I posted the following on the new board and, so far, there have been no comments, so I thought I’d post it here, as well …
I ordered some of the dry calcium hypochlorite which has been recommended as a way of mixing up a suitable bleach solution for chlorinating water to make it safe for drinking. As long as I was ordering it, I also ordered some test strips, but I don’t really know how to use them for testing drinking water. I got the AquaChek 15-second pool test strips, which check pH, Free Chlorine, Total Alkalinity, and Cyanuric Acid. The information that comes with the strips is applicable to pools or spas, so I’m not sure what numbers I should be looking for in drinking water.
For example, should I be using this when I first treat the water with chlorine to make sure the chlorine level is HIGH enough to treat the water? Or do I check it after I’ve treated the water and filtered it to make sure the chlorine levels are LOW enough to drink? The free chlorine levels are expressed as PPM, so can anyone tell me what range I should be looking for?
I’m not sure about the other things these strips test for---perhaps the pH level would be useful to know (but, again, I don’t know what level I would want for drinking water)---and I have no idea what use the total alkalinity and cyanuric acid levels would be in relation to testing drinking water.
Could someone please save me from my own ignorance?
Hi Geneo,I’m looking for info about test strips too. I’d like to use them to test the water after I’ve added the chlorine and have let it sit for 12 hours or so. I’d read that having chlorine of less than 1 ppm is the best for drinking. But,then I’ve also read that it should be less than 4 ppm or so. I wanted to use them also to test the PH before I add Chlorine since I understand that Chlorine isn’t effective for a PH over that number. But, you can see that I don’t quite know what I’m talking about. :) I sure wish Phag would finish his water report.I know it would be very helpful in this area.
Meant to say that if the water has a PH of over 8 then Chlorine isn’t effective.
Here’s a link which explains just about all you’d ever want to know about pool chemistry
http://www.deh.enr.state.nc.us/ehs/chem.htm
For drinking water, you should add enough chlorine to achieve a minimum of 2ppm (3ppm may be better). Test the chlorine level immediately after adding the chlorine, as it will rapidly dissipate. A reading of 3ppm should kill nearly all bacteria & virus (however, chlorine WILL NOT eliminate cysts and protozoa like Giardia and Cryptosporidium… these can only be destroyed by ozone, or by physical filtering of the water. You can allow the chlorine level to fall back to zero before drinking if you like, at any rate don’t drink it if the reading is still above 2ppm. Chlorine will dissipate out of water rapidly, just let the treated water stand in an open container for up to 24 hours before use.
BTW, if you have water which is way off neutral (pH below 7.0 or above 7.6), use baking soda to raise the pH and muriatic acid to lower the pH. Both are completely harmless to ingest according to our resident chemists (I plan on using my swimming pool water for an emergency source of drinking water).
Thanks for the link, Kim. I wish I could find one which applies to drinking water instead of pool water. I also responded to your post on the new forum.
I was a little disconcerted to read that calcium hypochlorite is “highly reactive — may cause fires.” I don’t have a pool and have never used this chemical before, so I was already a little worried about it. I was just going to store in in a plastic rubbermaid-type food container in the garage. I know I’ve read that it must be added to the water, not the other way around. My plan is to put water in a 96-oz. plastic bleach bottle, then add the calcium hypochlorite, put the lid on the bleach bottle, and shake to combine. I figured I’d do this in the garage (with the door open) and probably put a bandana over my mouth and nose when putting the calcium hypochlorite in the water and mixing it, as I have asthma and other respiratory probelms I don’t want to aggravate. Does this make sense? And should the calcium hypochlorite be okay stored in the garage in a plastic container? I also have propane and butane, as well as some gas for our lawnmower and generator (not much) stored in our attached garage. I’ve moved it all to the wall farthest from the house. I really don’t have anywhere else to put it.
I use these: http://tinyurl.com/y6wkys
Same thing that came with my Miox, but about 1/2 the price of what Miox charges for them.
Yes, calcium hypochlorite is flammable… IF you add water to it! So always be sure to store it in a spot where nothing can drip on it and no floodwaters can reach it(it should already be packaged in a waterproof container). There is no flammability problem if it is added to water (weird, I know). Always add all chemicals TO water, don’t add water to chemicals. As a pool owner I store good amounts of calcium hypochlorite in my garage all the time, no problems as long as you follow these precautions.
And yes, it’s a good idea to cover your nose & mouth, especially if you’re at all sensitive, when handling these chemicals. The calcium hypochlorite can be quite powdery and especially irritating. Be careful also when handling muriatic acid, it can cause a nasty chemical burn if it gets on your skin. It certainly would not hurt to wear nitrile gloves and goggles when handling this, just to prevent any splashes from causing problems. If muriatic acid does splash on unprotected skin, rinsing with clear water immediately should prevent injury. If you don’t wear goggles when mixing up these chemicals, at least take a big bottle of sterile saline (find it at any drugstore with the contact lens supplies, the cheap store brand is just fine) out to the garage with you so you can rinse your eyes immediately if you get a splash.
As for the test strips, I’ve never used strips for testing my pool water, I’ve always used the liquid reagents to test. I think that is probably less expensive than using the strips. If you can find a liquid reagent kit that tests only pH and chlorine, that’s all you need. This kit is similar to what I use for my pool (don’t know a thing about this seller, it’s just a good photo and info) http://tinyurl.com/ut4ur
For drinking water all you really need to be concerned about is pH and free chlorine level. Test the pH BEFORE adding chlorine, this will let you know if the chlorine you add will be effective. If the pH is below 7.0 add baking soda, if the pH is above 7.8 add muriatic acid. After adjusting the pH, re-test it to make sure you got the pH to the proper range.
Now add your chlorine, and test the chlorine level. It should ideally have a reading of 3 ppm or more. Now let the water sit uncovered for awhile to let the chlorine dissipate out (should be below 2 ppm for drinking, you can let it go down to 0 ppm if you like… the chlorine has already done its work). If you added too much chlorine and the reading is above 3 ppm, no problem. It will just take longer for that extra chlorine to dissipate out.
Sources for pH and chlorine testing chemicals (strips or liquid reagents) - swimming pool equipment dealers anytime; Walmart, Lowe’s, etc during swimming pool season. A liquid reagent kit shouldn’t cost over $10–15, reagent refills run about $5–7 a bottle (you’ll need to replace the liquid reagents about once a year)
Sources for muriatic acid - hardware stores (it’s used to etch concrete), many swimming pool equipment dealers. Costs about $5 a gallon.
Sources for baking soda - any grocery store, in the same aisle as flour and sugar. The bigger bags/boxes actually have directions on the back telling how to use it to adjust swimming pool pH. A 12 lb bag at Sam’s Club is about $5.
You’ll need to wait 30 min for the chlorine to react with organic materials in the water before you test for residual chlorine. (That’s why pre-filtering the water is important - remove as much extra organic material as you can.) What you want for drinking water after the reaction time is a non-zero free chlorine reading.
I wish I know what impurities they refer to when they say do not drink pool water. Hope it isn’t the additives in pool chemicals, which weren’t designed for drinking. Some of the substances were added to protect the chlorine from sunlight, for example. I’m worried about what they would do when we try to filter them through our kidneys.
The article Jane linked to at 12:38 states, “Garages, sheds, or other areas where products such as paints or gasoline are kept are not good places to store water.”
Does anyone know if this really is an absolute? I was going to store my 55 gallon water barrels and my propane and gasoline all in my garage. I don’t have another good option for any of those items. Does anyone know for sure you can’t store water in the same area with propane and gasoline, and/or what to do about that fact? If this is true, I just don’t know what I am going to do.
JV, I wonder if it makes a difference if the water is in metal drums. In plastic barrels, I’d guess that some elements could transfer through the plastic. Smells sure do, so I guess that’s a hint of something chemical moving across barriers. Just guessing, though.
Jane -
Yes, that was exactly what I was thinking. I have the 55 gallon plastic water barrels. There is no place I can put them other than in the garage. So, now I guess I will have to figure out what to do with the gasoline and propane. I will have a lot of both, and I can’t put them in the house. I have no other place to put them. I can’t just set them outside.
Kim, I ordered the calcium hypochlorite from the same site you link pointed to for the reagent testing kit. Since I was getting that, I went ahead and ordered the testing strips from them (AquaChek Test Strips, 50 for $5.99). Do you think the reagents are better, or just cheaper? The initial cost is more for the reagent test kit, but maybe it will do more than 50 tests?
And thanks for all the comments. I’ve gotten good input from both the new site and this one, but definitely more comments than on the new site.
JV, the propane is in metal already. If you don’t transfer it to smaller cans while you’re in the garage, it should be okay, wouldn’t it? There are metal gasoline cans, too, but I don’t know how much it vents in warm weather. Or if paint peels off the inside of the cans -are they painted inside? That reminds me, I have to check to make sure none of my plastic bottles of kerosene aren’t on bare concrete.
Genoa, I don’t think there is any quality difference between the test strips and the liquid test reagents. I’ve just always used the liquid and have no experience with the strips.
I usually check my pool water about once a week during swim season (I probably should check it more, but don’t). Swim season here is about 5 months. Each test uses 5 drops of liquid reagent. I have never yet used a full bottle of reagent in one season, usually it’s more like 1/2 a bottle or less. So judging by what you’re paying for the strips, the costs may be similar. The one advantage that I can think of for the liquid reagents vs. the strips is that with the liquid one can perform individual tests, such as only for pH, or only for chlorine. With the strips, one strip equals one test for everything.
Jane wondered about using swimming pool water for drinking. I’ve done alot of research on this subject because there is an inground pool here which I want to pull double-duty… swimming in the summer, and an emergency source of drinking water when needed. I am very careful to only use certain chemicals in my pool. Besides calcium hypochlorite, the only chemicals ever added are baking soda, calcium hypochlorite, and cyanuric acid. The cyanuric acid is the chemical that Jane is speaking of as protecting the chlorine from sunlight. Since doing some research I’ve lowered the level of cyanuric acid from 80 ppm to 50 ppm. There is no clear-cut evidence which shows that this chemical would be harmful to ingest (research with rats fed water laced with cyanuric acid at doses of 400 ppm, 1200 ppm and 5375 ppm showed no damage except in the highest dosage… and 50 ppm is a far cry from 5375 ppm, or even 400 ppm). I look at it this way… I’m 50 yrs old, and if something is MAYBE going to increase my risk 30 years down the road, I’ll take my chances versus dying of dehydration during a long-term emergency. My 7 yr old grandson will hopefully be with me also during any emergency, and I am willing to have him drink pool water and certainly not die from dehydration versus MAYBE having an increased risk of something down the road. Everything in life is a gamble, my friends, and I’ve calculated the odds to the best of my ability.