Author Topic: Bleach for water purification (Read 7297 times)

teamnelson · « **Reply #30 on:** July 13, 2009, 07:13:57 AM »

If you're looking for a possible Long term option then you should factor that bleach has a shelf life of 6 mos. You can get calcium hypochlorite in powder form which you can use to make bleach and stores far better. But for drinking, long term use of chlorinated drinking water is tough on the kidneys. Used all over east Africa and many old timers are leary of finding a kidney donor and adequate surgical support so they only use it in extreme emergency. Seriously folks, biosand is better for you long term.

Oldshooter · « **Reply #31 on:** July 13, 2009, 07:15:50 AM »

Hydrogen sulfide is the smell and it is like rotten eggs! We get it from time to time and it is not appealing but I run the well for a time and it dissipates. You can get a filter to remove it from drinking water.

We used bleach in the water tanks on vessels. Try to get the uncented variety

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #32 on:** July 13, 2009, 07:42:25 AM »

Most any well all that's needed is a cup of bleach , no more . 6 drops in a 55 gal of water every 4 mos. will do it .
Bleach is a very powerful cleaner . a 10% mix with water will kill most mold , a stronger mix won't work any better and often not as well . 50 ppm will kill/clean any water system

Ole Man Dan · « **Reply #33 on:** July 19, 2009, 05:58:57 PM »

S.B.

I know a lot of people who have used 4 drops of Chlorox per qt. I mostly used 2...
Back in the day, we were using reasonably 'clean' water to start with... At least it looked clean and was clear w/o a smell. This was from a mountain creek that ran over small rocks. There were no farms within 5 miles, so the likely hood of pesticides or contamination was fairly low. If we used water after it was muddied up any, we let it settle, filtered it thru cloth, and then used 4 drops.

TODAY- I followed TeamNelsons advice and downloaded plans for a sand/filtration system with two 5 gallon buckets. I'm gonna make one. This would be a better/safer 'Long-Term' solution for water...

Dand · « **Reply #34 on:** July 26, 2009, 09:19:23 AM »

hilbil regarding why putting bleach in a well causes lots of rust: In my area we have quite a bit of iron in the water. I think the right term is ferric iron. Bleach is a vigorous oxidizer - that's how it works. So when it contacts the iron in the water, or the steel / iron casing you get rust. I bleached my well once and our local well driller / builder explained the concept to me.

That's also 1 reason why we don't use bleach in our laundry. It causes the iron to oxidize and stain the whites orange. Some folks new to our area don't understand and keep adding more bleach to get even worse stains on their t shirts etc.

Also bleach is bad for the septic system.

Some wells in our area have a lot of sulfur too but I've had no sense it was good. Our water has a real low pH (acidic) and folks with sulfur smelling water seem to have badly stained fixtures and fight a lot of corrosion, electrolysis and crud in pipes etc.

One thing, I have experienced a lot less problems with exema here with the moderately low pH and moderate high iron than in other locations I've lived. But at the expense of gastric issues that may be due to the high iron and or copper in my water.

teamnelson · « **Reply #35 on:** July 26, 2009, 06:17:48 PM »

Now you got me thinking about heavy minerals as well. Obviously our bodies can metabolize some, pass probably a lot. I'm using an all plastic/PVC system - would a large magnet attract minor particles over time enough to make a difference?

Palmar · « **Reply #36 on:** December 05, 2010, 09:25:13 PM »

Chlorine is one of the most widely used water disinfectants. It deactivates pathogenic microorganisms in the water. The smell is sometimes nasty but this is the safest way to ensure that the water we drink is safe.

bilmac · « **Reply #37 on:** December 06, 2010, 01:18:45 AM »

The sulfur you smell could be either sulfur dioxide which smells like a burning match, or sulfur hydroxide which smells like rotten eggs. Both these are gasses so you can smell them. Sulfur hydroxide is deadly in high concentrations, but you can smell it in very minute concentrations, and it will just drive you away in concentrations quite a bit lower than fatal. It is released at some oil well sites here in Wyo and now days there are warning signs in much of our hunting country. Years ago we had the same or worse situation, but no warning signs. In open air it isn't hardly a danger, but lots of folks have died from it in tanks.

Hooker · « **Reply #38 on:** December 06, 2010, 03:24:50 PM »

You want at least a 2 -3mg/L dosage do not exceed 5mg/L. This is a dosage of actual Chlorine. Bleach is usually 12% chlorine HTH is 50-70% and of course Chlorine gas is 100%.
You must have a residual or you did not use enough chlorine. The residual is is checked after a contact time of at least 45 minutes it takes that long to kill some of the most harmful bacteria.
If the water is really cloudy or dirty you will have to filter it or use a flocculent to remove the suspended solids before disinfecting. Also remember that the sun eats up chlorine so your contact basin should be out of direct sun light. It's best to slowly raise the dosage of chlorine until you get the desired results. The strange thing is that you will sometimes get a strong smell until you reach the demand at which point the smell will dissipate this is called the break point and is known as Break point chlorination Hmm go figure Anyway that just some of the junk that rattles around in my head left overs from my public servant days.

Pat

Hooker · « **Reply #39 on:** December 06, 2010, 03:33:01 PM »

Bilmac Sulfur Dioxide or SO2 is used as a de-chlorinator mostly at sewage treatment facilities where they discharge into a waterway discharging chlorinated water into streams lakes and rivers is a big no no.

mechanic · « **Reply #40 on:** December 06, 2010, 04:43:20 PM »

Run it through a coffee filter and boil it. I've drank mud hole water that way that had mosquito larva in it when I started and never got sick. Chlorox is great if you can't stop and build a fire, but if you can't taste the bleach, you ain't got enough....and I can't stand the taste. A cheap coffee filter will remove most sediment, and boiling will kill 100% of the bad bugs.....

Ben

bilmac · « **Reply #41 on:** December 06, 2010, 05:02:25 PM »

TN I don't think a magnet would ever remove dissolved minerals, I think there are snake oil salesmen that try to claim such things, but that's on the same order as the gadgets they sell to attach to the fuel line in your car that will get you 10 MPG more.

As far as I know the only way to get rid of dissolved minerals is with a reverse osmosis filter. These are expensive and work real slow. I wouldn't use them unless you have a good idea that they would be necessary. You should be able to find someplace to get your water analysed and the analysis should tell you if anything they find is at dangerous levels.

mechanic · « **Reply #42 on:** March 06, 2011, 05:13:43 PM »

TM, we use a de-ionization filter on city systems to make water safe for large batteries. This removes all sedimentation including metals and minerals. It uses batteries for power that will last a long time...months to years.

www.phlsci.com/uploaddocuments/YKpa0xkEHxBkGn.pdf

Ben

lakota · « **Reply #43 on:** March 10, 2011, 04:21:32 PM »

When these sites say a "drop" are they talking about a milliliter of bleach?

Pat/Rick · « **Reply #44 on:** March 11, 2011, 05:35:19 PM »

I think I would just filter/boil/filter again if needed.Or distill. I will definently take a look at the sand filter system. I have two water sources on my property, well (almost 200') and water line from a creek that I have water rights to. I cannot pump water without electricity so would resort to my creek line and boil, or pull the pump and stuff from the well and make a pvc "bucket". 200' of rope pulling to get water could be laborious to say the least. We pump from the well into a 500 gallon tank so I have a reserve to get by on. I need to get a generator I guess.

bilmac · « **Reply #45 on:** March 15, 2011, 04:43:58 PM »

Pat Or a windmill.

spooked · « **Reply #46 on:** March 17, 2011, 07:11:27 AM »

I have a galvanized deep well bucket set aside for WTSHTF, also store bleach which is renewed occasionally.

Pat/Rick · « **Reply #47 on:** March 17, 2011, 10:05:39 AM »

bilmac, do you know a source for windmill/pumps? I have been searching but haven't found any yet. Maybe its my search phrase? Seems that windmill or windmill water pumps would yield a good result, but not yet. A windmill would be good for me, I could put a float valve in my holding tank and let the rest free run into a stock tank. It would ensure that my holding tank stayed full even in a power failure. I'll search more later, gonna clear fence line this weekend. Nine acres will take a bit of cash to fence, so I'd have too wait for windmill money to turn up anyway. Also got to check with the power company, have a powerline that runs close to my well head. Have got to find out how much right of way they have. For now a "bucket" and rope will serve as my back up.

no guns here · « **Reply #48 on:** March 17, 2011, 10:35:44 AM »

http://www.aermotorwindmill.com/

the old aeromotor windmill company is still in business.

Another option is:

http://www.bisonsolar.com/

NGH

teamnelson · « **Reply #49 on:** March 17, 2011, 04:59:02 PM »

Gents, after looking at alot of different options, and building a BSF, I'm just gonna go ahead and get a Sawyer .02 Micron Purifier. $100 for the bucket version, with a million gallon rating. Haven't found anything yet that comes close to the filtration quality that doesn't require filter changes, and installation in your plumbing. You can also throw it in your pack and use it as a straw (weighs just a few oz). Also looking at making my own charcoal for a DIY charcoal filter (taste).

Pat/Rick · « **Reply #50 on:** March 21, 2011, 06:58:06 PM »

Thanks NGH!! I'll check them out.

The big filters are very efficient and am planning on getting one of the Big Berkey filters. Also Cheaper than Dirt advertises a "kit" for a filter system, you provide the buckets, I need to read up on them more.