Recommended water jug

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Chief

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Hi All,

I was just on Amazon looking for a good jug with a spigot. Seems all the reviews are complaining about fragility, especially with the spigots breaking/leaking as well as three can itself not holding up. Any recommendations ?

Thanks !!!
Joe

P.S. Also looking for a portable shower sprayer, maybe just a black garden sprayer unless there are high praises for other options.
 
I use the square blue ones that Wally sells. The spigot is plastic, but I think the threads where it screws in are standard pipe thread so you could screw in a brass valve from a hardware store.

On the shower I use a garden sprayer that I cut the spray valve off of and put on a replacement sink dish rinse nozzle, (again from a hardware store). I have a battery operated ryobi tire pump so I drilled a hole in the top of the sprayer and installed a tire valve. I can pump it up manually or be lazy and do it with just a finger.

I painted the sprayer black with spray paint made for plastic. When I set it in the sun I also put a large clear plastic bag over it. The sun tries to heat the jug and the wind tries to cool it off. The clear plastic bag keeps the wind off and acts like a green house . The water gets much warmer.
 
The military water cans have an optional spigot. Those water jugs are relatively expensive, but they are super easy to fill up, easy to carry, come in 3 or 5 gallon sizes, and are remarkably durable. Hauling water is a lot of work and sometimes is difficult to acquire. Since water is so important, I opted to spend the extra $ on the military style water jugs. Rotopax is another option. Someone on here posted a pic of the Rotopax they use. Man, was I impressed. Looked great and highly functional. Kinda spendy again, but having potable water that doesn't leak is worth it. Non-potable water can ruin your day to say the least as can a leak from a 5 gallon jug- now that is one heck of a mess when it is spread out over 2 millimeters and allowed to rot out your wood, rust your frame, and/or defeat your insulation.

Regarding the pressure sprayers, there are a few things to consider. Smell inside first. If it has a chemical smell, that smell will never go away no matter what it is cleaned with. Then the smell will get in your hair. Gross. It must pass the sniff test. Next, is it durable? Some of them are so weak and flimsy that I feel that the handle will snap off just tightening it! No exaggeration. They flex like crazy even with my skinny, little, girl arms (I'm a dude, but have small arms. Lol). Get one built stout enough. Some have small, narrow pumps (the round thing that slides inside the vessel) with a few having larger pumps. Unless you like pumping, get a larger diameter pump. When releasing pressure, some don't have a separate release valve and the lid must be unscrewed to release pressure. That's OK as long as the lid covers the spray, directing it away from your face. The lid should be an umbrella-shape for that reason. One last thing, find one that has a "bowl" surrounding the opening in the top where the lid/pump screws in. This helps keep water from spilling and makes filling up easier and less messy. All of these features will cost you $10 to $15 more and is well worth it. When all of these features are in one sprayer, it likely will be built to a higher quality as well.

Optionally, switch out the 3/8" hose with 1/4" hose if it doesn't have the 1/4" size if you will ever heat up water then pour it in instead of leaving it out in the sun to warm up. The smaller hose will have a much smaller impact when it cools the water down for those first several inches of cold hose. I don't like that first cold blast when I shower, so minimizing that is important.

One last thing. Size. 1 gallon? 2 1/2 gallons? I opted for a 2 gallon (or maybe it was 2 1/2 gallon). The one gallon worked fine, but I had to bend over farther to pump it up compared to the taller, 2 1/2 gallon one. When I pumping it up everyday, having that extra height makes life a tad more comfy. While the amount of water stayed the same, the amount of air needed to store pressure was greatly increased. With the 1 gallon size, I had to stop in the middle of my shower to give it a couple of extra pumps to maintain the pressure that I like. With the 2 1/2 gallon sprayer, 35 pumps is all it takes. 10 seconds of pumping and I have highly consistent pressure; again, making my daily routine easier.
 
I use the big blue square 7 gallon jug called Aquatainer which DannyB1954 referred. I think you buy the spigot seperatly. They are about as good I have found. Yes the spigots can leak but a little vegatble oil on the gasget usually stops it or replace the gasget.
 
Thank You very much guys. Will do. I'm also looking at the sprayer with the foot pump. (Helio Nemo) Not cheap but perhaps worth it. Good for showers and dishes.
 
My portable shower:
http://www.hotjugz.com/

Heat up water on the stove and shower with 2 gallons of water with pump up pressure.

The key component is a low flow shower head. Way less water usage than a kitchen sink sprayer or RV bathroom shower head.
 
I'm very new, but so far like these. They need to be siphoned/pumped to drain properly-- there is no available spigot to my knowledge. But the size is right, they don't leak so far, and there are some very impressive durability demonstrations on You Tube, up to and including being thrown from a significant height while full without damage. I have four; all are watertight so far while lying on their sides even in hot sun.

https://www.amazon.com/WaterBrick-1...8&qid=1531624870&sr=8-3&keywords=Water+bricks
 
Thank you for the great suggestions guys !!! I went ahead and ordered the bigger nemo tonight. I'm starting to spend more time at a cabin right now just too break out of my rut. It has  no running water and a generator that I won't start LOL. I still have a few years left to work as it stands now so no big rush but I've been in the valley for 15 years and it's sucking the life out of me. I think going off grid and spending more time at the cabin will help me get some ideas of what could help with my rig set up. Called on the truck cap this week, should take another 4 weeks to come in then I can start putting that together. I like those bricks they look convenient and sturdy for hauling...
 
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