Can a 50 Gallon Plastic Barrel be Disinfected?

bleach is well recognized as a way to clean water storage containers. you will need to slosh the bleach around thoroughly and then rinse the entire barrel several times - this is not the easiest thing to do, given its size. getting the physical moss residue out could be an issue.

chlorine dioxide can be used to stabilize the water once you've cleaned the barrel. (amazon has vendors selling a 50 gallon treatment for about $15)

note that 50 gallons weighs about 400 pounds.

that said, i am questioning the reasoning - is it simply to make use of the barrel? if you really want to store water for emergencies, you may want to buy a dozen or two 2.5 gallon containers (amazon, uline). you will need to stabilize the water (or change it every 6 months), but a bunch of 20 pound containers is much more manageable.

these are the translucent white poly variety.

the listed article says to use food grade barrels that did not hold toxic material.

Is the plastic really holding trace chemicals even after repeated rinse treatments with bleach / vinegar / baking soda plus daily UV exposure?

What would a water test reveal on water collected in a new food grade bucket v's old chem barrel?

Where I worked we made liquid smoke, we used IBC totes, and that liquid smoke is food grade,... its somewhat lethal in the concentrate. And it stains the plastic.

Depends on the chemicals that were in the barrel, but gardening water- almost certainly; emergency drinking water- for me, that would have to be a REAL emergency!

Not so much because of the chemicals but just that you are basically using it as a cistern, and as you see they are likely to accumulate biological contamination. That's likely because of the organics in the rainwater (including off your roof!) that provide nutrients, and being translucent the moss gets sunlight permeating the barrel. Perfect for moss.

As far as cleaning, if you get new ones look at the labels. I'd avoid any that were drying agents or "spray waxes" as those usually contain mineral oils etc. and also loads of fragrance that could penetrate the plastic, and will definitely be much harder to rinse out. Something like an alkaline prewash or regular foam soap would be a better choice as that would be much easier to clean, and the chemicals are somewhat similar to dish or laundry detergent.

In the same way as one wouldn't choose to drink water from a puddle, one wouldn't choose to do it from a plastic cistern.

<...gardening water...>? Certainly.

I grow food in my garden. If it's. It suitable for drinking, why let my food drink it.

Having some liners around if needed might not be a bad idea.

Oxygenate the water in the barrel. The moss/algae grows when the water is warm and stagnant. Oxygen is an excellent bleach.

Just use a bleach mix and roll the drum around to spread the bleach over the surface. Rinse the drums and use them for water.

After all here we store our water in plastic tanks, fibreglass tanks, concrete tanks or metal tanks for drinking, cooking and all household uses. All we do is filter the water through a 5 micron filter to remove the small residue. Anything that dissolves and falls on the roof will end up in the tanks which gives the immune system a constant challenge.

Town water is not available and anyway it often fails on TDS and Salinity so all the town houses have a tank for drinking water. Is our air pure well if you take into account there is an 1800MW coal fired power station, coal mine, rural and forestry activities not to forget the birds and marsupials taking a dump on the roof then you get the picture of external inputs.

We have used tank water all our lives and are still generating our share of CO2. People use 1000L pods to cart water for all sorts of uses as they are cheap around here and make good water storage containers.

Just use them as you think fit and challenge your immune system occasionally.

I like what I've learned.

I don't have a green build up as I bleached away any sign of it early on.

I consider it a good sign of a low chemical condition.

..I'd say I'm safe to proceed with using these barrels to settle out highly fertilized water pumped from the pond . After a week or two using the top clear water to water the garden, and directing rain water to the pond from settling barrels if possible.

Without actively testing for both live bacteria and for dissolved substances, and making sure these are below World Health Organisation boundary recommendations, the risk in consuming it is entirely on the drinker's shoulders.

Public utilities test these things routinely all the time, ensuring that every drop coming out of the taps is compliant.

One cannot purify anything by adding stuff to it; the only way to do it is to take stuff away from it.

Have you thought about using uv light sterilizers like the type used for aquariums ? These can also be used in your ventilation system, wire the light in series with the blower fan.

Hello,

Is your life and that of your visitors worth the cost saved?

I would NEVER drink water from a recovered/repurposed drum as you describe and would be reluctant to use the water on plants for human consumption.

If the recovered drum was from "food grade" usage, like transporting bulk honey, corn syrup or olive oil, then probably yes, but detergents, "No thanks" since it may have been used prior for chemical like herbicide or insecticide that can permeate the plastic and leach out over years.

If they were metallic, then cleaning can be more effective, but even then I'd still be reluctant.

Putting it to a smaller scale, How many times would you rinse a laundry bleach bottle before using it to give your children to drink water from?

I'm talking about using a recovered drum for emergency drinking water in and end of days situation.

If you and your family would pass a drum full of water because you didn't know the history of a drum filled with what looks and smells and tasted like clean clear water, that's your business. I hope you aren't dying of dehydration. I have bottled water to get by but all things come to an end. it's just a question.

I've had these drums open top for years absorbing and exposing them to UV and heaps of organic waste. They always seem clean and fresh as a pickle.

I mentioned sending in water for a quality test. Or would that not be adequate?

As for the bleach bottle turned water bottle? in an end of days situation? Fewer times that you would think. but that's just me.

I will look at the labels to see if they had washing soap or worse for future barrels.

I personally wouldn't use a used metal drum for anything (except fire) in any condition. Too many variables and nooks and crannies. I ain't cuhrazy.

Three times. Because I know and understand what the chemicals involved are. A triple rinse is the standard "no residue" industrial cleaning.

However, I would never do it anyways. Not because of residue but because I don't EVER want them to think about drinking from a bleach bottle.

? Co x-ray sterilizer - Google search ? i can't spot the related test data

Disinfecting Imaging Equipment During COVID19 Outbreak | Diagnostic Imaging

Company near use had 270 gallon IBC tubes For repackaging... that had armour-all type product in... $25.00

I just kept rinsing it out and used it as a rain barrel. (I have three around the corners of the house, looking to get one more. 1” of rain fills them up). I then put a lattice around them. And plant shrubs in front of that.

after installing,... I let the rain fill them up, the first few times, and just drain them out, until I could smell the armour-all. But my wife only use it for flowers... not much for vegetables. Depending what’s in there, I’d hold off...

I know that it didn’t affect the flowers,.... or the bees.

they also repackage for hotel shampoo,... that’s wasn’t too bad,... except for the fragrance, its actually a fertilizer.

one thing is, after a few years, up you’ll have an algae growth.