Plastic barrels can absorb whatever they previously stored and it can be impossible to remove. Rule of thumb for used drinking water containers is to only use containers that stored edible liquids - sweeteners, soy sauce, vegetable oil, etc. However, your barrel could still come in handy as a way to store non-potable water for things like washing clothes, flushing toilets, etc.

 

What do you plan on doing with the rainwater?

I wouldn't use it for potable water.
http://www1.mscdirect.com/MSDS/MSDS00016/05436993-20110708.PDF

 

It stored Potassium Hydroxide in a liquid solution as a cleaning agent. Potassium Hydroxide is very similar to Sodium Hydroxide, which is also called lye.

Problem is multifold here. First is they do not list what else was mixed in with it. The Potassium Hydroxide is toxic until it is diluted enough and without the other components listed you cannot be sure of their persistence or toxicity.

But the biggest issue here is the maker of the solution did not need to pay extra for a food safe barrel. Those cost more and manufacturers will not spend the extra on a fluid they have no belief will be used in foods or on food handling equipment by the buyer of the solution. They never care about further downstream users of an empty barrel.

So the barrel itself was never food safe to begin with.

It has some use as a gray water storage container to water your lawn and ornamentals in the yard. It should never be used to hold potable water, food gardening water, or water you intend to make potable.

 

"Which is also called lye". FUHGEDABOUDIT! I would be bringing that barrel to the dump immediately. Keep prepping!:xeye:

 

Sounds like the start of a wood gas refinery.

 

I wouldn't even use it for garden watering .... it most certainly has a chemical taint to it .... they all do .... the food grade ones don't have anything that will crap out your kidneys or eat you out with cancer ....

cut the top out and a set of handles .... they make garbage cans ....

 

I find my barrels at the local feed store. The ones that I like are the olive barrels. I can remember when they had tons and tons of these and prices were cheap. Nowadays they never seem to have them and when they do they are expensive.

What do the rest of you see out there?

 

I get my blue and white barrels from meat and dairy processing plants. I try to get the ones with lactic acid in them. Lactic acid is used during processing to clean and disinfect meat products. I just rinse them thoroughly. Mind you I don't use them for water storage.

 

I have a couple of blue barrels that livestock grade iodine came in. Even though it was claimed they were pressure washed, I know there is still enough iodine leeched into the plastic to make it non-potable. But it should be ok for bathing and other things. At least I know bacteria wont grow in them.

 

Wow, that's a new concept to me. What do they use the iodine for? Do they feed it to the livestock or paint their cuts with it or ?

Thanks.

I have been advocating taking a couple drops of iodine daily for health. Do they do this as well with cattle?

 

I have some blue barrels that had pool bleach previously--what the preppers suggest to use for purifying drinking water. That shouldn't cause any problems for drinking water...

Your opinions?

 

Again barrel never expected to hold food or have the contents used on food or food processing equipment. The barrel itself was unusable even before the contents were put in.

It really doesn't matter how benign the contents were. If it wasn't food, to be used in food, or to be used on food prep surfaces then the barrel was non-food grade at the time it was purchased new and unused.

 

They sell thin plastic inserts for 55gallon drums you could use to line it then hold water if that's what you really want it for.

 

That's actually a really good idea. Over here, you can buy large plastic wheelie bin liners that would do the job just nicely. :thumb:

 

You could use it to store non potable water and consider it as EMERGENCY drinking water, better than dying of thirst.If I needed it I would store some water in it for awhile then take some of the water out and put some small fish in the water. If they die within a day or two I wouldn't drink that water, ever.

 

You could use it to store non potable water and consider it as EMERGENCY drinking water, better than dying of thirst.If I needed it I would store some water in it for awhile then take some of the water out and put some small fish in the water. If they die within a day or two I wouldn't drink that water, ever.

The disaster is not upon us now. There is no reason to use a container that was never meant for potable water as an emergency fallback container given the ability to get a proper container now.

Your advice is only useful well into a very long term disaster and barrels have become scarce because society isn't making them anymore.

The 21st century still exists. Use it.

 

Some one said to trash it, never!!!

I have some unquestionable barrels that I use for sprayer tanks, some for fuel. Even though I have regular diesel tanks I also use some blue ????? barrels for fuel with a hand pump. I have done this for years.

You can always use the barrel water for cleaning, mixing, other stuff, just never for foodstuff.

 

If it really held lye then it is really not a poison except in huge concentration. Not micro doses. I use lye to make hominy. Lye used to be used to make soap, and I suppose lots of kids had their mouths washed with it.

55 gal barrels are about the right height to make a workbench. I have two of them with a 2x6 top bolted across the top that makes a really nice bench on the south side of my shop where I like to work in the sunshine in the winter. With some water in them the bench never moves.

 

If it really held lye then it is really not a poison except in huge concentration. Not micro doses. I use lye to make hominy. Lye used to be used to make soap, and I suppose lots of kids had their mouths washed with it.

It isn't the contents now gone that is the issue. It is the barrel itself that was never food safe to begin with.

 

I want to thank everybody for the help and advice.

I wouldn't need it for emergency water since I've got a creek in my back yard which I can get water from but I just thought it'd be something that I can use to store drinking water.. but I guess not. I am disappointed but what can I do?
I guess I'll just have to search around or buy one that's food grade.

Thank you everyone once again.

 

What if there is a dead body in the water upstream? Or someone using it as a bathroom?
And for the barrel liners, well everyone I have seen storing water has the barrel with bungs in it, not the removable top.

 

I have some black food grade barrels but I have no idea what was in them before (the remnants where crystalized at the bottom and foamed up when washed, I believe it was a detergent of some kind because the foam smelled really nice) I use them to hold non potable water for cleaning and washing. Your barrel might be worth keeping for other uses!

Edit: I also made a wood stand and placed one of the barrels on top with a shower hose out of the bottom with an on and off valve. The sun heats up the water and I can take a pretty decent shower outside now.

 

I have some black food grade barrels but I have no idea what was in them before.........

No barrel is marked on the plastic itself if it is food grade. Ever.

You can only know if it is food grade if you have the guarantee document from the barrel maker of a brand new unused barrel or the food label still on it from the first user who filled it with the food product or the first actual consumer of the food product. If it passes to a 3rd party after that then the chain of verifiable custody is broken for good, rendering even food grade buckets as unsafe and no longer food grade.

Barrel maker, seller of new barrels, food packing company that filled the barrel, consumer of the food product in the barrel. These four entities are the ONLY ones who can produce for you a safe food grade barrel.

If you don't know what was in the barrel then you cannot know if it is food grade or not. Some reseller's assurances are never enough because resellers are notoriously unscrupulous.

 

I wouldn't get rid of the barrel, even if it's unacceptable for holding drinking water. In an extended crisis where the power and water weren't working, an extra 50+ gallons of water for showering and flushing toilets would be a God-send. Unless the thing is in the way somehow, or an ugly eyesore out in the yard, I'd fill it with tap water and a shot of bleach, and forget about it. :thumb:

 

Barrel/drum liners come in various sizes, thicknesses and probably different polymers. For water I'd be more comfortable with 15 mil liner. http://www.uline.com/BL_6755/Molded-Poly-Drum-Liners

4 mil is a decent thickness for a plastic bag but not sure how durable it is in a drum application. http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=34137

 

Yeah, I don't like labels either. When I buy any new furniture or mattress I rip off that stupid label then put on my gas mask and grab my AR and wait for the feds to come, but they never do. Who knew that it was because this whole time once I pull the label off a mattress it's no longer a mattress for human use.

 

Bubbadreier, are you incapable of offering a complete and cogent argument that doesn't require a line by line itemization with the intent of splitting hairs?

 

I'm irritated you tried to turn this into a debate instead of catching my meaning.


Do you think just you and I are having a disagreement here alone?

I really don't care if you store your water in old battery acid drums. People do stupid stuff all the time. I could care less about what you actually do at your home.

But you are talking to not only those in this thread, but every lurker and every person who will read this later. Their takeaway from your commentary is that as long as they think it is food grade then it is a good idea to store water in it. So they answer a craigslist ad or meet some guy who says he can get a great deal on barrels for them who swears they are food grade. Or they find a barrel that has something as benign as dish soap in it and figures that is likely fine to use. And then they poison themselves because they saw others HERE ON SB being casual about the matter.

When you talk here about what you do at home that is inherently dangerous then you put others at risk, because people come here to get good answers.

The correct answer always on this forum is that food grade barrels always have the food label on them or they are not food grade. To say absolutely anything else gives the novice reader the impression that rule is not hard and fast.

So feel happy you won the debate. Now how will you feel when some n00b to prepping comes here to learn and takes your casual stance because they they don't know any better and assumes you know what you are talking about......and gets themselves poisoned?

Glad to see you've tried to become a fine upstanding member of this prepper community.

By definition this was a debate. I didn't turn it into a debate, it was a debate. Obviously this was not between just you and I. The point of an open forum is that anyone can chime in, they just chose not to.

It is awesome that you care so little for me, but the lurkers that come on here need to be cared for. That is just cruel. Just having fun, I know what you mean. You are assuming a lot about the intelligence of the community in your post. It is not fair to assume what people will think. Now with assumptions out of the way, I don't think them to be food grade, I know them to be food grade. I will state this one more time for you, since I do not know for certain what was in them before I bought them, I am using them for grey water. You said yourself, food grade barrels are made differently then other barrels, so knowing exactly where these barrels come from and the regulations that the factory has in place, tells me that these barrels had to be made to the standard of a food grade barrel. So no they are not food grade barrels, they are barrels made out of food grade plastics. I learned my lesson there. I might be being casual on the issue but who are you to tell me that I must not use these barrels for grey water because they are not food grade.


It would be the readers own fault for not doing their own research. By what seems to be your reasoning throughout this post, if anything is posted on this website then others will take it to be fact. Lets make sure from here on out no one expresses any opinion on SB, lest someone makes a bad decision based on our opinions. No one try anything or do anything that could be a danger to anyone that reads on this website. No trying to can your own food, or trying food that are out of date. No building your own bunkers. No loading up a BOB and practicing with it (someone might break an ankle). No anything that could endanger others that read what you post. That is basically how parts of your post reads. I know that is not your intention but we have to be mindful of what we post.


I do not feel as though I won this argument, I conceded to you and I learned to not call a food grade barrel without a content label a food grade barrel. You have won that debate. They are not food grade barrels, they are barrels made out of food grade plastics.

I wouldn't feel bad about anything, they made choices as an adult. They read my argument and they read yours. It is up to them to make their own informed decision. Let me put it this way, If I skydive and tell everyone how much fun it was, and then they go jump out of a plane with a parachute and die is it my fault? Should I feel bad? No. Now if I pressured that person to go skydiving, and just kept insisting that they needed to do it, then they died, that is a different story.

In closing, I posted my stance, you posted yours, it is up them them as adults to do their own research and make their own decisions, but with your rational that makes me a disreputable member of this community. I don't know your rational behind that statement but you are entitled to it.

___________________________________

I can argue my point in paragraph form if that would make it easier for you.

Line by line itemization gives the reader a reference point for the argument. It allows the reader to not have to go back and reference the previous post for every statement that was made on my behalf. It also allows the poster (a.k.a me) a reference point to make their arguments. Sorry it is a hold over from other forums I am apart of where it is the norm to do so. I also do realize that within this forum it does actually reference the previous posts under the dialog box it is just awkward for me since I am not used to it.

Yes I did split hairs but I did admit that I did it in jest. :thumb:

 

Thank you everyone for the reply's and telling me that it isn't safe to use for drinking water.
I think I'll just end up dumping it.

Well, that's rather short-sighted. People use a LOT more water than just the amount needed to satisfy their thirst! Set it up as a rain-barrel, and you can use it for watering, doing clothes [an esp. good purpose if it previously held alkaline solvent!] or just running thru the power washer to clean your 2nd story windows...

 

Even if you rip the label off a previously marked food grade barrel, nothing is changed in the molecular structure of the barrel as to render it unsafe to store water.. If you have a barrel that was and still is marked as food grade, but have been storing nasty chemicals in it, I wouldn't want to start using it to store drinking water. Not to mention if you are in such a state that you REALLY need water, would you rather try filtering water you've had stored in a barrel or try going around scrounging for ground water to collect, then filter? I'll take my chances filtering the tap water that I put in a barrel, whether it has some bureaucratic label in tact on it or not.

 

Even if you rip the label off a previously marked food grade barrel, nothing is changed in the molecular structure of the barrel as to render it unsafe to store water.. If you have a barrel that was and still is marked as food grade, but have been storing nasty chemicals in it, I wouldn't want to start using it to store drinking water. Not to mention if you are in such a state that you REALLY need water, would you rather try filtering water you've had stored in a barrel or try going around scrounging for ground water to collect, then filter? I'll take my chances filtering the tap water that I put in a barrel, whether it has some bureaucratic label in tact on it or not.

You stated the fundamental difference. The part in bold makes you the end user. Whomever takes the label off themselves becomes the terminal user. The item becomes non-transferable as a food grade container from that point forward.

The point I've been trying to make this whole time is to insist on seeing the label yourself. Absolutely verify to your knowledge that the container is food grade. Let no one ever tell you it is food grade unless they were the container maker themselves. The maker is the only entity with its neck on the line if the container isn't food grade and claims it is.

The prior "debate" was my attempt to point out that allowing anyone other than the container maker to state it is food grade without a label is a fools play. The only way to verify the container is food grade once the label is gone is a destructive lab test that isn't going to be cheap and you don't get to use the container by the time it is done.

And when you talk in a forum filled with mixed levels of experience you should always state the only safe used container is one you have personally seen the food label on. No amount of trust should be given to second or third hand assurances of the container's safety.