5-Gallon Stackable Water Storage Containers, Emergency Water Storage for Camping and Disaster Preparedness, 100 Gallons

I've filled mine with artesian well water, and a half teaspoon of bleach, sealed them tight and stacked them two high for now in a corner of the basement. I hope I never need them but feel secure that should the water main rupture again, I've no worries about having water besides what's in the hot water heater and toilet tanks! Very likely to get 4 more as I go through a 5 gallon jug each week for coffee and drinking and cooking. If the water goes out again, I'll need more than that for washing and doing dishes, so another set of 4 will be added comfort. Oh, these are great for carrying, very tough and the bottoms are designed to nestle with the top of the jug below it for secure upright stacking. The have smooth sides and will be slippery on their sides so plan on them being upright. I also bought a spout to go with them but have not tested it yet. The air vent caps cover a non-vented spud, so should there be need to use the spout, I might have to drill a vent hole in the spud. No biggie. The main caps have tamper-proof ratchet rings on the lids that click when you put them on and snap off (like bottled water from the convenience store). I do not have security concerns so cut off the rings as I needed them to seal at the well (20 miles away) and not leak during transport, and be openable for the addition of bleach once home again. I have pretty good hand strength, but found it necessary to use the wrench to torque the lids down for a secure seal. Get a wrench! You'll want it air tight so bacteria doesn't get drawn in during barometric changes. There's no way to eliminate the air pockets created by the nesting ridges on the top, so when you seal it up for storage, wrench those lids down TIGHT!

I ordered these somewhat cautiously, as there are a number of reviews citing issues. I figured I'd give them a try. I bought the 60 gallon (12 containers) package and after reading reviews with complaints about smell, plastic-quality questions, lid seal, and needing to buy expensive accessories, I am very happy to report: - Little to no smell. If I really take a deep snort with my nose jammed in there, yeah I kind of smell plastic. But it's very faint. Nothing like what some other customers reported (and I'm not knocking their reviews, I'm sure theirs smelled). No stronger than a new plastic water bottle, and I'm going to wash/bleach them out anyway, so this was a non-issue for me. - Lids. Some customers report not getting lids (though I also see review updates indicating good customer service later supplying them). Mine had lids, although they were deep in the box in a separate envelope, so it may appear at first that yours don't have any. - Plastic quality. Some customers called out missing or cryptic markings on their containers. Mine are stamped all over with HDPE, the "2" in the arrows, all that BPE-free good stuff. I have no concerns about the plastic (and the containers are very sturdy). - Accessories. Mine came with a wrench for the lids! I was very happy to see this, especially as I didn't see it mentioned in the product description. I wonder whether, after complaints about lids, the company started being more diligent about including them and also threw in a wrench for free? But that's conjecture. Also, when I ordered these the delivery estimate was 2-3 weeks. They came in 5 days! Very impressed with this product and the service so far. Now, in fairness, I haven't filled these yet. So if there are issues with leaking, I will definitely update the review. But between the information about cutting off the collar on the lids, and the bonus wrench they included, I'm confident all should work well. UPDATE: Out of my 12, one had a tiny leak no matter how I tried to seal the lid. A couple others leaked when I sealed them, but by removing the lid and then re-wrenching it on I was able to get a perfect seal with no drips. The one container just leaked no matter how I secured the lid. It was just a small drop every couple seconds when I inverted the container, but this means the water isn't perfectly sealed so it's a concern. I'll see how that water is compared to the others when I open them. Also, the vent opening (the small spout on the rear with the small white cap) leaked on a few, and on a couple I used plumber's tape on the threads to get a better seal on the vent. The vent holes took a lot of work to drill out. There is a lot of plastic down in that neck, and of course all that debris has to be cleared. This was pretty easily accomplished with the repeated soaping/bleaching/rinsing I was planning to do anyway, but just to say I was surprised how thick that plug was. I do agree with others that instructions would have been useful, but there's enough information online that I think I'll be okay. UPDATE Here are the steps I used on each container, in case this helps anyone: 1. Drill out the vent hole. As mentioned, this takes some doing unless you have an amazing drill. 2. Rinse container with warm water. This should get rid of much of the plastic debris from drilling. 3. Add more warm water and a drop of antibacterial dish soap. You don't need much! On my first few containers I used much more soap and had to rinse many times because it foamed up so much. Seal the soapy water in there and shake vigorously for several seconds to clean thoroughly. 4. Rinse out all soap. If you have a sink with a sprayer, that will come in super handy: put the contained upside down to make sure you get it all out. 5. Optional: Add some cold water, seal and shake, pour into a glass and sip. Did you get all the soap out? :-) 6. Add 1 teaspoon (5ml) of bleach to 1 quart water, pour into container, seal and shake vigorously for several seconds. 7. Rinse thoroughly. 8. Optional: Shake up some more cold water in there and taste it. Should taste great. 9. Fill partially with cold water, add 1/2 teaspoon bleach, continue adding water until full. The bleach is to preserve the water and prevent algae/bacteria. Ready.gov recommends 1/8 tsp bleach per gallon, which is 1/2 tsp for 4 gallons. I stuck with this for my 5 gallons. On other sites I saw as much as 1tsp and as little as 1/4 mentioned for 5 gallons. 10. Seal and store, somewhere dark that won't get too warm. Label with a Sharpie: Date filled and amount of bleach added. One final note, I did order this for $9 because I knew I'd need a spigot. I highly recommend this one accessory. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DFW90GY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Came as described, looks (seems) to be very durable unlike another brand I returned. Food grade and safe to save drinking water. Just keep it clean, in a dark and cool place. I also add a teaspoon of plain chlorine. Will buy more soon. Perfect size, not too big & heavy. Stackable and space saving. I like & recommend them for preppers.

Update to the review which follows: I'm raising my review by one star simply because the seller (mfr.?) took the time to reply here, which you don't often see. Disclosure: I also received the items he mentioned in the comment below (free spigots). They are of the same design as those I purchased, a little lightweight but functional. Assuming any of the stuff I criticized in my review is improved on future models of this container, they are worth looking at. Mine are still in deep storage after a few months and holding water for potential emergency use. Original review: Overall I'm (only) OK with these. I bought a 4-pack of 5 gallons each, received today, filled with water and put in storage. They do stack well (I'm only going 2 high) and they work as intended to store water for the long-term. They seem rugged enough to handle everyday use for camping, etc. as well. I also bought the separate spout (8 bucks) which works OK also. But I took off a couple stars for the following reasons. Each is a fairly minimal complaint but taken together I think they are reasonable to mention. 1. Advertised as BPA-free in the Amazon listing, this is not noted on the container anywhere nor on the box they arrived in. There are numbers and other info molded into the plastic, why not a notice about BPA as well to give the customer reassurance and help with info later when someone looks at these as a possible source of drinking water. I used a marker to write "BPA Free" on the top of each container. These do smell like plastic when new. I rinsed them with vinegar and then fresh water which helped, before filling for storage. 2. There was no instruction or data sheet enclosed. Not everyone will realize you can (optionally) drill a vent hole under a small white cap at the rear to aid in pouring water (I did not). There's no discussion about drilling into the big cap to attach a hose (which it is apparently designed to optionally do). Using the big cap is not 100% intuitive. It has a locking ring at its base (similar to what you see on a sealed gallon of milk, only larger) and it's not clear that this must be removed from the cap before you can unscrew the cap again (at least that what it seemed like to me). This cap ring apparently requires a boxcutter or similar sharp tool to remove, once you tighten it down. You can't do it by "force" as you do when opening a jug of milk where the ring breaks off. I screwed on one cap tight just to see if it leaked and then realized about the locking ring, so I then cut it off as I could see no way to remove the cap otherwise, there's no "lock release" function. I then cut off the other cap rings before installing them. You do not need the locking ring to get a good tight seal as there is a rubber washer on the inside of the cap which seems to seal well. So to re-state this, cutting off the locking ring does not affect the seal of the cap. The locking ring is apparently intended for "permanent" storage to ensure the lid won't come loose, that's all I can think. Again, brief info about this on a sheet of paper enclosed would be helpful. 3. Probably my chief complaint is that you cannot easily drain these of water completely. If you turn them upside down, after "emptying" there is water trapped in the "shoulders" which rise above the drain spout (and are below it when the jug is inverted). You have to shake and twist the container to get perhaps the last pint of water out. This design may have been necessary to allow for stacking but perhaps a better design could have gotten around this issue. For example, the typical 5-gal. "jerry can" water containers have their cap at the lowest point when inverted properly though they don't stack well as these do. 4. If priced a little better for the 4-pack I might have only taken off one star. One free spout with each 4-pack would be a nice touch, at 8 dollars the spouts are also overpriced being made of simple plastic and not looking too rugged at that. These containers are adequate for emergency storage but perhaps not quite as good as they could be.

These stack nicely, 5 gallons are not so heavy they can’t be moved around by one person, plastic is strong. 2nd time I’ve ordered these and both times they showed up early.

They arrived in good condition. Came with caps in separate bag and a locking tool so if you are not strong enough you can close and open easily. Filling them is easy but once full they are heavy to lift if you are a woman or senior not strong upper body strength but I made it work. You might bear that in mind if you have to lift out of a sink. I wish it had come with directions and explanations on use. But I wrote them w questions and they responded within a day. There is a small knob w cap that is not pierced and I deduce allows air on for easy water pour out of other big opening or spigot (not included) later. Oh and you can buy a spigot from the company fir about $3-4. I saw a set on Amazon but its not this company brand so id be concerned about proper seal. Also its a more money. I think buying a couple spigots would be a good idea. In case one breaks. (Update: I wrote readystore and they sent me 4 sets as a courtesy..that's what I call great customer service). As to long term storage. The insides are lined with something that deters algae makes it less likely hence the dark color but they say if you dont treat water ahead you need to change it every 6-8 months. I bought water purification tablets enough for each jug to put in when I'm ready to use it and I will check water at 6 months to see how it smells and I may buy a water tester to check quality. If it needs changing will decuse then. I washed mine out w a little white vinegar and water beforehand and made sure it was well rinsed. They say you can use a little dish soap as well but I preferred no potential suds. As for leaking..I hope the containers hold up. I don't anticipate leaking of the caps because they are stored upright w cap on top. Theres drought conditions in so many places..thus iui s a good investment. The size is perfect. Highly recommend. But I'll buy direct from Ready Store next round because Amazon customer service on some food issues was bad and frankly, it ticked me off.

I bought a set of 8 and yes they did have a plastic odor, (they are plastic) I rinsed mine with hot water and a heaping tablespoon of baking soda, then rinsed again and let dry. Smell went way down. Filled with tap water and one teaspoon _regular_ bleach. I'll leave the water in for 1 year and then change it. When I refill these I will put some water in with a sanitizing level of bleach to sanitize the jug, empty it, cover the lid with paper towel and let dry for a day, then refill with tap water and add one teaspoon regular bleach and store again. Adding that teaspoon of bleach kills any pathogen in the water and the bleach quickly degrades, you won't even be able to smell it in a few days but as long as your bleach is in there, your water is clean and no bugs can grow, provided your lid is tight and you store properly. This process is much like canning, everything has to be clean and sterile going in. This is easier though because the bleach does most of the work for you. If you don't have good hand strength, get a wrench, these lids do require some effort to get then tight enough to seal but the do seal. I tested each one by tipping over on it side and pressing down on the container to build some pressure and I had no leaks. There is more to storing water then you think, read up on it, you have to do this correctly or you can set up a bateria farm in your water jug and then you don't want that. If you are not concerned about the tampering, take it off the tamper-evidence ring, the lids tighten down easier without it, it is not necessary to seal the jug, it is just a tamper-evidencing device that will only work once anyway. The rings break right off.

The shape of these prevents you from being able to get the last bit of water out of the jug, making it infuriating to clean out because the soap is so difficult to remove. If I actually have to use these for an emergency, I'll die of dehydration with a little bit of water still in the container. Also, the lids are weird. I wish I wouldve gotten different ones.