I have no idea re the rain barrel but you already have an emergency supply of water. It is hiding in your water heater.

Wow, is there any best printable diagram showing how to attach hose to water heater? I know nothing about these things.

I may try to get a plumber neighbor to professionalize my rain barrel, that's if I can get hold of him, since he always disappears.

Thanks!

OK. I didn't bother to respond to exmar. I just assumed that you would just look at your water heater and realize that you don't need a hose. A hose is needed if you are actually trying to flush your heater which you are actually supposed to do every year or so. Almost no one does. Me neither, and after writing my initial post, I planned to do it but didn't.

There is a faucet near the bottom of the tank. You turn it on just like any other garden type faucet and water comes out. Actually, the faucet handle is small, and if never used, might be hard to turn; you might need a pair of pliers to get a good grip. Another good reason to flush the tank; and you probably don't want to drink rusty cruddy water either. I have a gas water heater. I suppose the gas burner may set the outlet higher than an electric tank. My faucet is eight inches above the tank bottom so almost any glass or pot could be used to collect water. I suppose you might need a shorter container.

For flushing, you do have to attach a garden hose to get the water to end up outside (and probably in your garden) rather than all over the floor. For emergency water when there is no power, you may have to modify the procedure. If you are on city water, you will probably still have water pressure and your only concern might be that if you have city gas too, then your water could maintain full and possibly moderately dangerous heat. If you are in the country on a well like me, then you will have no water pressure and will need to open a regular inside faucet (save any water) to allow the tank to be able to drain into your container.

Thanks for all the info! You're lucky to have a well. I too have a gas water heater, and the brass handle seems like a small hexagon as I recall (I went down to back corner of basement to check). It's a Bradford White, model M15036FBN, 50-gal. capacity. And indeed, if the water is rusty, that might be more bio-unfriendly than even a rain-barrel filled with slime and lizards.

Well, probably not actually bio unfriendly. After all, its the same water you take a shower or bath in (and cook with too). But the rusty crud does probably settle out and its a good idea to attempt to clear that stuff out every once in a while. Guess I will have to go out and do it Right Now.

Oops. More info. I guess I forgot how my newer heater valve worked. It is opened with a screw driver. The nut shape is not a handle but the faucet cap, just like on an old sink faucet. If you took a wrench and opened that with water pressure on, you would create one of those destroy your house, epic flood, movies.

And, its been so long, I had forgotten that people suggest draining the tank by truly draining it rather than just flushing stuff thru it. You are supposed to close off the water inlet above the tank AND turn off the heater so you don't burn up an empty tank; and THEN open the drain. Well, actually after also opening one or all hot water faucets so air can replace the draining water in the tank just like I suggested for emergency water.

And, I guess I had some goop or a clog of some thing that clogged up the drain after a minute. I had an air compressor that I blasted into the drain hose. That temporarily pushed the clog away and water gushed out for a couple minutes until it clogged up again; presumably with the same junk. I did the air blast again and got a long running flow until empty. Obviously most people don't have an air compressor and air hose. Blasting (or gentle) water from another outside garden hose would also work, but you are then putting two same garden hoses together and the metal to metal won't seal well. I actually used an odd rubber washer to act as a gasket between my metal pieces. You could do the same with some rubber item (or scrap leather/vinyl from old purse etc.) with a hole in the middle.

Guess its a good thing I did it now. Hope the wife doesn't want to take a shower for a few hours.

Thanks again so much for the warning. I guess I'll cross that bridge when/if I hopefully don't get to it!

Why bother with a messy rainbarrel when you can simply buy 55 1 gallon jugs of bottled water for about $55 dollars or less. About the same amount of water as a typical rain barrel or 55 gallon container. No filtration needed. No schlepping hoses. If you are truly in an emergency situation where your water service is cut off, taking toilet water will prevent you from using the toilet. Something to think about. You may need supplemental water just to flush the toilet...

I thought of that. In fact, I have an old-fashioned round plastic cake-cover lined up which just fits into the toilet for use as emergency potty. Then I can just empty it out the window in case there's no extra water at all.

Far from ideal (cringing at the thought) but its what I got & at least its something.

As for the rest, I long ago got both a Sawyer filter, and also a bunch of cheap 3-quart containers for a dollar each, but did not yet get around to filling them via the Sawyer filter.

The containers are sorta like this but much cheaper quality:

http://www.screenprinting.com/SSP%20Applications/Screenprinting.com%20Shop/Screenprinting.com%20Shop/Product%20Images/supplies-container-mixing-empty-qt-1-xl_1.jpg

The reason I chose them, is in the event of it being freezing cold. Water jugs with a narrow mouth can not be upended into a pot for melting over a hobo stove. But the 3-quart ones have round-wide mouths.

On this latter topic, I've some more questions:

(1) Are Hefty Gallon-size 2X Zip-Lock bags NON-TOXIC? then I can insert them into the above-mentioned containers.

(2) Speak of which can alot of Hefty Gallon-size 2X ziplock bags be filled with water and then piled inside a round 30 gallon plastic-container for emergency water storage? In the event of freezing, would they stay intact, or burst? Or perhaps leak out?

See these pics:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/55/12/82/551282e25b62176b61947b6d9df368b4.jpg

http://i5.walmartimages.com/dfw/dce07b8c-53cf/k2-_8c21a85f-cd31-4045-a01c-0d3d3cf10c89.v1.jpg

When you know there is a possibility of a power outage, there is another way to store water that can be used to flush you toilets, (a very important need when the power is gone.)

Your average bathtub will proved about 80 gallons of water, if you fill them before the storm.

We have done this in several hurricanes and greatly appreciated the additional water.

With this house we have a secondary concern, that is our septic system. We have a pressurized system that requires electricity to pump the water from the water holding tank to the leach bed. I have not crossed that bridge yet.

The bathtub is not an option for me.

Does anyone know the answers to my latter two questions?