WaterBricks™: Step by Step Instructions
Today, I want to discuss WaterBricks™: Step-by-Step Instructions. People often ask me about WaterBricks™; here’s the deal: we must all stock water. I purchased these and want to show you how easy it is to store water in your home. They aren’t to be stored outside your home, but for inside-home storage only.
Your garage would be fine for the water if the temperatures are not too high or drop below freezing in the winter. If you decide to use them for storing food for you or your pets, I’d still suggest finding a place that’s cool, dark, and as dry as possible.
If, by chance, you have purchased some WaterBricks™ and they’re still in the box, I get it. Sometimes, it seems overwhelming to open the box and fill it. Trust me, people often tell me, “I bought them, but I haven’t taken them out of the box yet.”
I have two concerns right now—well, actually three: water, food, and our power grid. Water is contaminated more often than you realize in our city’s municipalities. I know you’re thinking there’s no way this can happen. Well, it’s true. I recently wrote a post in this regard: “Please boil your water.” How to Survive a Boil Water Notice.
I also recently wrote about the various options you have for water storage containers. Water is the most critical of life’s essentials, so let’s all join in the global need to store more water.
WaterBricks™: Step by Step Instructions
When we lived in Southern Utah, I wanted a water storage solution I could have readily available without having to go outside or in the garage to get some clean water. My research brought to my attention the WaterBrick products with their unique water containers. I decided to purchase some that I could stack in a corner of the house or slide under a bed. Thank goodness, their rectangular block shape made it easy to put over 56 gallons under a queen-sized bed in our guest room.
Although they’re designed to store both water and dry food, we’ve taken a different approach to food storage and use them for the storage of liquids, water to be exact. The quantity you’d want to have in your water storage plan depends on family size and how long you want quick access to clean water.
We’ve recently moved into our Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) in South Jordan, UT. We’ve had to reduce our indoor water usage, but we’ll still have our 250-gallon and 160-gallon storage tanks in the garage.
We ordered 10 of the 3.5-gallon liquid size units, which we’ve stacked next to our cases of Blue Can Drinking Water, as I’ve written about. We spent part of yesterday cleaning and filling the WaterBricks. Let’s discuss the steps Mark and I took to make use of these smaller water storage containers.
WaterBricks™ Cleaning With Bleach
Since these containers came directly from the manufacturer, we wanted to ensure they were cleaned first. Mark took a few teaspoons of unscented chlorine bleach and mixed them with a few cups of water in one of the WaterBrick units. He shook up the liquid in the container and then got another container ready to do the same.
WaterBricks™ Rinsed Out
He then transferred the liquid from the first container into the next one using the large-mouthed red funnel shown in the picture below. The funnel made it possible to pour the cleaning liquid without a spill. The wide lid opening made the transfer easy once he removed the wide-diameter lid or cap. The company refers to this cap as an easy-grip lid. Red Funnel
WaterBricks™ Half Teaspoon Water Preserver
Using unscented bleach, you can treat the water and replace it every six months. The ratio for bleach is 1/4 teaspoon per gallon of water. I like a product called Water Preserver for a more efficient approach to water treatment. If you use Water Preserver, as I do, you rotate the water out every five years.
You decide what you want to do, but I like the ease of less frequent treatments. Water Preserver. Each 3.5-gallon WaterBrick™ needs 1/2 teaspoon of Water Preserver per container. You may also want to consider the smaller WaterBrick™, which holds 1.6 gallons.
You might be interested to know that if a 3.5-gallon WaterBrick™ is filled, it weighs approximately 27 pounds. The product is light until you add the water! This information helps determine who in your home can best fill and move the units to their emergency storage area.
WaterBricks™ Handles Attached
To move the containers from place to place, you can use the easy-grip comfort handle that’s designed for an adult hand. The handles come from the manufacturer and are stored inside the container. You can see how the hooks face different directions, so they are less likely to come loose and fall off.
WaterBricks™ Ready To Store
These storage containers are made from high-density polyethylene, a plastic that makes for quality containers with a high durability level. You can see in the picture below that the units stack easily. They are designed to stack, as evidenced by the male and female grooves and appendages. WaterBricks, WaterBrick Spigot, WaterBrick Dispenser Pump
They can also be “cross-stacked” to ensure stability when stacked in a higher configuration. In the picture, you can also see a spigot that can be used to dispense water from the unit rather than trying to pour from the wide-mouthed cap opening. You could put one of the containers on a refrigerator shelf and distribute the water as needed.
Since we have our Blue Can Drinking Water in storage and also use reverse osmosis for our drinking and cooking, we plan to use the water from these containers for personal hygiene needs.
We view this option for emergency water storage as a helpful solution to the challenge of plastic waste and the problem of getting people to consider the recycling of plastic waste bottles. We wish there could be a significant movement of people to not only store water, but to do so responsibly.
Final Word
Please stock water, my friends; you will need it sooner than you think. Various factors, including external contamination, employee errors, and intentional poisoning, can contaminate our water. Please stock water; you will not regret it, I promise. May God bless this World, Linda
I can not stress enough how incredibly important it is right now to fill these and have them ready.
The water preserver has my interest but I’ve not used it yet. Every few years compared to annual would be nice.
Water bricks are very nice and are a layer in my supply. I do like the way they stack.
Hi Matt, I totally agree with you, people must store water immediately. Please don’t wait until the last minute. The store shelves will be empty after a disaster or if your city water is contaminated you will only be able to use what you have in your home or garage. It’s happening everywhere. Linda
Linda,
The active ingredient in Water Preserver is a 5.25% solution of Sodium Hypochlorite. The other 94.75% is labelled “inert ingredients,” most likely water.
Sodium Hypochlorite is also known as Regular Unscented Chlorine Bleach. That is to say both Water Preserver and Clorox are the same exact thing. They are both sodium hypochlorite. The only difference is that Water Preserver is 5.25% sodium hypochlorite and 95% inert ingredients whereas Clorox brand bleach is 6% sodium hypochlorite and 94% inert ingredients.This leaves me wondering why “water preserver” treats water for 5 years while Regular Unscented Chlorox Bleach (the exact same chemical) only works for one year.
Simply put the difference between sodium hypochlorite vs bleach is the consistency. Sodium Hypochlorite on its own is the powder substance used to create liquid beach, and bleach is a liquid disinfectant and whitening agent made by combining sodium hypochlorite with water.
This leads me to suspect that Water Preserver is simply very expensive bleach. I have used both in 55 gallon drums and while I rotate my water supply in them every few years I’ve never noticed any difference at all. The longest I’ve gone without rotating the water in my barrels is 3 years, but again, no detectable difference in the taste or appearance of the water.
If you know of some reason why Water Preserver is superior to common Unscented Bleach please share that information with us as the Preserver is very expensive compared to Chlorox Bleach.
Hi Ray, oh I remember you telling me that a very long time ago. That’s a great question. I quote from Amazon on the description: “Water Preserver Concentrate is a liquid additive that disinfects, preserves and extends the safe storage life of emergency drinking water. Water Preserver provides guaranteed 5-year storage* for regular tap water or commercial bottled water.” I say you go with your gut and use what you feel is safe for your family. I may just be lazy and I don’t want to buy the powder and mix it. Great reminder, my friend, Linda
Linda,
I don’t buy the powder, I just use Regular Unscented (meaning it just smells like Chlorine Bleach) Chlorox Bleach. I use an eye dropper and mix 8 drops per gallon of water, which is what the EPA recommends.
HI Ray, oh gotcha, that’s easy to do! Thank you for clarifying how you are doing it. Linda
I purchased the 3.5 gallon water bricks but found that as I’ve aged, handling that weight to lift the containers up on my table or counter was too awkward. So, I gave them to my daughter and son-in-law in exchange for the 2.6 gallon bricks. Much better for me.
Hi Leanne, I totally understand wanting the 1.6 gallon WaterBricks, they are so much lighter to carry. I’m glad you gave the 3.5 gallon ones to your daughter. Water is water but we need to be able to carry them. The smaller ones weigh about 13 pounds when filled with water, that’s easier than 27 pounds. Great reminder, thank you, Linda
Buying water bricks is on my list to do this year. I think for 3 days for 2 adults and now 2 cats (adopted a kitten this week) I would need 4 gallons per person per day and 1 gallon per pet pet day or 10 gallons a day. A set of 10 water bricks would hold 35 gallons, which if we are conservative would last between 3 and 5 days. To last a week, we would need at least 20 water bricks. I like the idea of water bricks because we can also take some camping with us to supplement our 30 gallon fresh water tank. Or use them to refill the tank if needed.
Hi Topaz, i love your planning, start with a few and add as you can. I have an entire wall lined with BlueCans and WaterBricks in my bedroom. Most people would not do that but water is important to me. Way to go my friend, Linda
I had (municipal) water in my bricks for over a year and was fine. I refilled them with spring water from a VERY popular spring in my area and after a few months there was MOLD (!!!!) under ALL the lids!! LOTS of people drink this, I have for months out of other containers, but these bricks all had mold quickly!!! Not sure what the problem was! That was a slap in the face of reality because I KNOWWWWWW how important clean water is for health!!! Eeeek! Any ideas? I’m going to scrub them all and try again, but man! That’s a lot of work taking 20 3-gallon bricks to the spring and hauling back into my house……ugh….
Hi Jennifer, I looked up what would cause mold to grow in the water, warm and humid conditions. I have never had this happen, I know you cannot store them outside, it can be too hot or they will freeze. I had 55 gallon containers in dark blue containers wiih UV covers for 15 years never changed out the water and we drained them and the water and containers were perfect. I gave them to my sister to take to Nevada. We were moving. I also gave her my WaterBricks, no mold in those. Where do you live? Is it humid, did you store them where it was too warm? If not, I wonder about the water. I’m not a microbiologist and have zero experience with bacteria. I would love to know why this happened. Linda
I think I have convinced my husband and son to get these. Husband insisted they be stored in the basement…..if you even mention water and our like new hardwood floors in the same sentence, he’ll have a stroke. He treats those floors more gentle than a babies bottom.
Hi Chris, oh my gosh, this comment gives me the giggles! As long as you basement isn’t flooded you will love having some WaterBricks! The new wood floors! I remember a family had new wood floors installed and the husband taped paper all over them, he didn’t want anyone to walk on them. I love the look of wood floors. We have laminate or whatever it’s called. It looks like wood but a whole lot cheaper. I love real hardwood floors, we have had them in a few homes. I can almost picture how beautiful they are! Linda
Hello.
Where can I purchase the wide mouth red funnel?
I recently received my 10 waterbricks and am ready to prepare and store.
Looks like the funnel would be very helpful.
Thanks
Brett Muir
Hi Brett, I bought a few from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3AUr6nr I use it for so many things. I think you will love having those WaterBricks! Good job, Linda
Just did my annual rotation with these. They are awesome
Hi Matt, thanks for commenting, they are really awesome! Buy once and rotate as needed. They can’t be beat! Linda
I’ve been using my blue camping water jugs for a long time, looks like the same material the water bricks are made of. I also like that they stack with the opening on top. I used to be able to carry one of the 10 gallon jugs in each hand, those were the days! Now I’m lucky if I can carry one of the 5 gallon jugs the few feet from under the sewing table to the kitchen counter but I sure was happy to have the water. Our water district is battling leaks in the system and occasional shutoffs or boil water advisories so being able to just haul out a jug instead of rushing down to the store to get a big bottle is so nice. They stack fairly nicely but of course I really need more. I wish the water bricks were more affordable and had the lid on top.
Hi Alice, check out WaterBricks on Walmart.com sometimes they have them. I hear you on the water boils, urggh! In Utah they sure seem to happen more often that one would expect. Thankfully, we have water stored. Great comment, Linda
We need to get the smaller waterbricks. I simply can’t lift the bigger ones. I need to straighten the freezer because we have some water in there too
Hi Chris, the smaller ones are great as well. Any water at this point will be a blessing when you need it. Linda
I got a good supply of Water Bricks a few years back. Good investment–especially since I have to allow water for horses and chickens!
A note about freezing. While I wouldn’t advise it, the Water Bricks seem to be able to handle it. I had forgotten I’d left a few of them in the empty stall in the barn–yes, they froze, and pretty solid, but the sides just bulged out a bit, and the bricks (thawed out) don’t leak.
For those finding the Bricks are heavy, there are a couple of solutions. Rather than lift them up into a sink to fill (or rather, have to lift them out!) use a pool noodle. Stick one end onto the faucet, and the other end into the Brick, on the floor. (Go easy at first until you see whether anything squirts where it shouldn’t…)
Then, when it comes time to use the water, the company has an electric pump–you can leave the brick right on the floor, replace the cap with the pump, and turn it on to use the water. I found it much easier, because once the brick (with standard manual “faucet”) is up on the counter or wherever, you have to tilt it to make the water run by gravity, once it’s partly empty–requiring one hand to tilt, one hand to work the faucet, and one hand to hold whatever you’re putting water in! Of course you do have to make sure the pump is always charged up (it uses a USB port).
And a further note on safe storage. See those holes all the way through each brick? Once you’ve stacked them (alternating directions) you can then insert a piece of pipe, dowel, broomstick, or whatever down through the lined-up holes to ensure they stay put securely!
Hi Rhonda, thanks for letting us know about the WaterBricks that froze are still leak proof. Good to know! I like you idea about the dowel or broom stick to keep them secure. Love this! It’s good for people to know that if you buy right the first time, these WaterBricks should last forever. They are heavy duty. The pool noodle is a great tip! Thank you! Linda
Linda – I also live in northern Utah and have been concerned with leaving one of the BIG water storage tanks in the garage – what have you done to your garage so it doesn’t get so hot or what do you do about the heat?
Hi Deb, I live in South Jordan, and our house faces west and our tanks are fine. I lived in the desert 4 years ago before we moved here and I stored the same tanks. I store them on 2 x 4’s on the concrete inside a garage (both locations, no problems). One is 250 gallons and the other two stack. 160 gallons on top of another 160 gallon tank. No problems. Linda
Linda one more question – what did you put in your huge water container in the garage besides water? Thanks for responding!!
Hi Deb, I put five bottles of Water Preserver. Yes, it was expensive but I doubt I will ever drain the water until a disaster hits. It will only be used for laundry, cooking and hygiene. https://amzn.to/459AU9T It’s a dark rather thick container, no light in the garage except when the garage door opens. It’s 250 gallons. The 160 gallon tanks I put three bottles in each one. They stack on top on each other. Here again, this water is emergency water, I have really good drinking water in my home. BlueCans, and WaterBricks. Linda