What have you done this week to prep? PART II

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

Look into the smallish solar chargers. They work. Goal Zero is the brand on one of mine.

 

[Vigilant]

The rechargables will be good as long as the genny's have fuel. That's my only concern.

We do Sams. here is not a Costco n a convenient distance from us. They have the Mega packs of Duracell's and the 10 year offerings for reasonable money.

Goal Zero Solar Charging system.

 

[churchmouse]

Let me find that "Wants" list.....

 

[Karl-just-Karl]

Batteries? Just plain-jane Duracells in the big packs rotating through. I've got a few extra AA Lithiums put away.

AA, AAA, C, D (only enough for a change-out in the maglight), 123A, 1/3N, 2032.

I recycled out several car batteries a few years ago. I have been looking to replace them with some marine batteries. The time is coming, priorities and money you know.


Berkey update:

Got it out and set it up this weekend.

Disappointments:

A couple of small dents. One in the lid is bad enough I was tempted to call and complain. In reality, I'll consider myself fortunate if I don't bang it up a lot worse before TEOTWAWKI. The screw for the handle on the lid is way too short. I will have to find a replacement.

Learning experiences:

It took several (5-6) gallons of water to clean out what Berkey calls "manufacturing dust"...even after generous priming of the filters. The filters feel delicate to me. Because of cost I'm not interested in performing durability tests at this time.

I'm glad I bought the prime/purge kit. I would hate to find out how long it takes the filters to dry out on their own. There is a lot of water trapped in there.

My tap water is generally pretty good so I couldn't tell a big difference. Overall I'm glad I have checked a box to move forward on my preps.

 

[churchmouse]

Batteries? Just plain-jane Duracells in the big packs rotating through. I've got a few extra AA Lithiums put away.

AA, AAA, C, D (only enough for a change-out in the maglight), 123A, 1/3N, 2032.

I recycled out several car batteries a few years ago. I have been looking to replace them with some marine batteries. The time is coming, priorities and money you know.


Berkey update:

Got it out and set it up this weekend.

Disappointments:

A couple of small dents. One in the lid is bad enough I was tempted to call and complain. In reality, I'll consider myself fortunate if I don't bang it up a lot worse before TEOTWAWKI. The screw for the handle on the lid is way too short. I will have to find a replacement.

Learning experiences:

It took several (5-6) gallons of water to clean out what Berkey calls "manufacturing dust"...even after generous priming of the filters. The filters feel delicate to me. Because of cost I'm not interested in performing durability tests at this time.

I'm glad I bought the prime/purge kit. I would hate to find out how long it takes the filters to dry out on their own. There is a lot of water trapped in there.

My tap water is generally pretty good so I couldn't tell a big difference. Overall I'm glad I have checked a box to move forward on my preps.

Well that is not very encouraging.

I picked up a 10 pack of the 123's off amazon along with the wafer style 32's (?) for optics etc.

 

[Cameramonkey]

And don’t buy cheap batteries. I made that mistake, buying the most inexpensive house brand battery I could find to save on costs because I was buying so many. I discovered that they were junk, and had very little shelflife. As in totally dead within two years. Get the handful of Duracell batteries I had were still good as new.


I’ll never buy anything but Duracell for my go bags again. I will continue to buy the cheap batteries for the kids toys, remote controls, etc.

 

[teddy12b]

My layers:
Batteries:
The only batteries I put up or keep a supply of are lithium. I don't do the old style batteries as I've opened up enough battery compartments to find them leaked and corroded that I'm done loosing equipment to a cheap battery. Also, the lithium battery's hold up to 90% of their charge 10 years later. The regular batteries can't claim that.

Battery backups and charging them:
I'm a huge fan of anker battery backups. I have some that plug into the wall and work as a charger, but they're constantly topping themselves off too. It's great for traveling and they hold a decent charge. I have about every size of anker from over the years and they've all held up wonderfully. I've got one generic battery backup that has a solar charger integrated on it that works ok. The battery backup can also be charged up using an anker solar panel charger.

Home car battery backup:
I have a deep cycle marine battery, a smart charger, and an inverter. This is my latest addition to the prepping world and isn't completely setup yet. The plan is to plug the smart charger into the wall and keep the deep cycle battery topped off. If/when it's needed I can disconnect and put the inverter on it and plug stuff in to it.

Generators:
I have a harbor freight cheapo genny, and a generac gas powered 8000w. They work so long as they get fed with plenty of fuel.

Couple of thoughts. I don't keep backup power on hand for convenient types of things. I have a battery backup on the sump pump and want to make sure I can always power that. We don't have an old school phone line at the house, so the battery backups are good when we loose power and need phones to work. For lighting, I've had some incredible luck with led lightbulbs that will daisy chain and run off a usb battery backup. Two or three of those and you've got plenty of light. I also came across a bargain on glow sticks so there's plenty of those to hand out to the kids for scary nights.

 

[Karl-just-Karl]

Sorry CM. I wasn't trying to make a dissuasive argument. Just accepting another bitter pill of reality. The dent in the lid was certainly boxed up that way. It has a pretty deep score mark up the middle. Poor QC or the employee just didn't care.

If it filters out the bad stuff as advertised I will be pleased. I'm waiting for the annual spring change in our municipal water where it turns kind of skanky for a couple weeks. It passed the water color test.

The weird powdery grittiness went away after 5 or 6 gallons. It couldn't be seen, it was a strange mouth-feel. After that it was pretty comparable to drinking other filtered water I've had.

 

[churchmouse]

Sorry CM. I wasn't trying to make a dissuasive argument. Just accepting another bitter pill of reality. The dent in the lid was certainly boxed up that way. It has a pretty deep score mark up the middle. Poor QC or the employee just didn't care.

If it filters out the bad stuff as advertised I will be pleased. I'm waiting for the annual spring change in our municipal water where it turns kind of skanky for a couple weeks. It passed the water color test.

The weird powdery grittiness went away after 5 or 6 gallons. It couldn't be seen, it was a strange mouth-feel. After that it was pretty comparable to drinking other filtered water I've had.

You did fine. Honest assessment of the product as you received it.
I have access to other levels of filtration from being in the HVAC-R industrial field for so long. I am weighing all my options.

 

[Phase2]

The weird powdery grittiness went away after 5 or 6 gallons. It couldn't be seen, it was a strange mouth-feel. After that it was pretty comparable to drinking other filtered water I've had.

Sorry about your dents. I would contact the seller to give them a chance to make it right. You paid a substantial amount and shouldn't accept damaged goods
As for the grittiness, that is expected and the instructions tell you to flush the system before using it.

 

[Karl-just-Karl]

Sorry about your dents. I would contact the seller to give them a chance to make it right. You paid a substantial amount and shouldn't accept damaged goods
As for the grittiness, that is expected and the instructions tell you to flush the system before using it.

Oh yeah, the instructions were perfectly clear about the "manufacturing dust". No complaints, just putting it out there for anybody else thinking about getting one of these things. It might be best to do some (several) test runs at home and get all the dust flushed out of the filters before taking it on a trip or expecting it to deliver in a pinch.

I am very impressed with the processing speed although I expect it to slow down with time. It is running a gallon of tap water through in about 20 minutes. I thought something might be leaking but it passed the red-dye test.

I was expecting it to take several hours to filter a gallon of water.

Also, I was pleased to see the unexpected two bottles of red food dye for this testing included. There is enough there for at least 4-6 tests.

Sometimes you get things you don't expect like small dents or two bottles of dye. Upsides and downsides, it is what it is.

The stainless spigot is a nice upgrade after comparing it sxs with the standard plastic one. I also got the stainless cups in the bundle deal. It is all good!

I'm not sweating the small stuff my friend.

Overall I am pleased to add it to my collection of emergency "stuff".

 

[Phase2]

Just FYI- When filtering, the first gallon is the fastest. I believe that is because of gravity (more water at the top helps push it through the filters) and because the filters are being fully used. As the water level goes down, the upper half of the filters aren't really doing anything.

This is up to you, but I'd recommend using the Berkeys all the time rather than putting it in storage. If you check your water companies water quality report (or well analysis), you will very likely find some chemicals that are above safe levels that Berkey addresses. Good quality water is a basic health necessity.

 

[Phase2]

Good to know:

Beer still drinkable after nuclear apocalypse

 

[teddy12b]

Good to know:

Beer still drinkable after nuclear apocalypse

I have no beer in my preps, but there's enough whiskey to clean out all a wounds a person could live through and also make sure they don't feel any pain.

 

[Lex Concord]

Lots of decisions will have to be made on the fly depending on the circumstances.

I hope I'm wrong, but I have the feeling this reality is something a lot of folks don't get.

 

[Lex Concord]

I recently started stocking up on amazon basic batteries. They are cheap, show up quick, 10 yr life, packaged nicely. I also keep lithium for superior storage/usage life.

Living on a Dime recently did a review video after testing numerous batteries. If memory serves, the Amazon batteries ranked well

[video=youtube_share;bpVvc8URL-Q]https://youtu.be/bpVvc8URL-Q[/video]

 

[churchmouse]

That is most interesting. I have often wondered how many actual battery manf. are out there. Re-badged battery's.....?????

 

[Cameramonkey]

Not that we really care, but Amazon's factory is rumored to be one of the most dirty, polluting Chinese manufacturers out there.

And for this discussion, They shouldnt even be an option. Amazon batteries (as a known brand) are less than 10 years old. (less than 2?) How do we judge the shelf life of a battery when it hasnt been made long enough to prove its worth?

Move along. Buy Amazon and other cheapos for the kids toys for use RIGHT NOW, and invest in good lithium or Duracell (and maybe Energizer) for long term storage.

And before it comes up again, storing them in the freezer actually causes them to fare marginally worse in long term testing. Not enough to cause a fuss, but just enough to tell you not to bother.

 

[churchmouse]

Not that we really care, but Amazon's factory is rumored to be one of the most dirty, polluting Chinese manufacturers out there.

And for this discussion, They shouldnt even be an option. Amazon batteries (as a known brand) are less than 10 years old. (less than 2?) How do we judge the shelf life of a battery when it hasnt been made long enough to prove its worth?

Move along. Buy Amazon and other cheapos for the kids toys for use RIGHT NOW, and invest in good lithium or Duracell (and maybe Energizer) for long term storage.

And before it comes up again, storing them in the freezer actually causes them to fare marginally worse in long term testing. Not enough to cause a fuss, but just enough to tell you not to bother.

that whole freezer thing is a hold over from the days in the 50's when a battery life cycle sucked.

 

[Karl-just-Karl]

I have no beer in my preps, but there's enough whiskey to clean out all a wounds a person could live through and also make sure they don't feel any pain.

I've always thought a fair supply of whiskey was a good idea for many reasons outside of medicinal purposes. It might rent some friends for a few hours.

A debate with a few friends; Jim, Old No.7, Maker's, Jameson, Glenlivet, ???? Would anything work in a pinch? I certainly won't be buying any Pappy Van Winkle anytime soon!