household bleach
 

In hurricane mode here, and I read that a drop or 2 of bleach will sterilize water. Problem - I am looking for something like Dettol for the purpose. Only reference to bleach I can find in the supermarket is in toilet cleaner or laundry detergent.

What is the US equivalent of dettol, or something you could use to sterilize water???? and where can you buy it?

Re: household bleach
 

boil it...?

though you can find blame old undiluted bleach in the cleaning section of stores...

Re: household bleach
 

dettol won't jurt you and would work....

household bleach... thats SOOO not healthy despite it "cleaning" the water... boiling it is safe tho it will make it taste funny.

Re: household bleach
 

Actually in a pinch house hold bleach in very very dilute form ie one capful per 5 gallons or so wont hurt you and will make water potable. Alternatively go to a camping shop and get potable water tablets....we use them in the RV tanks.

Re: household bleach
 

Like Bob says, if you have power, boil it, if not Modells stock refillable purification systems, although they're not cheap.


http://www.modells.com/family/index....1341394.713374


Or your local pharmacy may stock Puritabs, makes the water taste a bit funny, but they work.

http://www.pharmacydirect.co.nz/defa...45&g=867&p=207

Re: household bleach
 

Thanks folks

Puritabs seem like a better option, but all the same I still want to get some dettol like stuff.

Bob - got a brand name I can look for in the store?

And camping shop is a great idea - What would be the equivalent of Blacks or Millets anyone? (store name?) A small propane camping stove is also on my list. I am thinking more for next year as Wilma is not seeming such a threat where I am in St Pete.

Rich

Re: household bleach
 

Ray or AWP will probably put you on the right track for camping shops in FL (no that wasn't a joke!) :)

Re: household bleach
 

The chain of camping/outdoors stores around here is called Dick's Sporting Goods.

It used to be called Gallyan's, but the folks in the Marketing departments obviously thought that Dick's was a much more attractive name ;)

Re: household bleach
 

From my army days, puritabs work fine, but taste like merde. They are only chlorine tablets, just like swimming pool disinfectants, but noone would recommend drinking swimming pool water. However, who cares what the water tastes like in situations like that. The important thing is the dosage. Swimming pool water is a few parts per million chlorine, so very important not to exceed this!

Just a thought - call me a fool if you like, but what about just buying a couple of slabs of bottled water? The potability is only important for ingesting, not for washing etc. Obviously several hundred thousand other people may have had the same thought, so perhaps they are sold out. Same goes for puritabs....

Re: household bleach
 

You can buy dettol at Indian grocery stores.

Re: household bleach
 

Perhaps you can where you are, but I've never seen it where I am, and I don't believe either of us are even in the same state as RichJen.

Re: household bleach
 

those cheap mini Coles camping stove things you bung on top of a mini gas canister will do the job in a power out, but not really large scale use...but handy for emergency use.

Re: household bleach
 

Why don't you fill any space in your freezer with frozen bottled water.......we save bottles and fill them with water from our fridge...........then if the power goes you move them to the fridge..they then help to keep the food in there cold longer........

Re: household bleach
 

we use seventh generation oragnic products because the local had if on sale...

Re: household bleach
 

Ha! Never thought of that - we've got such a store down the street - I will have a look :-)