backup water storage

Try searching for a cistern.

Yes, there are plenty of plastic tanks available and what you suggest is feasable..

However the simplest setup would be to purchase a couple 50 gal plastice barrels.. These are now fairly common in commercial the food industry and are rated as 'food grade'.. I have purchased them from a retired fellow purchase them from a company that repackages fruit drink concentrate, so they smell like grape or .. juice but are ok for drinking water..

I think I have been paying around 25 to 30 buck for these..

I don't think you would want make this emergency water system anymore complicated than necessary.. No need for a pump, etc. You could set the barrels up on a support so that you could let the water run out of a tap into a bucket. Then you could carry that to flush the toilet a couple times a day.. Carry water to the kitchen for drink and cooking.. Worked fine when I was a kid and we didn't have running water..

You should place the barrel in a location where you can drain and refill them a couple times a year so the water doesn't get stale, if you going to drink it. Therefore, a basement or garage would be a good location.

Some years ago I found that a local wine company had 59 galon blue plastic barrels that worked nicely for this. f course, I had to buy a plastic pump to get the water back out.

Terry,

I assume you are on city water, in which case you "might" be able to use a pressure tank like the one we use on our well. They come in different sizes, and ours holds about 250 gallons of water. The pump only has to run long enough to fill the tank, then the water is all supplied from the tank until it gets low enough to run the pump again. This usually allows us to have water for flushing toilets and whatnot while the power is out.

The only problem with this approach is that the power can go out when the tank is about empty in which case you might only have 20-50 gallons or so. Still should be enough to flush a few toilets though.

Although, with a steady incoming flow of city water, this may not be a problem. I would guess that it would always keep the tank filled up to it's maximum. Assuming you had a check valve in the incoming line to prevent backflow, I would think it would give you the full tank, under pressure?

Anyway, something to look into.

Anthony

Thanks to Anthony and also to Stormin. Wine vats a good idea. Anthony's idea a good long term solution -- don't think I'll get that sophisticated yet. Thanks for the help

Terry