Water is a critical resource that must be high on every prepper’s list. The biggest limitation with water storage is the amount of space that water takes up. Keeping water rotated is also a challenge. Titan Ready USA has created a storage system that requires a small footprint and makes rotation incredibly simple.

How do I rotate water in a 55-gallon barrel? Rotating water in a large barrel can be a bit challenging because a 55-gallon water barrel weighs about 450 pounds. You usually need to use a siphon to empty the barrel. A good option is to place the water barrels on a tower system that allows the barrels to be stored horizontally and rotated in line. Titan Ready USA makes a plumbing kit that will allow you to fill and drain water barrels in series for easy rotation.

We contacted our friend, Kris, at Titan Ready USA about purchasing Titan Ready’s Hydrant Water Barrel System to increase our water storage in a small spot in our basement. The available spot was tiny but it had access to a water source and a drain so it would be ideal for rotating stored water in a basement.

In this post, we will show you how easy it is to rotate water using this system. We will also show you, step-by-step, how we set up our Titan Ready Hydrant Water Barrel Storage System. Finally, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages that we see of using Titan Ready’s rack for water storage.

Rotating Stored Water Using the Titan Ready Hydrant Water Barrel Storage System

Seriously, you will not believe how easy it is to rotate your stored drinking water with this system. Titan Ready turned this chore into a simple task.

Attach Potable Hose to the Bottom Barrel

We always use a potable water hose to fill the barrel with drinking water to avoid contamination from a garden hose. You can purchase a potable water hose here.

Attach the hose to the water source and to the spigot at the base of the bottom barrel.

Open Upper Valve on Top Barrel

Open the spigot at the top of the upper barrel to allow air to escape. Once the barrels are full, water will escape from this spigot. It is a good idea to have a bucket ready to catch this water.

Turn on Water and Fill Barrel(s)

Turn on the water at the source and stay close by while the barrels fill. It is kind of cool to watch the clear connector tubes as water fills between barrels. When water starts to leak out of the top barrel it is full.

If your water source is under high pressure the water will shoot out of the top with some force so be prepared. When you know you are getting close, you may want to turn down the water flow.

Close Valve

Once the barrels are full, turn off the water at the source. Then close the spigot at the bottom and at the top and disconnect the hose.

We keep the ends of the potable hose screwed together to avoid environmental contamination during storage.

Advantages and Disadvantages to the Titan Ready Hydrant Water Barrel Storage System

Now that we have had some time to experiment with our new water storage system, we are ready to discuss the advantages and disadvantages to the system.

Advantages to the Titan Ready Hydrant Water Barrel Storage System

Let’s begin with the advantages of the Titan Ready water barrel system. I’ll state right up front that I am a fan.

Protects Water from External Contamination

Keeps water sterile … no contamination from the top of the barrel when siphoning water out as in a normal water barrel. Turn on the spout and the water flows out clean.

User Friendly Access to Clean Drinking Water

Simple to use by child, disabled or elderly person. The water can be accessed one cup at a time, in a pitcher, or in a bucket. It is designed to be the perfect height to accommodate a bucket underneath it. The design is thoughtful. Kris originally designed it for his elderly mother.

Small Footprint

The Titan Ready Hydrant Water Barrel Storage System (wow that is a mouthful) requires a small footprint to store up to 220 gallons of water. Our basement would only accommodate 3 barrels, so we are able to store 165 gallons in the space just slightly larger than required for one vertical barrel. There is also enough room underneath the rack to store something.

The dimensions of the assembled Double Barrel Rack are 36 inches long by 27 inches wide by 60 inches high. A little tidbit of information: dry weight of rack and barrels is 104 pounds. The double rack full of water weighs 984 pounds. Water is heavy. Make sure that your floor can accommodate the weight.

We have the triple barrel rack. It is 36 inches long by 27 inches wide by 76 inches high. It fits in our little spot perfectly. It is on a concrete slab, so the fact that it weighs 1,469 pounds is not an issue.

Rotation is Simple

Convenient to rotate. There is room under the spigot to accommodate a 5-gallon bucket. Water pressure is good due to the height.

Plenty of Water Pressure

One of the benefits to this design is that there is plenty of water pressure. That means that the water is dispensed quickly. When you rotate the water, you can run it through a garden hose and water your plants, provided they are lower than the spigot.

Designed to Accommodate Up to 4 Water Barrels

Titan Ready created this system to be modular. It assembles like an erector set. You can start with one barrel and expand up to 4 water barrels.

Easy to Assemble

The barrel storage system was easy to assemble and did not require special tools. Realistically, it will take about 45 minutes. One of the challenging parts was connecting the barrels to each other. It took a little bit of strength and persistence to make sure that it did not leak.

Easy to Secure and Make Earthquake Safe

Living in earthquake country, we are always a bit concerned about making sure that nothing heavy can topple over and hurt someone when the earth starts to shake. The frame design made it easy to secure the system to a stud using some plumbers tape.

Quality Materials

Titan Ready is known for the use of high-quality materials and parts. The Titan Ready Hydrant Water Barrel Storage System is built to outlast a disaster. The racks are welded and powder coated.

Disadvantages to the Titan Ready Hydrant Water Barrel Storage System

As with any product, there are a couple of disadvantages to this system. Let us talk about some concerns that we found.

Cost

Water storage is critically important for every storage plan. There are inexpensive ways to accomplish it, and more convenient ways that cost more. The system is incredibly convenient and makes water rotation easier. Titan Ready sells the double system for $349. You can visit Titan Ready USA by clicking here.

Points for Potential Leakage

If everything is hooked-up and tightened correctly, you do not need to worry about leakage. There is a potential for leakage everywhere there is a connection. Water loves to leak and can cause damage. It is important to be proactive and make sure that it is everything is sealed and tightened correctly.

Step-by-Step Assembly Instructions

Sam and Jon assembled this twice. They thought it would be a fun project to work on together, and they built it while I was away, so I did not get photos. Silly boys should know better and got to disassemble it and reassemble it again for the camera. It looked easy from my view behind the camera.

#1 – Assemble X—Frame Cross Members

Start by assembling the X-frame cross members. Create each X-frame by connecting 2 flat bars using 1/4”x 3/4” bolt and 1/4” locknut. Insert bolt through middle hole in center of the bars and hand-tighten with locknut. Repeat process until all X-frames are assembled.

#2 – Attach H-Frames to Anchor Feet

Slide anchor foot onto each bottom leg of H-frame. Insert 1/4”x 2 1/4″ bolt from the inside out on each side, connecting anchor foot to Bottom H-frame. Do not screw locknut on yet.

#3 – Attach Connection Tubes

Slide square connection tube over top of the bottom H-frame. Secure each connection tube by lining up the holes and inserting a 1/4”x 2 1/4” bolt from the inside out on each side. This connects the square tube to bottom H-frame. Do not screw locknut on yet.

#4 – Attach the X-Frames to the H-Frames

Insert X-frame onto bolts in the bottom H-frames. Hand-tighten each 1/4″ nut. Stand up the bottom H-frame.

#5 – Repeat the Process Until the Rack Assembly is Complete

#6 – Tighten All Nuts and Bolts

The final step is to tighten all the nuts and bolts with a wrench.

#7 – Connect Barrels

Now that you have the rack built, you can install the bungs and plumbing fittings on the barrels and put them in place on the rack. Using the braided hose provided, the barrels can be connected together. You can find the directions at this link in the instruction manual.

Do-It-Yourself Plumbing Kit

If you have an existing system that you would like to plumb together, you might be interested in Titan Ready’s Plumbing Kit for Do-it Yourselfers. It can be purchased at Titan Ready for $60.

The kit includes:

4 – bungs with washers
2 – 1/4 turn 3/4″ valves
2 – 3/4″ x 2″ nipples
2 – 3/4″ hose Barbs
2 – stainless steel hose clamps
1 – 3/4″ x 18″ braided hose
1 – aluminum bung wrench
1 – roll of Teflon tape

Titan Ready Water Storage System a Good Option

We are incredibly grateful to have our triple barrel water storage system in our basement where the water cannot freeze, and we can have access to clean drinking water with the twist of a spigot. Kris has done a great job of designing a system to simplify water rotation.

Water storage is an important part of your preparedness plan. Do not let the expense prevent you from storing water. There are a lot of inexpensive solutions you can use until you can afford something more convenient like the Titan Ready System.

Learn more about storing water for emergencies in these posts. You will find solutions that will enable you to store water regardless of your budget.

If you do decide to purchase one of these great water storage systems from Titan Ready, please use this link. It supports our site at no additional cost to you.

It is time to get busy and build your water storage. You can do this!

Thanks for being part of the solution!
Jonathan and Kylene Jones