Finding out that most or all of your water stockpile has frozen in the middle of a grid down disaster will put you in a very precarious situation.
If you find yourself in the middle of a major disaster scenario in the middle of winter, it will be very important to ensure that all of your drinking and cleaning water remains thawed.
Why Frozen Water Is Bad
There are several reasons why discovering your stockpiled water has frozen will put you in a bad position.
While it’s easy to think that you can simply find ways to thaw the water out, the truth is that it’s more important to simply prevent your water from freezing in the first place.
Drinking Frozen Water Can Be Dangerous
Drinking ice or water that is extremely cold can lower your body temperature, which can put your health in a hazardous position depending on the circumstances.
Trying to eat ice in the middle of a winter without any heat to your home, for example, will be extremely dangerous and lead to shivering and perhaps even hypothermia.
Thawing Frozen Water Takes Time and Effort
Even in the middle of a thick winter, it will still be possible to thaw frozen water.
For example, you could get a fire going and then hold a pot of ice over the fire until the ice melts.
Related: How To Dig A Native American Dakota Fire Hole
But this will require a significant amount of time and effort on your part. You will be much better served by taking action to prevent your water from being frozen versus thawing frozen water out.
Frozen Water Can Be Risky and Destructive
It’s a simple scientific fact that water expands slightly when it reaches a frozen state.
If you have water stored in water bottles or barrels, for example, this could potentially cause the bottles or barrels to crack or even burst in certain areas, throwing your water supply into jeopardy.
How Can You Keep Your Water From Freezing?
The good news is that there are multiple strategies that you can use to keep your water from freezing.
Most preppers and survivalists are likely going to store their water in large storage containers or barrels outside. This is simply because most people lack adequate space in their home or garage to store water.
However, water stored outside is always more at risk of becoming frozen if you live in a cold climate, and ensuring your water remains in its liquid form needs to be a top priority for you for the big reasons we cited above.
Here are the best strategies you can use to keep your water from freezing:
Insulation
The simplest way to keep water stored in a barrel or container from freezing is insulation. There are several ways you can accomplish this, including:
- Use foam to cover the water barrels or containers, which will help shield the water from the outside hot or cold elements.
- Surround your containers or barrels with aluminum foil or a reflecting wrapping of some sort, which will reflect the heat back into the container. This is not something you should do in warm environments, but in colder temperatures it’s very effective.
- Surround your containers or barrels with Mylar or thermal blankets, which will help the water retain warmth similarly to how they would preserve your body heat if you wrap yourself in one.
- You should also be able to find insulation covers that are made specifically to wrap around water containers. Most are made out of either silicone or neoprene.
Related: Winter Is Coming! Don’t Forget To Do This
The best thing about the insulation method, beyond its effectiveness, is how simple it is.
Once you’ve successfully insulated your water containers, you shouldn’t need to do any ongoing maintenance other than checking up on the water quality and making sure the insulation materials are still in good shape periodically.
Wrap Your Water Pipes With Heat Tape
You could find yourself in a disaster scenario in the middle of a freezing winter but where the water pipes are still flowing with water and you can still get tap water.
Nonetheless, it’s very possible in this scenario that your water pipes will freeze.
Try to wrap as much of the exterior of your water pipes as you can with heat tape. This will, at the very least, slow the rate at which water in your freezes.
Use A Water Heater
Another viable method to keep your water from freezing is to use a water heater. One of the best types of water heaters to go with is a submersible water heater that can be safely placed into the water. The heater will then warm up a conductive element and heat the water.
Submersible water heaters should be far cheaper than purchasing a water heater that is designed to heat your water from the outside and to be positioned under the container or barrel.
The only problem with a water heater is that it will cease to work in the event of a power outage in a grid down scenario.
Even if you’re off-grid and able to generate your own power, it’s still wise to invest in insulation materials as a backup.
In short, you never want your emergency water supply to freeze in any circumstances. Frozen water will be dangerous not only to your health but also carries a risk of damaging your barrels and containers.
Furthermore, thawing out frozen water will always require more time and effort than taking action to prevent your water from freezing in the first place.
Each time you purchase a new container or barrel meant for water storage, make sure that you purchase enough insulation materials or a water heater to go with it.
You may also like:
5 Foods That Disappear First in a Crisis
The Awesome DIY Device That Turns Air Into Fresh Water (Video)
What the Government Can or Can’t Do Under Martial Law
Yes that is why we moved to a little warm Winter region to avoid the water freezing our pipes and containers. The best part are submersible water heaters to keep water from freezing.
Unfortunately living in the cold snow climate has it’s plus and minus to prepping. In small towns we don’t have a lot of homeless to mooch off of us. Cold climate make homeless leave or clean up their act and become a productive family member once again.
Usually homeless are people who got over taxed in their homes and apartments like our seniors. The drug problems and alcohol abuse are a choice, can’t really feel totally sorry for those druggies, everyone has moral choices. To themselves and their fellow man.
Being snowed in, we have stored provisions but frozen water supply can get a little harry. The family needs potable water, the pets and the farm or backyard animals need freshwater too.
Well water and pump system must be protected at all costs to survive the Winter.
Keep these related Winter issues coming as what other preppers have done. Thank you.
What is funny about the wind mill farms and solar panel farms is they don’t really work at night when we need to heat our frozen water for our families, pets and farm animals to have water.
Unicorns and pixie dust works much better than the green energy of the China worshipers and China invading our American farmlands, God help us!
Gas, oil, propane keep working in the dead of winter, so enough of the green energy fantasy show going on with the liberals.
Electric vehicles don’t fair well in the snow country, beefy pickups and 4-wheel drive gas vehicles rule!
Liberals take your green energy an shove it!
Great suggestions on Winter water supply to survive our typical Winter season good luck.
The prepping community is tied to what current events happen and how we adjust our preps for. As our modern 1970 era survivalist did. Kind of the same stuff we experience today. High priced or short supply of gas, natural gas, heating oil, propane. Except we have more influence of the unions and environmentalism dictating the BS green energy, that makes China wealthy.
Current events:
Digital coin banking, if they can do it to Mike Lindell My Pillow they can screw us too.
My Pillow:
“The Deep State then uses their own made up “Fake-News” to compel Twitter, Fox News, Wal-Mart, and Bed Bath and Beyond to cancel me – and my business.
The second thing the Deep State is actively doing to destroy me and the work of the Lindell Offense Fund….
Training Influencers to spread messages against those they seek to censor.
Hundreds of Left-wing “influences” – individuals with large followers on social media platforms are sponsored and trained by the U.S. Government in an effort to suppress and censor me, My Pillow and the Lindell Offense Fund.
According to this new whistle blower report, “In every incident mentioned, the victims of misinformation were on the political Left, and they included Barack Obama, John Podesta, Hillary Clinton, and Emmanuel Macron. The report was open about …its motivation…the election of Trump. ”
There you have it! They want to stop Trump, and Trump’s allies (like me) who understand full well the Deep State rigged the 2020 election.”
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Another topic;
The illegals in general broke our legal immigration laws, Bidenomics is using your American tax dollars to fund the illegals transportation deep inside to our home towns, why?
Why should one Chinese Communist Puppet China Joe president allow the terrorist and criminals of the world come to America?
The FBI director is telling America we have a national security crisis here. Why isn’t America in a uproar to tell Bidenomics “F” you and close the border period. Why are all Americans letting this all happen? The Mexican Cartels are dismantling parts of the border wall as liberals cheer on!
Do you have the guts to purge, deport all these military age males, families with anchor babies and single abandoned kids. While we are being drained of our personal assets to pay for them to stay and we can not afford to keep up our standard of living?
These people in charge no longer represent us politically they now support everyone else that is not an American. Doesn’t that get you flaming mad???? Are we Americans or the woke
mice of fear??
Oh we hate TRUMP’s mean Tweeter tweets, so you all elected Sleepy corrupt Joe a total incompetent looser. Maybe losers who voted for Biden did not know how corrupt he was and is. You all got duped into voting for the jerk. The Deep State made sure of that.
Proverb; fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. After being tricked once, one should learn from one’s mistakes and avoid being tricked in the same way again.
Will the Sheeple learn from their mistake to correct it in the 2024 Presidential Election?
We got radical Muslims stirring up trouble in America, courtesy of Biden’s open border policy. Are we ready to fight back when not if, but when these military age illegals become a national security threat in our hometowns. As Biden and the Demoncrats take your gun owning rights away to defend your families?
The WWII Jews learned the hard way lessons of giving up their guns to a corrupt German government.
We are next in the progression of these Marxist in charge today.
$$$$$$$$$$
Have the 2024 new year changed what you or me are prepping for?
Prepping is dynamic not static, we go with the flow. Past posts have mentioned we have people posting other things then what the original article was on.
We need to be flexible in our preps as politics does play a part of the survivalist-prepping psyche. The previous survivalists of the 1970’s had similar circumstances we are experiencing today.
Yes politics and current events are part of why we prep today.
Otherwise why would we prep in the first place?
Good ideas to get us motivated to prepare for the coming Winter weeks for stable water supply until Spring comes.
Another matter,
We need to defund any spending to the United Nations and a 30 day notice to vacate American soil. Close the border, use the remaining border wall materials to construct a wall by the States National Guard and Reserves, plus the original border wall contractors right now, forget about China Joe.
When they come across the border send them packing back. Deport the illegals that broke our laws, they are not welcomed and not legal citizens with American rights. Attention Blue Light Kmart Shoppers, the Daisy Chain illegal relatives must go. Anchor babies on a case by case deportation.
We seniors can no longer afford our homes, apartments with over the top taxes to keep those law breakers here period. American vets are being pushed out of their rooms for the illegals, why?
It is our country, respect it come legally, the rest of them deport.
Vote all the bums out of elected office, time for new blood, kick butt.
Tell the liberals to go pound sand, they can go too.
aeration works very well if you have a power supply. a cheap fish tank aerator has worked for me. they don’t pull many amps.
while i very much apricate everyone’s comments. it would be great if we could stay on topic.
it would help others more.
Yes we prep for political event. Don’t think it is just the southern border it is the northern border too. I was an EMT for many years and have transported illegal aliens that were bringing drugs across the northern border. Only live 27 miles from Canada. It Is ever were. If 2024 dos not change to course of this country, well God only knows. Heres hoping we can make it another year.
Typically, water freezes from the top down, place your water bottle or canteen with the top down and you’ll have access to water longer when outdoors. If hiking or camping, bug out, wrap your container in a towel, shirt, or other item and then put it in your sleeping bag or blankets with you to keep warm.
If anyone was to build themselves a year-round garden, that would be a good place to put your water tanks.
Or just bury them.
Water the Essence of life
With out there is no life
extremely important
freeze at 32 and melt at 33
but evaporate at boiling point
The best is preservation in small amounts for adequate storage
the larger the container the more circulation needed and using charcoal as the best filter and sand filtration as the second
using diatomaceous earth is great to filter
wish you the best in your effort to preserve water
natural flow thru roots, naturally decaying , biodegradable s
Two of your suggestions require electricity to function: heat tape and immersion heaters.
Do you have suggestions that work without power, and at 30 below? That’s how cold it got at my house last winter.
Yes, I do!
I survived a winter at 30 below zero F, without power for 3 1/2 weeks. I was in a little house out in the country on the edge of a frozen lake. I had a woodstove, and, like all my neighbors, was sticking sticks in the stove as fast as I could stick them. The living room was around 32 degrees. The back bedroom was around zero degrees. I had stored 60 gallons of water in the front room in those plastic buckets with snap-top lids. I made sure that these had had food in them before, things like pickles or maple frosting. I was able to get these buckets for free from delis and from a nearby bakery. I treated the water with 8 drops of hydrogen peroxide per gallon, with an eyedropper. Doing this keeps the water from going green on you for up to a year. It stays potable for a long time. So, any time I needed water, I would very carefully dip into the top bucket with a ladle that was exclusively dedicated to the purpose, to prevent contamination. This is how I was able to flush my toilet too, by pouring water into the toilet tank and then flushing the solids down.
Toilet paper went in a nearby large paper grocery bag and not in the toilet. It was burned up in the stove. Water was used for cooking, on the woodstove, for drinking, for sponge baths, and for flushing the toilet. Outdoors, it was minus 30 F for 2 months, and this is how I survived without power for 3 1/2 weeks.
By the way, it is not completely true that eating snow or ice will bring on hypothermia. Never, in my experience. I am a mountaineer and a cross-country skiier, and eating snow, enjoying icicles, and heating snow to melt for water are common and enjoyable experiences. Especially the icicles! Nothing fresher and more lovely. Heating a pot of snow to melt for water takes up very little energy or time, and is generally ready in about 10 minutes. So if there’s snow on the ground, you have oodles of water. Wrapping anything around a large outdoor barrel won’t protect it adequately at 30 to 60 below. The way to keep the water safe is to store it indoors. I just stacked my 3 and 5 gallon buckets on top of each other in a corner of the living room of my little cabin.
I wish the article provided information about how effective the insulation is, such as ‘typical insulation that is 1/2 inch thick can keep a 55 gallon barrel of water from freezing when the temperature is x degrees.”
I’ve accidentally left water bottles in my car during winter to have the containers become misshapen.
Burying water containers below the frost line undoubtedly help, but accessing those containers can be a bit tricky if you have to clear away the snow and find a way to dip out the water without the water removal system freezing.