Augason Super Tanker after 2 years

[ratso1]

I bought a 250 gallon Augason Super Tanker February, 2013 and set it up in the corner of my garage. I made a pad of 2" untreated wood to set it on and filled it with a potable water hose. As it filled, I added 8-1/2 tablespoons of unscented concentrated Clorox. I curled up the hose and placed it on top of the tanker and then covered it with an old plastic mattress bag, just to keep the dust off. I covered the two corner windows on my garage door, so the garage gets almost no direct light. I live in West Texas, and I was a bit concerned about the intense summer heat, which is magnified in a closed-up garage.

I haven't touched it since then and basically forgot about it. I meant to change out the water after one year, as that seemed to be the consensus at the time from those that know about long-term water storage. But, one year quickly turned into two, and I hadn't done a thing with it. Yesterday, I removed the lid and did a whiff test. There was no odor. I then did a taste test and found the water palatable, although there was a slight plastic taste. The water was crystal clear, so I drank the full glass. I'm still alive! I would probably run it through a filter to try to clean up the taste if I were relying on it.

I decided to go ahead and drain the tanker and refill it. The draining process is long as I'm using gravity flow, and the bung is almost at ground level, so there's not much pressure to get it out, especially as the water level goes down. It's been draining for about 12 hours, and it's still not quite through. A small portable pump would be great to speed up the process.

Overall, I'm very pleased at the results at this time and probably won't revisit the tanker for another couple of years.

[LowKey]

I bought a 250 gallon Augason Super Tanker February, 2013 and set it up in the corner of my garage. I made a pad of 2" untreated wood to set it on and filled it with a potable water hose. As it filled, I added 8-1/2 tablespoons of unscented concentrated Clorox. I curled up the hose and placed it on top of the tanker and then covered it with an old plastic mattress bag, just to keep the dust off. I covered the two corner windows on my garage door, so the garage gets almost no direct light. I live in West Texas, and I was a bit concerned about the intense summer heat, which is magnified in a closed-up garage.

I haven't touched it since then and basically forgot about it. I meant to change out the water after one year, as that seemed to be the consensus at the time from those that know about long-term water storage. But, one year quickly turned into two, and I hadn't done a thing with it. Yesterday, I removed the lid and did a whiff test. There was no odor. I then did a taste test and found the water palatable, although there was a slight plastic taste. The water was crystal clear, so I drank the full glass. I'm still alive! I would probably run it through a filter to try to clean up the taste if I were relying on it.

I decided to go ahead and drain the tanker and refill it. The draining process is long as I'm using gravity flow, and the bung is almost at ground level, so there's not much pressure to get it out, especially as the water level goes down. It's been draining for about 12 hours, and it's still not quite through. A small portable pump would be great to speed up the process.

Overall, I'm very pleased at the results at this time and probably won't revisit the tanker for another couple of years.

Sounds like all is well.
You have a decent backup to your water supply, it works well, and has no problems.
You've solved a potential problem, and it's staying solved.
Congratulations, sounds like it's time to work on other prep issues (or increase your water storage...Texas can get thirsty quickly, yes?

[Paladin1]

Glad to hear that it lasted at least 2 yrs. Good to know.

Thanks.

[Tobias05]

Good news.

I figured water would be good for two years under ideal conditions, I'd just be worried about my garage floor settling even further after holding all that weight (basically a ton) in one corner spot for two consecutive years.

[Slugg]

That is good to know. I know a lot of people just assume they'd drink the neighbors swimming pool if it gets dry. I plan to do something like this once we finish purchasing our home. I'm glad it worked out for you because it was my plan to start and just encourages me to do it more.

[crypto]

Just as a pro-tip your best bet for cleaning the plastic taste out is activated charcoal. It's cheap enough that you can make a large-bore inline filter pretty cheaply

[Halfapint]

I'd just say if you treat it properly and do random samplings you probably do not need to empty it. Add a little more bleach and you'd be good. I'll second what crypto said, put an inline charcoal filter and you'll probably end up with better water than what comes through the tap.

You could even add a pressure chamber (say a 5 gallon air compressor tank) and have a solar set up that can pressurize that 5 gallon tank up to what city water is at. 40-60psi would be perfect for most applications. Just a thought.

[SteelWolf]

Thank you OP! I've been looking into some options for our cabin, and the Supertanker was one on my list. I think we'll jump on it.