How To Clean 5 Gallon Water Cooler
One of the easiest, yet most important things y'all must do to prepare is shop at least two weeks of water in your home. The majority of Americans accept less than 12 hours worth of h2o in their home, nevertheless humans die after merely three days without it. We spent 34 hours researching and testing all of the pop pocket-sized containers to find the best one for emergency h2o storage. We recommend the Reliance Rhinoceros v.5 gallon H2o Container and Scepter 5 gal Military Water Can.
These containers are usually one of the first things people buy when starting to accept emergency preparedness seriously. That's because having h2o stored ahead of time, ready to use, is one of the most impactful things you tin can exercise. And information technology'south cheap and easy!
The key departure between these kinds of smaller jerry cans and larger water tanks/barrels is that they're pocket-sized enough for an average adult to carry by hand, on pes, when full of water. Even if you have larger tanks, it's a great idea to have some of these smaller ones around for when you demand to travel for refills, and then on.
Related reviews: All-time portable water filters, portable water purifiers, water canteens, and home water filters
Top Pick
Best container for virtually people:
Reliance Rhinoceros 5.five Gal Water Container
Toughest container in the heart tier price form. Somewhat stackable for short term storage. Comes with everything you need. Survived our drop and beat tests.
- Buy from Camping Earth
- Bank check price on Walmart
If y'all want to buy simply ane type of container to concur your near critical emergency h2o needs, the 5.5 gallon Reliance Rhinoceros is a neat bargain. Typically found around $xx, it's reasonably priced and just a few dollars higher up the more than common Aqua-Tainer (our budget pick). That actress money buys a tougher and thicker container that will survive things similar earthquakes and adventitious drops much better than its cheaper siblings.
The Rhino was one of the easiest to carry among all the containers we tested. It pours well and has a better screw cap for the airflow vent, rather than the cheap push button-pin style plugs found on many other similarly-priced containers.
The Rhinoceros too has a sorta-stackable feature built into the side walls — you wouldn't want to store them stacked for the long term, and we found one of the side walls will bow out a little over fourth dimension, but it'due south a handy feature for short term apply (like moving them in your machine). Note that information technology's non unusual for any of the products in this $10-25 price tier to leak a little around the cap if you agree the container upside down or on its side. You'll need to upgrade if you desire better manufacturing quality…
Upgrade
All-time overall can:
Scepter 5 Gal Military H2o Can
The best overall water can we've ever tested. Built tough. Military machine tested features. Very large fill hole, secondary spout hole, spiral elevation airflow vent. Nice spigot accessories.
- Check price on REI
- Buy from Walmart
Our upgrade pick is the Scepter 5 gallon Military Water Can. They are the toughest container over five gallons we tested. The MWCs have military tested and practical features similar a giant iv" filling pigsty, a locking band to prevent accidental loosening, a smaller 1" pour spout with no moving or reversible parts, and molded stability feet.
At around $50 (later on shipping) they are twice as expensive as the Reliance Rhino and iii times equally expensive every bit the budget Reliance Aqua-Tainer pick — merely we think information technology'south a very worthy upgrade that will serve you well in a crunch and concluding for 20 years, saving y'all money in the long run. We are at present personally using these Scepter WMCs in our preps.
Budget
- Check price on Amazon
- Buy from REI
Cheapest way to store enough water:
Reliance Aqua-Tainer 7 Gal
Good value in a cheaper package. Stores more water than normal for its toll class, but may be too heavy for some. Comes with everything you need. Not as durable and may crack, but does accept five year warranty.
- Check price on Amazon
- Buy from REI
Our budget pick is the 7 gallon Reliance Aqua-Tainer. It's a popular option found in many stores for around $20. The cheaper cost means less durable plastic that is prone to denting and cracking, simply dollar-for-dollar nosotros were impressed with how well Reliance made this affordable option.
If you're on a tight budget, buying two of these per person is the cheapest fashion to get your ii weeks of water supply covered. Their cube shape stores well and sits nicely on a tabletop edge with an included and reversible bottom side h2o spigot. It didn't pass our drop and crush tests, but should survive gentle in-home apply.
Stackable
If you are space constrained:
WaterBrick 3.five Gal
Ultra-stackable up to v levels high. Mediocre caps and spigots, but the best way to store water in tight spaces. Very durable, y'all tin even use them as tables or defensive walls. Expensive.
Our space-saver pick is the WaterBrick. If your primary goal is to fit the most water in the smallest space possible, these ultra-stackable and durable water containers are your best bet. They are expensive — a gear up of four, or 14 gallons, will cost you lot around 2 times as much every bit alternatives, including the additional water spigot and cap yous must buy. If you're buying for two people, the 8 Pack might exist a better deal. We plant them a little disappointing in terms of storing and using water, but they easily passed our durability tests and can fit in random pockets of space around your dwelling.
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Best overall bang for your cadet: mix multiple containers
Because you lot demand at to the lowest degree 15 gallons per person and most households will need xxx-45 gallons total, you'll need to buy multiple 5-seven gallon containers.
Our recommendation for all-time overall container will piece of work groovy if you only purchase multiple of that product. That was part of our criteria for picking the best container — it had to be adept enough if it'south the only type you purchase.
But some containers had features that worked well in specific situations or were great budget options that didn't work well in every situation.
For example, the popular Reliance Aqua-Tainers are reasonably priced at $20 and practice a decent job. They were non good enough to exist our master pick, generally because they're made of thinner plastic that dings and cracks more than easily than the main choices. And then they might work fine if they are stationary in your dwelling and won't accept much abuse. Plus they take an reward over the jerry cans because they sit nicely on the edge of a countertop with a spigot on the bottom.
Our platonic mix for a home of two people:
- 2 Armed forces Water Cans with the extra spigot hose. 10 gallons total.
- Two Reliance Rhinos. 11 gallons full.
- One Reliance Aqua-Tainer. seven gallons.
Best budget mix for a home of 2 people:
- Two Reliance Rhinos. eleven gallons total.
- 3 Reliance Aqua-Tainers. 21 gallons full.
If yous're on a budget, endeavour to at least purchase one or two of the much more than durable Armed services or Rhino cans. Don't just buy v of the cheapest product. It's not worth saving $xl to discover out your emergency h2o has leaked out or is tainted when you need it almost. The cheaper options will likely demand to be replaced every few years due to cracking, so you'll end up spending more coin in the long run anyhow.
In this review:
- Why you should trust u.s.a.
- Minimum of xv gallons per person ready at all times
- FAQ / Quick tips on water storage
- How to clean a container
- You don't need to chemically treat tap water
- How nosotros picked
- Pricing and brands
- Chapters vs. weight vs. risk
- Toughness and durability
- Ease of storage
- Ease of apply
- Materials
- Shelf-life, condom, and container colors
- How we tested
- Filling and draining
- Storing
- Carrying by hand
- Leak tests
- Trounce tests
- Drop tests
- Top pick: Reliance Rhino
- Upgrade: USGI Military Water Tin
- Budget: Reliance Aqua-Tainer
- Stackable: WaterBricks
- Competition
Why you should trust usa
Nosotros spent over 34 hours researching and reviewing this topic, in addition to over 10 years of experience with many of these products in both survival and camping ground use. We reviewed over 20 products and personally bought and tested over 10 containers. The main author has personally researched, bought, installed, and maintained off-the-grid water systems with cisterns upward to two,500 gallons a slice. We use these recommendations in our own homes and considering water is so of import, we are trusting our family unit's lives with these products.
Store a minimum of 15 gallons per person
The Prepared's minimum recommendation is two weeks of supplies in your home. The rule of thumb is i gallon of water per person per 24-hour interval. And so you need a minimum of about xv gallons per person.
The quondam advice of 72 hours worth of supplies has been replaced by the two calendar week recommendation because in real disasters, emergency responders have taken upwards to 8-9 days to reply to everyone.
You lot don't demand to look far to see show of why this is and so of import. It might be a situation like Flintstone, Michigan where people were without make clean utility water for multiple months. Or later a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, where FEMA struggled for a full week to get drinkable water to everyone who needed it.
For case, afterwards the 1994 Northridge earthquake in Los Angeles that caused ~$25 billion in damage, l,000 homes were cutting off from water for at least five days. Some estimate that 12,000 homes still didn't have h2o most two weeks later.
H2o must exist gear up to use at all times
Water is so important, y'all want to cover the minimum two weeks supply without whatsoever unnecessary work or run a risk. Proper emergency water is just there and ready — always.
No searching for water, no filtering, no boiling, no filling the bathtub, no running to the store to buy cartons of bottled water, no depending on the 30 gallons in the water heater. Any extra stuff you have similar water filters in your issues out numberless, on-site wells, the bathtub, or your long term water purifiers are merely bonus backups.
Avoid shortcuts like bottled h2o, milk jugs, and office jugs
There's a few areas in prepping where information technology'south fine to use DIY habitation remedies and/or rotating stock in social club to save some coin. Water is not one of them.
Never use a container that held something other than food. If you endeavour and recycle things like milk or juice cartons, even though information technology'due south possible to properly clean out whatever existing bacteria, y'all don't want to run the risk only to save a few dollars in the brusque term. Also, even if you were able to totally sanitize something like a milk jug, they are often biodegradable and designed to interruption downward quickly.
Two liter soda bottles are a petty improve than milk or juice cartons (partly because the acrid in soda killed any milk-manner cultures), but they however fall curt because of existence transparent and not very durable. If you must use something off the shelf, attempt Arizona Green Tea jugs. They are sturdy and semi-opaque.
Many people think about a rotating organization, where they buy a carton of bottled water, drink it for daily use, and just continue replenishing the stock so that they ever have ii weeks worth on hand. Near survival experts and teachers agree that while this sounds overnice in theory, real life gets in the way and you could easily get caught off guard without enough water.
Bug with normal bottled water:
- Essentially a unmarried-utilise particular. You might demand to use these water containers for longer than ii weeks.
- Easy to crush / crack / break.
- Not infinite efficient. It's a lot more cumbersome to store 15 gallons of bottled h2o than 15 gallons in the proper containers reviewed here.
- Hard to move in majority. If you needed to suddenly moved ten gallons to a different location, or take them down to a river to refill, it's easier to catch and carry two big containers than a bunch of modest bottles.
- It'south more expensive in the long run. Tap water is costless.
- Why waste all that plastic?
- Shorter shelf life. They have shorter expiration dates and typically don't have the good chemic treatments that tap water does.
Office jugs (the big upside down ones) accept similar issues. They are by and large transparent, difficult to handle, and not designed for long term storage or emergencies. What if you lot don't have the base part? How do you reseal the jug?
Quick tips on water storage
- With the right container, water source, and storage, water can safely last 3-v years — but nosotros recommend rotating it every 2-3 years.
- Not all plastics are safe for storing water. Look for the number within the recycle symbol. Plastics 2, iv, and 5 are mostly OK for water storage. ane, 3, 6, and 7 are not.
- Plastic #2, also known equally HDPE, is mostly considered the all-time.
- Plastic tin can blot chemicals, so endeavour non to shop h2o containers on cement garage floors or other places where it will contact bad stuff.
- Light, oestrus, and leaner are the enemies of clean water storage.
- Don't recycle daily things similar soda bottles or milk jugs. If you must, be sure they are properly cleaned beforehand.
- When h2o freezes, it expands x%. If y'all must store water in a place it might freeze, but fill up your containers up ~85%.
How to clean a water container:
- Fill it with warm water and a little dish soap. Close cap. Shake. Bleed and rinse. This gets the obvious debris out of the tin can.
- Make full information technology with a quart (about xv seconds of normal faucet menses) and a teaspoon of unscented household chlorine bleach. Shut cap.
- Look xxx seconds. Shake well. Look 30 seconds once more.
- Drain and rinse.
- Air dry (or fill right away with make clean water).
You don't need to chemically treat water before or after storing
Unless you fear your local utility water has been having Flint-manner bug, every modernized water grid treats their water. When it comes out of your tap it already has some chemicals, like chlorine, in modest amounts approved by the FDA.
Assuming your container is properly cleaned and stored, you lot tin but fill up information technology with tap h2o and information technology volition exist prophylactic for at to the lowest degree a year.
If you desire to err on the side of caution, you tin can add together a little bit of water preserver. We might do a full chemical lab test on h2o preservers in the time to come, merely for now you lot can pick upwards the popular Water Preserver production or just employ 5 drops (1/8th of a teaspoon) of unscented basic household bleach (v.25% sodium hypochlorite) per gallon.
If your water comes from a well or other untested and untreated source, then we do recommend calculation the chemical preserver.
Exist conscientious about putting contaminants into the water. Wash your easily earlier touching the equipment. Launder the lids, caps, spouts, and inside of the container with soap or chlorine.
How nosotros picked
We started past researching as many legitimate product reviews, forum conversations, and guides on water storage equally nosotros could find. Combined with personal experience, we defined the most important qualities and what we were and were non looking for.
Nosotros searched Amazon, Walmart, REI, Cabelas, and the major prepper ecommerce stores and forums for any relevant products. Later reviewing over twenty options online, we picked x to test in person:
- WaterBrick. 2 packs of 3.5 gallons each, incl spigot.
- Reliance Aqua-Tainer. 7 gal.
- Reliance Rhino Pak. 5.5 gal.
- Reliance Desert Patrol. 6 gal.
- Reliance Jumbo-Tainer. 7 gal.
- Saratoga Farms Stackables. Four pack of 5 gal each.
- Scepter USGI Military Water Can. 5 gal.
- Scepter Water Tin. v gal.
- Igloo Cargo Ii 1402 H2o Can. half dozen gal. (Non pictured with group, tested separately).
- Ace Roto-Mold H2o Storage Tank. 10 gal.
Pricing, availability, and brands
Nosotros noticed inconsistent pricing and availability in the h2o container category. Manufacturers tell u.s. that big orders from the military and rescue efforts after the 2017 hurricanes and wildfires have created a backlog.
Many of these manufacturers don't sell directly on major stores like Amazon because the civilian market is not their core focus. So they rely on distributors that can set their own pricing based on demand and supply. We've seen that create weird price fluctuations when inventory gets low. For example, the Scepter Military Water Can has been seen on Amazon for as much as twice the MSRP.
When we link you to a store to buy a product, know that nosotros've chosen that store because we found them to be the almost fair and consistent. In some cases that's Amazon, and in other cases it can be armed services sales websites.
There are popular outdoor, camping, or emergency preparedness brands that simply put their sticker on a can and charge yous more. Like this Ozark Trail branded container that is merely a Reliance Desert Patrol tin can – you can even see the Reliance name in the product photo.
If you exercise some quick poking around on Amazon, it seems like Reliance owns the category with their popular Aqua-Tainer and Colossal-Tainer. Keep in mind that just because something shows upwards on the first page of Amazon and has ~4.five star ratings, that doesn't mean it's the right choice.
We made an effort to find other brands similar Coleman and Igloo, just they were frequently too hard to find or had incomplete product info.
Other tanks are made for eating house or industrial apply, and may be fine products, merely tended to be harder to buy via very old websites with high markups and expensive shipping.
Capacity vs. weight vs. gamble: use containers nether 7 gallons
Information technology'd exist nice if y'all could only buy one 15 or thirty gallon container and be done with it. But for the purposes of short term water needs nosotros just considered containers that held 10 gallons or less. Most containers in this class are either five, half-dozen, vii, or 10 gallons.
We did this primarily because y'all might need to motion the containers in these short term situations. Maybe you bring information technology upwardly from your flooded basement, lift it from the basis to a countertop, or carry it to your car to problems out.
A gallon of water weighs over 8 pounds. So fifty-fifty a small v gallon container is going to weigh over 40 pounds when full.
A common mistake is looking at a h2o container and underestimating how heavy it will be. We accept found in practice that even seven gallon containers are getting very heavy (~56 pounds) for nigh people to comfortably move with one paw.
But nosotros did pick a 7 and ten gallon container to test in person, just to double check the weight issue with a wide range of people.
This besides helps reduce the single point of failure run a risk. If you have three containers of v or vi gallons each, and keep one in your pantry, one in your closet, and the other in your garage, it'southward more likely that at least 1 of them would survive something like an convulsion or tornado. Once again, when it comes to curt term h2o, we are always overly cautious.
Nosotros honey larger, longer term water storage containers and will do a full review on them in the future. There are lots of great options, especially in the 55 gallon barrel grade. But they serve a very different purpose, and you're never going to movement a 450 pound tank of water.
At that place were some tempting options, like the xv gallon h2o barrel from Emergency Essentials. But 15 gallons would be 125 pounds, so we did non include it in our testing.
Toughness and immovability
To brand information technology like shooting fish in a barrel and practical to go along water stored and ready to go for a long time, you shouldn't have to worry about cheap containers that will crevice, dent, leak, or fall apart in something like an earthquake or overflowing. They too need to exist durable enough to handle normal camping-style habiliment and tear.
We automatically excluded flimsy or collapsable containers. They might exist prissy for camping, just they are not durable enough for this need. It'southward the same reason you should never use milk jugs, since they are designed to break down over time.
The most common issue referenced in Amazon reviews was leaks and cracks. Unfortunately, virtually every popular h2o container in the $10-$fifty range has reviews that mention these issues. Merely we didn't automatically disqualify them, especially since the next options are more than expensive at effectually $70-130 per container.
Based on past experience, we tried to avoid containers that used the button-plug style cap on the airflow pigsty. They just don't concur up as well to frequent utilize, tin can be broken off and lost, and are decumbent to leaks. Only for the sake of abyss, we tested some of the most popular containers with this plug.
Ease of storage
Seven gallons, or a calendar week'due south worth of water for one person, takes up nearly a cubic human foot. Fifty-fifty if you don't take a lot of extra storage space in your home, two cubic feet of space for two weeks of water is a reasonable amount to set bated for such an important matter. 2 cubic feet is just a few inches larger than an aeroplane deport-on.
There are a wide range of container types. They were commonly either tall and skinny 'jerry' cans, cubes, or tall circular tubes.
Some were designed specifically for storing in the bed of a truck or other special situations. Nosotros disqualified anything that had such an odd shape they would be difficult or inefficient to store in a normal abode – like the cone-lesser tanks that make removing h2o piece of cake just are impractical for habitation survival needs.
We love the idea of stackable containers — they (should) add some extra durability and are very infinite efficient, especially by requiring less floor space through expanding vertically.
Unfortunately, there weren't that many options for containers that were designed to stack or fit snugly together. The ones that were stackable tended to be much more expensive just for that characteristic.
In the terminate, we thought of stackability as a overnice to accept only non a demand to have. Partly because at that place weren't any stackable containers that nosotros loved, and partly because the value of stacking got impractical after going 2 layers high.
Ease of use
Yous'll do three main things with a h2o container: fill it, movement it, and remove the h2o.
Some containers take odd caps that require a special 'bung' wrench to open up. Others require that you lot buy extra pieces or special spigots for filling and removing water.
Nosotros didn't automatically disqualify a product for requiring you to buy or use an extra piece, simply we did exclude containers that had confusing, proprietary, or easily breakable required pieces.
The all-time products were unproblematic and could be used without these special tools, so that if you needed to in a crisis yous could simply unscrew the cap with your hand and get quick admission to the water. We ofttimes use the "ten twelvemonth old child" test — if a normal ten year quondam tin't do it without any help, then it's no good.
Materials
Plastic is great, only at that place are some important considerations:
- Plastic is harder to sanitize than other options.
- There are many dissimilar types of plastic. Some are good for water storage while others are definitely not. Sometimes it'south hard to tell what a product is made of.
- Plastic can crack easier than other materials.
- Plastic tin absorb bad stuff and leach into the stored liquid.
Many plastics can absorb chemicals and even scents from whatever they impact. For example, if a plastic jug is sitting on a cement basement floor and a canteen of cleaning chemicals spills nearby, those chemicals tin be absorbed into the plastic water container.
It works the other way, too. Plastics can leach chemicals out into whatever they're holding. That's why people avoid #7 plastics with the BPA chemical, considering the BPA can leach out from the plastic into your drinking water.
There is some fence virtually how realistic this concern is or in what weather plastic will or won't absorb bad stuff. Considering it was enough of a debate, we erred on the side of circumspection.
We disqualified any product that wasn't guaranteed BPA-costless or made of food course materials.
The safest plastic containers to hold water are polyethylene-based plastics, or plastics #i, #2, and #iv. All nutrient-grade plastics are made of High-density polyethylene (HDPE) #2. But be careful, because something made out of HDPE #2 might not necessarily be nutrient grade.
There are advantages to materials like glass and stainless steel. For case, glass is easier to decontaminate than plastic. But we retrieve glass containers are too impractical for this state of affairs because they are more likely to break, are much heavier, permit more low-cal through, and can be more expensive.
Shelf-life, safety, and container colors
Tap h2o volition be safe in virtually any common container later 2-three months in a nighttime cool place. But we besides intendance about the shelf-life of the water because it's impractical to replace your stored water every three to six months. Our goal is to easily keep water safe for at least 12 months and ideally 2-3 years.
Even beyond the normal plastic leaching concerns, the materials and transparency of a container tin can bear upon the water inside.
Technically, water never "goes bad." Water might go stale due to lack of oxygen, just that's apace fixed by shaking and swishing information technology effectually.
What'south not OK is leaner growth or contamination. Oestrus, light, and bacteria are the three enemies of water storage, which is why nearly serious water storage options use UV-resistant materials and are typically darker solid colors, like the solid blue plastics used in pop 55 gallon water drums.
That's the same reason why nigh beer bottles are night. Light can ruin the gustation and shorten the expiration. Fun fact: this is why Corona has trained people through marketing to add a lime to their beer — it's actually to cover up the bad sense of taste from the articulate bottle.
The universal color for drink h2o is a fresh bluish colour. Some of the products available apply that color for easy identification. All else being equal, we adopt containers in that color, but beingness bluish was not a very important criteria. However, it is of import that your potable water containers are clearly labeled and so you don't cross contaminate.
How we tested
Other than just testing the obvious stuff like unproblematic leaks and product quality, nosotros did more rigorous tests to see how well the containers held upward to corruption and simulated emergencies in add-on to how easy they were to store and use.
Filling and draining
Unfortunately, in that location is a broad variance in how well different containers do their near important job of receiving and dispensing h2o. Some had very odd caps, some had caps that could only exist sealed once and then had to exist replaced, and others have spigots that would clog or fail.
Nosotros had a x twelvemonth old, a 17 year one-time, and two adults try to twist on and off any needed caps and accessories, so do the normal filling and draining cycle, all without whatsoever instructions.
Some of the containers had existing production reviews that complained most not draining all of the water without some gymnastics. So nosotros tested how well they drain water in their natural resting position and how easy it was to utilize i hand to maneuver the container and/or spigot while using the other manus to agree a cup for filling.
Because you don't want to waste matter water in an emergency, nosotros tested how easy it was to control how quickly water poured out. This also usually afflicted how prissy the pour was — did it spread or spray, split into ii streams, dance around, etc. Nosotros tried to find three controllable speeds for each container: a pocket-size trickle to fill a shot drinking glass without spilling, an average flow to fill a Nalgene mode water bottle, and the maximum period possible to make full a cooking pot.
Storing
Even though each container isn't that big, because it'southward important that you go on this water in a climate controlled, accessible, and secure area — rather than in the lawn shed that volition be frozen for months at a fourth dimension — we tried to simulate how piece of cake it was to store them in logical places effectually a house and flat.
In 3 different homes, we asked people who weren't experienced survival planners to store containers wherever they thought it made sense. We observed how logical or frustrating it was and whether a container fit nicely in mutual areas like a pantry, closet, etc.
Carrying a total container by hand
Since every gallon of water weighs eight pounds and it's very possible you lot might demand to motion the containers during an emergency, we tested how easy information technology is to comport the fully filled containers with one manus.
We used three unlike people for these tests: a potent adult human being, an adult adult female with average fitness, and a teenage boy with average fitness for his age group.
Each person carried each container up a flight of stairs, down a flying of stairs, 100 feet beyond flat ground, and then loaded information technology into the torso of a auto. Or they carried information technology in that club as far as they could. For example, nearly people couldn't carry the 7 gallon container through the terminate, and no i could complete the x gallon one (which did not accept a carry handle). At that place was a residuum period between each carry.
Leak tests
Afterward filling and sealing the containers, nosotros laid them flat in a mode that put a reasonable corporeality of internal water pressure level against the seals. They sat for three days and nosotros measured any leaks. We then suspended them upside down or in such a style that the most internal water weight possible was directly pushing against any possible holes to the outside.
Nosotros too wanted to run into how well they prevented exterior debris and liquids from getting inside. We did this past submerging a container in a full bathtub for x minutes while looking for whatsoever bubbles. We as well added a night brownish gardening chemical to the bathtub water and so we could see whatsoever coloring or foul taste in the drinkable water.
We so cleaned the outside and checked the internal water for any signs of coloring against a control sample.
Crush tests
Some of the commonly bought containers on Amazon are surprisingly flimsy. Even some of the ones we purchased for our field exam (after weeding out the plainly bad ones during research) already had dents and dings in their plastic walls from shipping.
Nosotros did ii unlike shell tests. The first was realistic, where we assumed you lot might stack two full containers of water on meridian of each other. For example, a jerry can can be laid apartment on its wide side with some other full jerry tin can layered on elevation. They're usually not designed to practise this, merely it could feasibly happen. Whatever can was put on top had 5 gallons of water, or ~forty pounds.
We and so did a more farthermost crush test where an developed woman weighing 150 pounds stood on superlative of the strongest and weakest part of a container. We looked for whatsoever leaks, cracks, or signs of warping and distress in the plastic.
Drop tests
Carrying heavy water jugs around can be tough, even if they have a handle. So we dropped full containers from multiple heights onto physical.
The offset test was a simple "tip over" test. Nosotros tried to knock the container over from a normal standing position onto a hard floor.
The 2d examination was a realistic "drop information technology while carrying" exam. For each container, we carried it the style you normally would. For most containers that means carrying information technology in one mitt down by the side of a thigh. While walking ordinarily, we lost our grip and dropped the container onto physical. We did this three times per container.
For a more extreme drib test, nosotros pushed the container from a standard kitchen countertop acme of three feet. We did this 3 times per container.
Our selection: Reliance Rhino v.five Gallon Container
Superlative Pick
Best container for most people:
Reliance Rhino five.5 Gal H2o Container
Toughest container in the eye tier price class. Somewhat stackable for short term storage. Comes with everything you lot demand. Survived our drib and crush tests.
- Buy from Camping World
- Bank check price on Walmart
Our pick for the best emergency water container for most people is the Reliance Rhino 5.5 gallon can.
We found some price inconsistency with this production, with listing prices ranging from $20 to $35 and an boilerplate around $25. That makes it a few dollars more expensive than its Reliance siblings or the Scepter upkeep tin can. This difference makes sense given information technology'southward built to be the toughest of the grouping with more, stronger plastic in the construction. If you are only able to notice it for more than $30, we'd propose waiting or ownership the upgrade USGI Military Can or the Scepter five Gallon.
The Rhino is well named — it's hands the most durable container nosotros tested under $thirty. It was the 3rd most durable of whatever portable container we tested, losing to only the more expensive USGI military machine cans and WaterBricks.
In our shell tests, the Rhino had no noticeable warping, cracks, or plastic distress. Although at one point we accidentally placed 150 pounds solely onto a two inch weak spot in the side wall, and it did create a dip that stayed in the plastic for nearly an hour after.
The Rhino handled all of our drop tests very well. In fact, considering of its skinny and tall stature that carries well against your thigh, it landed upright every single time we dropped it while walking.
It's the only alpine and narrow jerry-tin-style container that is designed to exist (sorta) stackable. I of the large side walls has a female pattern while the opposite wall has a male pattern. The solid and strong strut that runs diagonally beyond the wall will concord multiple containers together if they are stacked vertically (with each tin can laying on its side) or if the cans are continuing upright but pushed closely against each other.
Although not marketed equally a stackable container and not as stackable in practice as our space saver pick, we were impressed by how well the Rhino stacked. However, we were disappointed that the side walls with the stacking features arrived a niggling bowed out, which made for a less than ideal fit when stacked.
The Rhinos were not designed to be stored this mode, and we wouldn't recommend it. But if y'all needed to put them in a car or something similar for a short duration, this pattern gives y'all a few keen positioning options that no other sub-$30 container could.
We did discover that when laying on its side and stacked, with all the cans full of water, there was enough internal pressure against the seals where it caused a small drip leak out of both the main cap and airflow vent. It was nigh a driblet every 1-2 minutes. All cans of this style showed this kind of drip leak when under a heavy load. Since you wouldn't store them this way for the long term and the baste was mild, we thought it was OK because the price and other factors.
It uses the common reversible h2o cap and spout, and everything was included in the buy. The short spout rests inside the can while closed, which you lot then remove, flip around, and tighten down with the cervix ring. This is not our favorite method considering each time you lot touch the spout and then put it back inside the h2o, y'all increase your chance of contagion. But simply the more than expensive USGI and WaterBrick options avoided this problem, and the Rhino spout was much more germ-free than the Scepter 5 Gallon spout.
We also found it a little difficult to twist the caps down hard enough to preclude whatsoever leaks when laid on its side or suspended upside down, merely it was doable.
Because of its relatively smaller 5.5 gallon capacity and alpine, narrow frame with topside carrying handle, the majority of our reviewers found the Rhino to exist the easiest to carry out of all the containers tested (except for the lightweight 3.five gallon WaterBrick). It fits naturally against your thigh while carrying, compared to bulkier containers like the 7 gallon Aqua-Tainer cube.
Our main criticism of the Rhinoceros is the airflow vent. It uses a twist mode cap, which is profoundly preferred over the push pin manner plugs, but it had an unusually cheap and frustrating plastic connection piece that keeps the cap from being lost.
While great in theory, this cheap connection piece was poorly designed and oftentimes gets twisted upwards against the main body when you open up the air valve. We didn't worry too much, because even if this servant piece broke (or yous intentionally broke it), the threaded cap isn't likely to be lost.
Upgrade: Scepter USGI 5 Gallon Military H2o Can
Upgrade
All-time overall tin:
Scepter v Gal Military Water Can
The best overall water can we've ever tested. Congenital tough. Military tested features. Very large fill hole, secondary spout hole, screw meridian airflow vent. Dainty spigot accessories.
- Bank check toll on REI
- Buy from Walmart
Dandy addition:
USGI Armed services Water Can Actress Spigot Hose
Excellent accessory for the USGI armed forces cans. Buy one and proceed it in a bag nearby. Attaches to the normal spout, gives a prissy spigot pour through flexible hose.
- Check price on eBay
- Buy from Amazon
These The states Regime Issue armed forces-spec water containers are actively used by the US and Canadian militaries. You lot can tell this container was designed based on years of practical military machine field use. It carries well, has molded feet for stability, and is more stout than the alpine and skinny Reliance cans.
2 companies manufacture this container: Scepter and LCI. Scepter is fabricated in Canada and is considered the college quality / original maker of this can. The LCI cans are ofttimes sold under their in-house Skilcraft brand, which are made in America via a program that employs disabled and blind people. Although the differences seem small, nosotros believe the Scepter cans are higher quality and worth the roughly $5-10 actress compared to LCI. Still, if yous're looking for the cheapest military style tin possible, you can buy directly from LCI (plus $10 shipping).
The Military H2o Can is extremely tough and should easily final you 10-xx years. Mil-spec standards crave a minimum wall thickness of 0.i inches or 2.5 mm, and y'all can feel it when treatment this can. You lot don't desire to driblet it off a two story edifice, and the caps are a relatively weaker plastic, but we would trust it in the field over any other jerry can style pick.
The main 4" pigsty is massive, which is swell for filling and rapid draining (like if y'all needed to quickly put out a burn down). The cap is easy to put on and tighten down by hand, although you can buy a bung wrench for that extra torque. There is a built in 'child lock' feature on the main cap, with a plastic tab that has to exist manually lifted over a crash-land in order to unscrew the cap. It was easy to miss the get-go time you selection it up, but even the 10 year sometime child nosotros tested it with figured it out in about a infinitesimal.
Different the cheaper jerry cans, at that place are 2 separate caps: the main one covering the large fill pigsty, and a second, smaller 1" twist cap on top of the main cap that you can open up just for pouring. At that place is no extra spout that you accept to reverse and add together. We like that because it means there are no parts you touch with your hand or expose to the outside that and so sit within the water.
The .5" airflow vent is also a small twist cap congenital into the larger main cap. Unfortunately, the get-go unit we received had a small leak in the airflow cap. We could tell it was a manufacturing result from when the plastic was injection molded. But after a quick render and replacement, things were fine.
This wasn't a major issue for united states because every unmarried water container on the market has reports of leaks and cracks, so information technology's simply a game of chance. Always check your containers after buying.
We bought an extra $28 accessory that screws onto this smaller drain spout. It'due south a flexible tube about ane foot long with a nice spigot at the finish. Although the tin works fine without it, nosotros loved this accessory and highly recommend information technology. Merely keep it in a dry ziploc handbag in the aforementioned place yous store the container.
The USGI can passed all of our crush, driblet, and submerge tests with no issues. Although, whenever we dropped this canister in our "dropping it while walking" test, it never landed upright. This is because the bear handle is off center, so information technology carries a little tilted front end-to-back.
Our largest complaint is that the indexing on the main screw cap can be frustrating. And then when you lot tighten it down past hand, the spout doesn't line upward exactly where you'd expect information technology to. We didn't discover it made a difference in pouring, simply it seems like a silly oversight by the manufacturer.
Budget: Reliance Aqua-Tainer 7 Gallon Container
Budget
- Check price on Amazon
- Buy from REI
Cheapest way to shop enough h2o:
Reliance Aqua-Tainer seven Gal
Good value in a cheaper package. Stores more h2o than normal for its price form, only may exist too heavy for some. Comes with everything you need. Not as durable and may cleft, just does have v year warranty.
- Check price on Amazon
- Purchase from REI
The Reliance 7 gallon Aqua-Tainers are very popular because they're cheap and found in lots of stores similar Walmart. Although y'all clearly get what you lot pay for, Reliance did a good task building an affordable option that is surprisingly nice for its price grade.
The plastic and construction quality is ameliorate at $20 than some of the options we tested at $30. But nosotros definitely noticed some warping and inconsistencies in the walls. Particularly when total, you lot tin can see a kind of bloated float effect that pushes out against the sides.
The Aqua-Tainer looks very unlike than other options. It'southward basically a stout cube with a handle and spigot on top that you tin can tip on its side so the spout is at the relative bottom of the tank, hanging over something like a table top. That makes it a stable pick yous can exit as-is and use over a few days with a simple plow of the spigot.
The design lends itself to getting banged up more than easily than other types of containers. We created some big dents in the corners during normal day to solar day utilise simply from walking around corners, etc.
At that place are a lot of reports in Amazon reviews of leaks and cracks. On the one hand, we observe this to exist the instance with almost any container (even our durable upgrade pick had a small leak in the kickoff unit of measurement we bought). But the cheaper Acqua-Tainer is much more likely to demand to exist replaced in the future compared to the Rhino.
The seven gallon capacity might seem like a bonus over the other v-half dozen gallon options, simply in practise, most of our reviewers noted that they wished it was a smaller six gallons. That extra eight-10 pounds of weight and extra storage space needed for the extra gallon made a meaningful difference in terms of ease of carrying and utilise. Information technology as well contributes to the larger side walls that can bend or break.
It comes with a reversible spigot. When stored, the spigot is screwed to the inside of the cap, sitting in the water. You remove the cap, unscrew the spigot, flip it to the other side, and rescrew. We like that Reliance fabricated a screw cap fashion cover for the airflow vent.
For the cost, nosotros idea the caps and pieces were well built and we saw no leaks effectually the connectedness points. However, where were reports on Amazon of the white plastic spigot and cap bully over time.
You put your hands all over the spigot while twisting it on or off, which then sits back into the water when stored. Another possible contamination issue is that when the spigot is stored inside the cap, the internal tube of the spigot is exposed to the outside earth. Clay and leaner could go inside the tube, which would then flow out of the spigot when you use it.
Non a huge deal, especially because that the all-time role for this container is for non-disquisitional h2o employ in situations where information technology won't exist moving around much — for example, you open information technology up one time, lay it on a table, and so continue the spigot on the exterior equally you use the water in your home over a few days.
Best infinite saver: WaterBrick stackable containers
Stackable
If you are space constrained:
WaterBrick 3.five Gal
Ultra-stackable up to 5 levels high. Mediocre caps and spigots, but the best mode to shop water in tight spaces. Very durable, y'all tin even apply them as tables or defensive walls. Expensive.
If space efficiency is your top concern, consider the WaterBrick. They aren't cheap — we paid around $65 for a set of two with one water spigot. You can get sets of 4 or viii with ane spigot for $110 and $185, respectively. Each set of four bricks is 14 total gallons, a two week supply for i person.
WaterBricks are specifically designed to be stacked. They are pocket-size at iii.five gallons each and offset off equally a "exercise it all" container — the company advertises storing things like dog food and beans in improver to water.
The default cap used on each container is a simple flat cap without any water specific features. The mouth is prissy and wide, but information technology isn't applied to use for water unless you purchase the extra water spigot cap. Sometimes a store will bundle the sets of two, four, or viii bricks with ane water spigot cap, but non 1 for each container.
As a result, you stop up playing musical chairs with some of the pieces. If you lot take a stack of four WaterBricks filled with h2o and yous desire to use one, you have to attach the carry handle, remove the container from the stack, stand it on its vertical end, remove the carry handle, remove the storage cap, and install the h2o cap.
Yous cannot utilise the conduct handle and the water spigot at the same fourth dimension. The handles are nice and hold the container in an piece of cake vertical position when carrying. But because they're designed to be removable, they will popular off when you lot don't want them to, which caused a number of frustrating moments during testing.
The spigot itself is mediocre. The container does non have a divide airflow vent to help with pouring, and so the spigot is designed to permit out water and let in air at the aforementioned time. This creates an odd chugging noise and water catamenia.
The spigot sits halfway up the container when in use. This means that in one case the h2o level is below fifty% you have to tilt the brick with one hand while operating the spigot or belongings a loving cup with the other. In that location are no congenital in handles or applied places to concur on to, so this can get a picayune awkward.
When looking at the water cap and spigot, we were concerned most some of the seals. Particularly the seal between the plastic cap and the spigot housing that seats through the centre of the cap. The assembly of pairing the cap and spigot together is not virtually as nice as like options on the much cheaper $20 Reliance Aqua-Tainer.
We didn't see any unreasonable leaking when nosotros tested storing the water brick on its apartment side, total of water, with the water cap on and spigot closed. However, storing it this way long term could still cause issues. Because the cap is on a vertical side wall, it's the only container nether seven gallons that we tested that had the weight of the internal water pressing against the seals during normal storage.
Information technology's reasonable to think the soft rubber gaskets used would dethrone over time from abiding water pressure level and contact. At that place are Amazon reviews that mention this issue.
These all feel like silly pattern oversights by the company. If they made a better quality water cap and spigot, these problems could exist avoided.
The container itself is very sturdy — probably the most solid-feeling container under seven gallons we accept tested. At 3.5 gallons a piece, that means the walls have less surface surface area, which means less warping. Because they are designed to be stackable, the plastic is very thick and there are particularly designed support struts throughout the container. We put 150 pounds on top of the container and it had no noticeable effect.
The WaterBrick shines when used every bit designed: to stack multiple containers in the most infinite efficient way. It is inch-for-inch the all-time way to clasp 15 gallons of water into the smallest space possible.
They stack ameliorate than any other stackable options we've seen. When stacked, they are very sturdy and we'd feel comfortable stacking them 3 or four levels high. You can interlock them in alternate directions for added stability, and yous tin can fifty-fifty use them for edifice makeshift structures or a defensive wall that slows down bullets.
It'south unfortunate the WaterBrick fell curt on the more important qualities similar ease of use and spigot quality, because if information technology was just a lilliputian bit better it might take been our summit choice.
If you're living in a home with very little spare space, it might be worth the actress money to get the WaterBricks. Yous tin can fit each one into smaller spaces than any other container or stack them together to store your 15 gallons per person in the virtually infinite efficient style possible. Simply be sure to buy some extra water caps and keep them in a sealed ziploc pocketbook nearby.
Competition
Scepter five Gallon Water Container. $25. We really actually liked this container — it almost won the overall choice and budget category. In that location were simply a few flaws that kept it from beingness our top pick. Only if y'all can't find the Aqua-Tainer or you're particularly worried near its size and durability, this container is a not bad backup budget choice.
Scepter has a skilful reputation for quality water cans. They are ane of a few manufacturers that brand our recommended upgrade selection, the USGI armed services style jerry cans. This five gallon can is their more than affordable option. At around $25, it'south meant to compete with the Reliance products.
Although information technology'due south a jerry can, information technology has a wider base and tapers off towards the top, which gives information technology a dainty little boost of stability compared to straight and narrow cans like the Reliance Rhinoceros. It was the sturdiest option we found in the $20 class. The airflow valve embrace was very prissy. The main spout cover had serrated teeth that helped with tightening downwardly or opening the cap with your bare hands.
The pour was the nicest out of any container we tested, in whatsoever cost range, except for the actress add together-on accessory spigot for the USGI can. The groovy pour is due to a unique dual pipage design in the unusually long spout. But the spout was likewise flimsy, and even in our testing the edges of the plastic started to fray.
The spout is also flexible, with accordion folds in the eye. While nice for flexibility, we dislike it for long term storage because all of those nooks and corners are hard to clean and can harbor bacteria. We also prefer a shorter spout, because with these reversible designs, every fourth dimension you remove, use, and return the spout, you run the take chances of touching it with your hands or other contaminants, which then become dipped back into the water.
When filling the container, the neck pigsty was the narrowest out of any we tested, which was a slight annoyance.
Saratoga Farms Stackables. $100 for the iv-pack of 5 gallon cans. We were really disappointed in the Saratoga Farms 5 gallon stackables. The plastic is inexpensive and was already warped and dented simply from shipping. We get the impression the product designers had long term storage in mind, but it didn't come together well at all. For example, the airflow vent arrived without a hole in the vent — you had to puncture the hole yourself. This theoretically helps cut downward on contamination and leak take a chance, merely could be impractical in an emergency.
The caps are poorly designed, with a saw-tooth ratchet that locks in once you tighten the cap for the offset time. Just once you open the cap, it breaks away the ratchet ring and tin can't be used over again (like a new soda bottle cap). Their core feature, the ability to exist stacked, was about laughable — we would never feel comfy stacking them even two levels high. The interlocking design was not nearly robust enough, and it simply prevented the container from shifting along one axis. If you pushed along the other direction, information technology would slip right off!
Reliance Desert Patrol half dozen Gallon. $30. The Desert Patrol is a popular h2o container and 1 we've personally and successfully used for camping and offroading. Simply nosotros disqualified it for survival needs almost immediately. It has a standard unmarried-handle jerry can design with reversible h2o cap and spout design. Just when compared to its brother the Rhino, the plastic feels thin, information technology warped easily, and it doesn't stack well. It totally failed our drop tests, with the dorsum wall crumbling in on itself. Information technology uses the traditional push-pin style plug for the airflow hole, which is basically an automated disqualifier because it's also flimsy and can easily leak water or let contagion within.
Reliance H2o-Pak 5 Gallon. $27. We chose not to include the Water-Pak in our field testing because of reports about a inexpensive and difficult carrying handle, which you lot can clearly tell from the pictures is less robust than its siblings. But with how disappointing some of the other products in our field test were, and the unique tall cube class factor, nosotros might choose to examination the Water-Pak in the time to come.
Reliance Aqua-Pak 5 Gallon. $25. Although an interesting cheap option from Reliance that seems more durable than the Aqua-Tainer and is marketed as stackable, it was automatically disqualified because of the push-pin style airflow plug and reports of cracking when stacked. We might test the Aqua-Pak in the future.
Reliance Jumbo-Tainer 7 Gallon. $37. The Jumbo-Tainer is a better container than its brother, the Desert Patrol. But it was quickly disqualified because of the push-pivot plug for the airflow vent. We like the dual handles and reversible spigot (similar to its other brother, the Aqua-Tainer). It's more rigid than the Desert Patrol, but non as stackable as the Rhino.
Igloo Cargo 2 / Rubbermaid vi Gallon Water Containers. $20. We wouldn't have called to include the Igloo in our field tests, only we had access to one anyhow. Igloo has not washed a good job defining their product offerings and at that place are a lot of confusing SKUs listed on Amazon and Walmart for these lines. Note that information technology appears the old Rubbermaid designs were absorbed into the Igloo line. We tested the Rubbermaid vi gallon container in person and thought it had some overnice features, like a sturdy design, dual handles, and molded stability anxiety. Only the new Igloo's have a push-pivot mode airflow plug, which is a disqualifier.
Ace Roto-Mold 10 Gallon Water Storage Tank. $150 subsequently aircraft. We were skeptical alee of time well-nigh a ten gallon tank, but wanted to include it for proper testing against the more pop short term options. Information technology'southward tall and cylindrical with a behemothic twist cap on tiptop and an industrial ball valve on the lesser. This container, and other ones similar it, would be solid contenders if they were smaller or somehow more than mobile. Wherever yous make full it with water is where it's going to stay, unless you apply multiple people or a wheeled cart. The lack of mobility means that spigot at the bottom will be difficult to use unless the tank is elevated. The top cap is as well large for residential use, which increases chance of contamination, and the overall price was as well expensive at $150. Then it was butterfingers for this recommendation.
Midwest Tin Company six Gal. $15. Disqualified during research. Inconsistent messaging from the manufacturer about the plastics used. Knowledgeable Amazon reviews say the can is marked equally combustible plastic #7 and likely contains BPA.
Wedco Briggs & Stratton v Gallon Water Tin. $25. Butterfingers during research. Poor quality spout and a push cap mode airflow vent cover. A wide base makes this can stable and the dual handles are nice, simply results in being very space inefficient compared to similar products.
Hudson Commutation 5 Gallon Plastic Hedpack. $17. Butterfingers during enquiry. Also many reports of immovability problems. The plastic is good course just too transparent and probable intended for shorter term storage, similar restaurant or transportation use.
Tolco Heavy-Duty HDPE 5 Gallon Plastic Dispenser Carboy. $42. Disqualified during inquiry. Likewise transparent, too many reports of leaks, and too expensive for what y'all get.
Coleman 5 Gallon Water Carrier. $21. Disqualified during research considering we couldn't find consistent inventory stock in major stores like Amazon and Walmart.
AquaPodKit 65 Gallon Bathtub Emergency Water Storage. $twenty. We like this kind of bag that fills up inside your bathtub in an emergency. But it's a squeamish-to-have bonus and not an appropriate contender for your main ii week water supply.
Source: https://theprepared.com/homestead/reviews/best-two-week-emergency-water-storage-containers/
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