# chlorine bleach container safe for drinking water?



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

I found a place to pick up some heavy duty 15 gallon drums with bungs that had chlorine bleach in them.
I know what bleach is and I have seen where it is wreckamended to ad small amounts of bleach to water
for long term storage so the bleach doesn't worry me too much. But chlorine? Isn't the stuff they put in pools?
Nice small drums for free. Also how can I tell if the plastic is ok for fuel? I put a little puddle of gas in one about a week ago and tilted the drum where I can stick my finger in the drum and see if the gas has deteriorated the 
plastic. I figure I'll check it in a few weeks and see. But is there and markings that I should look for to see if
the plastic will work for gas?


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

As far as I know, bleach is 4% or 5% chlorine in water, but often has other ingredients too. For example, Clorox contains; sodium hypochlorite, sodium chloride, sodium carbonate, sodium chlorate, sodium hydroxide, & sodium polyacrylate (Source)

Yes, the same chlorine they use in pools, though pool chlorine can also have other stuff mixed in. Chlorine is routinely added to most public drinking water supplies.

You can find a decent discussion on storing fuel in plastic drums HERE

I don't wanna just plagiarize the guy, who has been storing gas for 15 years. He seems to know his shit.


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## Inor (Mar 22, 2013)

Yeah - I think I agree with the Doodle. I swam in public pools as a kid (with all of the same chemicals Prepadoodle describes) mixed in. Whenever I swallowed pool water I blew chow like a fountain. Not a good plan for a prepper.

Jus' sayin'


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

I know you are looking for facts, not a babysitter, but I'm gonna offer an opinion too... probably not worth doing in most cases.

First of all, there might be legal considerations. How much fuel are you legally allowed to store?

Second are safety concerns. If something bad does happen, having a bunch of fuel stored could turn into a nightmare real fast. If the storage building gets hit by lightning or something and a fire starts, would your insurance cover the damages? What if it spread to your house? What if a firefighter got hurt or killed fighting the fire?

There are also environmental concerns. If there _is_ an accident, EPA would almost certainly get called in, and that's one cleanup bill you don't want to pay. Not to mention possible fines and possibly criminal prosecution.

If all goes well, you would have a little fuel in case the SHTF. If it goes bad, you could literally lose everything.

I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but wow, that could be one hairy roll of the dice, you know?


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## Prepadoodle (May 28, 2013)

Well, the Clorox site says it is safe to use to purify water...

_"Emergency Water Disinfection

When boiling off water for 1 minute is not practical, disinfect water by the following method:
1. Remove suspended particles by filtering or letting particles settle to the bottom.
2. Pour off clear water into a clean container.
3. Add 12 drops (1/8 teaspoon) of Clorox® Regular-Bleach1, concentrated (not scented or Clorox® Plus® bleaches) to two gallons of water (2 drops to 1 quart). For cloudy water, use 24 drops per two gallons of water (3 drops to 1 quart).
4. Let treated water stand for 30 minutes. Water should have a slight bleach odor. If not, repeat and wait another 15 minutes. The treated water can then be made palatable by pouring it between clean containers several times."_

http://www.clorox.com


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## Rigged for Quiet (Mar 3, 2013)

I subscribe to the idea that never store food or water in a container that did not previously contain food or water.


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## Leon (Jan 30, 2012)

if you cleaned it out really good and allowed all that chlorine to oxidize, for at least short term storage I'm sure it would be fine.


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## GTGallop (Nov 11, 2012)

Do this...
Get one.
Fill it with water and leave it out in the sun for like a month.
Drain and refill for month #2.
Then after two months in the sun drain and fill. Let is sit a week or so. Sample the water and take it to a pool store (not Leslies). They can tell you how much chlorine is leaching into the water.

If it is acceptable, you are good to go.
If not, lather, rinse, repeat.


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## Nathan Jefferson (May 11, 2013)

I probably wouldn't do it, unless you had no other option... If they are giving them away they have probably been used multiple times - and might not have contained bleach each time!

Bleach is toxic if ingested in quantity, but as people stated above you most likely drink it in tap water everyday, just in VERY small quantities. But I'm weird like that and still wouldn't do it.


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## retired guard (Mar 7, 2013)

Back when I was LDS using old bleach bottles for H2O storage was recommended. I still think I would relegate that water to cleaning.


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## Montana Rancher (Mar 4, 2013)

70% of your water usage will not be drinking, I would suggest tapping this source to the max and plan on using the water for washing, bathing, cleaning, rinsing, etc. if things get bad then drink it, it will be better than dying of dehydration.

If you leave bleached water exposed to open air the bleach will evaporate off.


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