORITE SHOULD BE THEE ONLY ACTIVE INGREDIENT IN SHOCK!!!
Ham radio classaes from what I am hearing are easy and the test to pass and become licensed (another govt regulated must, what would we do with out them:thumb
is easy as well. Then a nice set up to talk and hear world wide can be expensive. But you can get nice ones with more local and up to 100+ mile range for a lot less money,like 300-400$ range.I am taking ham classes and look to try and get something that can at least get a range of a few hundred miles and hope to spend no more than 3-4 hundred.,
This, I believe will be thee only way to really stay up to date when SHTF, cause internet will go right off the bat
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For standard 6% bleach, the ratio is 8 drops per gallon for clear water or 16 drops per gallon for cloudy or suspect water.1 heaping tsp of shock to 2 gallons of water will give you solution. Now take 1/4 cup of solution and add it to 6 quarts of water and this will give you bleach. Now take your bleach you have just made adn take a dropper and get 5 drops of it and add it to 1 gallon of water adn voila!! This will make you shock last a very long time.
Edited to add, MAKE SURE CALCIUM HYPOCHLORITE SHOULD BE THEE ONLY ACTIVE INGREDIENT IN SHOCK!!!
What percentage strength of pool shock is your mix ratio for? They come in different strengths. If your ratio is for 78% it would need adjusted for 52% or whatever.
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