is this barrel safe to use?

[mr_dove]

I posted this question on another popular prepper board but thought I would put it up here as well.

I finally found a potential supply of 55 gallon drums in my area. There's a small town east of me with about 30 empty barrels that I can have. All of the barrels used to contain sodium hypoclorite. I googled a bit and it appears to be related to bleach. I believe that this is the stuff that they spray on the roads around here. I could be wrong.

Is this chemical safe to use for human consumption? Compost tumbler and water storage are my first two barrel projects.

[mcantar18c]

I don't know anything about that chemical, but it doesn't sound like something I'd want contaminating my food or water supply. If you have them blasted (sand, bead, soda etc.) inside and out I'd imagine that'd make em safe.

[rbeau30]

A quick search on Wikipedia turns this up.

Sodium hypochlorite is a chemical compound (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_compound) with the formula (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_formula) NaClO. Sodium hypochlorite solution, commonly known as bleach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleach), is frequently used as a disinfectant (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disinfectant) or a bleaching agent.

Household bleach sold for use in laundering clothes is a 3-6% solution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percentage_solution) of sodium hypochlorite at the time of manufacture. Strength varies from one formulation to another and gradually decreases with long storage.

Household bleach is, in general, a solution containing 4-6% sodium hypochlorite and 0.01-0.05% sodium hydroxide; the sodium hydroxide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hydroxide) is used to delay the breakdown of sodium hypochlorite into sodium chloride (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_chloride) and sodium chlorate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_chlorate).[4] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hypochlorite#cite_note-Smith1994-3)

I would say if you clean them before using them as storage... knowing that using an ammonia type cleaner on these barrels could possibly KILL you if there is any Bleach residue on the barrels.

[Dr_Fwd]

No, it's Not safe.

[rbeau30]

No, it's Not safe.

Exactly, I guess what I was getting at is if 3-6% of a solution is BAD, then a whole barrel of potentially 100% solution is really bad. Some of it has got to be left in the barrel...

[Fromk]

I don't think a used container of ANY kind is good for storing water unless you know 100% that it was used for just that before you got it. It's not worth the risk.

[KevDen2005]

I wouldn't store any type of drinking water in a container that used to contain poison

[sbgixxer]

I am a Water Treatment Operator and Sodium Hypochlorite is what water treatment plants use to disinfect water. So although I wouldn't want to drink it in it's concentrated form, it's already in the water that comes out of your tap. If you wash 'em out, you should be fine. After you fill it up with water, you can test it for cl2 residual. If it's too high then maybe it's not a good idea but I'd bet that you'd find very little in there after a few rinsing cycles. The water that goes out of our plants has a residual free chlorine of between 2.0ppm - 2.5ppm. You would be safe with a little more but use that as a benchmark.

[thvigil11]

I am a Water Treatment Operator and Sodium Hypochlorite is what water treatment plants use to disinfect water. So although I wouldn't want to drink it in it's concentrated form, it's already in the water that comes out of your tap. If you wash 'em out, you should be fine. After you fill it up with water, you can test it for cl2 residual. If it's too high then maybe it's not a good idea but I'd bet that you'd find very little in there after a few rinsing cycles. The water that goes out of our plants has a residual free chlorine of between 2.0ppm - 2.5ppm. You would be safe with a little more but use that as a benchmark.
+1

My dad is also a water operator. I have used many five gallon buckets from him for long term supply storage. A little rinse, and its good to go. Same stuff that's in your tap water.

[TTWHTD]

Score!