Survival tip of the day (Ongoing Participation Thread)

Not really a tip but good information.

 

Vinegar like colloidal silver is an antibiotic and preforms pretty much the same way.

 

Buy topo maps of the area you are in or plan to be in and learn to use a compass.

 

Learn to use a compass before you need to use a compass.

 

Be wary of brightly colored insects. The bright colors are normally a warning sign that they are poisonous.

 

A few years ago, the foundation at my Dad's house moved enough to let the front brick wall come off. He'd had work done on the foundation years ago, and I called the company-- sure enough it was guaranteed for the life of the house. Dad was now dead, but the guarantee was still good.

So there I am one hot summer afternoon. The foundation company came out with a backhoe and a crew and dug a 10 foot long trench perpendicular to the foundation pursuant to building a concrete T-wall to anchor the foundation and insure it would never move again.

In about 10 minutes, the hole had been dug-- 10 feet deep about 5 feet wide. The foreman switched off the backhoe and peered in to check his work. I told him that I was impressed.

"Just remember," he said. "Never piss off a man who owns a backhoe."

You know something? He's right. There's my survival tip of the day from me to thee. Truer words were never spoken.

 

Calcium hypochlorinate and water....and directions for making a stock solution.

I have a standard 1/4 teaspoon measuring spoon. I have a 1/4 and a 1/2 and a full teaspoon and a full tablespoon. No 1/3 anything - maybe the wife threw those away. I also don't have to guess at what a "heaping" is worth.

I have a standard (Ekco) 1/4 cup measuring cup.

So - I scoop (a 1/4 teaspoon) of HTH into one gallon of water. This makes the stock (bleach) solution.

Then 1/4 cup of this stock chlorine solution into one gallon of clear water I want to treat. Stupid simple, just what I want....

**Standard US measuring products and standard US measurements (teaspoon, cup and gallon)** Brilliant as they say in the UK.
I small dry measurement device, 1 liquid measurement device. and a pair of gallon containers. All done.

1/4 to one and 1/4 to one.
Easy peasy. This is much easier to use than the EPA guidance --


No ounce to liter or milliliter to gallons to PPM to % of whatever. No heaping this or that, no off-the-wall metric measurements and no way to measure small amounts of a dry product correctly.

As a retired military guy I can really appreciate the simplicity of - add one scoop of this powder to one gallon of water.

Then add one scoop of the treatment solution to one gallon of untreated water....


The long version --
You can use granular calcium hypochlorite to disinfect water.
Add and dissolve one heaping teaspoon of high-test granular calcium hypochlorite (approximately ¼ ounce) for each two gallons of water, or 5 milliliters (approximately 7 grams) per 7.5 liters of water.

The mixture will produce a stock chlorine solution of approximately 500 milligrams per liter, since the calcium hypochlorite has available chlorine equal to 70 percent of its weight.

To disinfect water, add the chlorine solution in the ratio of one part of chlorine solution to each 100 parts of water to be treated. This is roughly equal to adding 1 pint (16 ounces) of stock chlorine to each 12.5 gallons of water or (approximately ½ liter to 50 liters of water) to be disinfected.

To remove any objectionable chlorine odor, aerate the disinfected water by pouring it back and forth from one clean container to another.

EPA website (Source)
http://water.epa.gov/drink/emerprep/...sinfection.cfm


Note that the even the EPA using "high test" (the HT in HTH) and not % for strength of the product.

See also
http://phc.amedd.army.mil/phc%20reso...1-008-1004.pdf Big Army medical

The CDC isn't so happy with HTH - Why? You are too stupid to use it correctly....

2. What about using calcium hypochlorite (HTH) or chlorine tablets instead? expanded

Chlorine tablets and/or HTH (also named calcium hypochlorite) are widely available in some areas. A number of potential users of the SWS know that these tablets are used to disinfect water. Unfortunately, we have also found that many people have different levels of knowledge regarding appropriate dosing instructions, which is a concern because the tablets vary significantly in strength. In Haiti, a small saran wrap bag of approximately 100 HTH pellets is widely available and inexpensive. However, the pellets vary in size, the quality of the pellets is unknown, and, depending on impurities in the manufacturing process, they can degrade quickly. In other countries, very high strength tablets may be sold which, when added to water for disinfection, leave a strong, unpleasant taste. It is important for users to know the quality and strength of HTH and/or chlorine tablets and understand the appropriate dosing strategy before attempting to use them for drinking water treatment; in most instances, however, this is impossible for users to do. For these reasons, hypochlorite solution is likely to be a better option.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Sodium Hypochlorite (SH) | The Safe Water System | CDC Source


The World Health Organization thinks you are smart enough to HTH.
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_...ies/fs2_19.pdf - large file with diagrams and complex mathematical formula.

 

That's good advice. I have a cistern that collects my rainwater. I use it for everything but drinking. About 3 times a summer the water starts to get the smell of dead worms. I use HTH Pool Shock and pre-mix it in a gallon of hot water before pouring it in . The pre-mixing makes sure the whole water column gets treated, instead of just the bottom.

Yes, the water is safe to drink, but we are going into town often enough that we bring drinking water with us.

I got this idea from a product called "Old Settler." I found it at the hardware store. It was supposed to be used to settle a cistern after a water delivery. After I used it, I looked at the ingredient list: Calcium Hypochlorite. Bingo. I just bought HTH Pool Shock at a fraction of the price and figured out the dose based on the Old Settler bottle.

 

One gallon of 35% food grade Hydrogen Peroxide diluted will make 11.66 gallons of 3% (antiseptic grade) for wound care post SHTF. $43.21 for Amazon. That's $.46 per pint. Likely cheaper at a restaurant supply store. Label with mixing instructions in case you are not around. The stuff with burn you. You might want to buy it in pints or quarts because once open it has a short shelf life. The extra oxygen atom ( it's H2O2) wants to be set free and you are left with only water (H2O). Store in cool dark place.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J0DAAVW/?tag=survivalmonke-20

 

The Nazi ME 262 used hydrogen peroxide (oxidizer), hydrazine (highly toxic and dangerously unstable) and water as fuel.

 

I am awed at the number of rocket surgeon monkeys we have here.

 

Could easily be. I've never really did much research into WWII aircraft except ours.

I've watched a few documentaries; however, with some items where I was there, they can be totally inaccurate.

 

Hydrogen Peroxide actually kills skin cells I'm told, and that is why I prefer colloidal silver.