Prevent emergency water from freezing?

So I just read some advice on winter driving. The writer mentioned STORING useful things in your trunk (along with a flashlight, of course) for survival including bottled water.

This "expert" did not mention how I'm supposed to prevent my bottled water from FREEZING while stashed in my trunk thereby expanding and busting the container. Now, don't tell me to remove it from my trunk. The "expert" said to store it there.

Any suggestions? :thinking:

Hmmm... Good question!!

I was stuck without a running auto in -7 last year!!! Let's just say I've never been happier to have a down blanket and fleece blanket in my trunk. THis is the second time it has come in handy.


Now for the water.... I think SOL LOL but...who know

Uncle Bob said:

So I just read some advice on winter driving. The writer mentioned STORING useful things in your trunk (along with a flashlight, of course) for survival including bottled water.

This "expert" did not mention how I'm supposed to prevent my bottled water from FREEZING while stashed in my trunk thereby expanding and busting the container. Now, don't tell me to remove it from my trunk. The "expert" said to store it there.

Any suggestions? :thinking:

Click to expand...

Put booze in it, won't freeze that way. Or salt, or sugar.

But I have those 500ml bottled water freeze in my vehicle all the time and they never burst, they are all stored upright if that makes any difference.

Agreed, the plastic bottles are quite unlikely to burst.

Then again, how do you drink the frozen block? :thinking:

I can't find a solution. It's bad advice. Don't store the water in the car if you expect freezing conditions. Instead, make sure to take enough water with you every time.

theres a reason why water bottles are made with so many nips and crannies. they are DESIGNED WITH FREEZING IN MIND. I've made that mistake carrying 5 gallons or so of drinking water in 1 gallon powerade bottles [we don't drink from tap] from FL to upstate NY....none went , but sure looked like it would. ever made CO2 bombs? bottles can expand quite a bit before they give up and die.


has anyone tried storing their water in those foil lined "igloo bags" and store that in an cooler?

Anti-freeze of course.:laughing:

mixed 1:3 with jack daniels might do the trick.

That would have made my experience much better!!!!

mossyoak said:

mixed 1:3 with jack daniels might do the trick.

Click to expand...

Examine the trunk and see where the exhaust is closest. That will help to some degree. Turbo cars and rotary engines generate a lot of extra exhaust heat. In fact I know a guy who found out where not to store road flares in a turbo car with a broken exhaust.

The only way I could see to make this at all practical is to keep it in a cooler and remove it from the trunk every day and put it back in the next time you drive. Probably easier to carry and remove a CamelBak or the like. Better yet to just carry water with you in the passenger compartment and remove it when you leave the car.

I have had water bottles burst upon freezing in my car. So it can happen. Maybe store them in a small cooler to average out the temperature fluctuations and keep any spills contained.

Maybe a water filter or PUR tablets instead?

If the water bottles are filled reasonably close to the top like most are when bought sealed from a store, they can purst or pop the top off when they freeze. It is quite easy to test, just put bottles of whatever water you want to carry along, in the freezer for a few days and see what happens. You might just need to drain a few ounces of water out before storage, and they'll be ok if they freeze.

I drink lots of water and often leave a bottle overnight in the truck in new england they won't burst. It is difficult to drink frozen but after driving a half hour with the heat on they thaw right out. If you're not using store bought water bottles try platypus bags in a cooler.

Excellent question !


-- and some interesting answers. :thumbsup:

_

you can store them in a soft sided cooler bag, and stuff in some extra sleeping pad foam in between each row of bottles.

I do this up in the snow swept mountains and plains and igloos of Canada. never had water freeze yet. If its really cold, i toss in a HotPak handwarmer, wrapped in a towel.

Please keep the suggestions coming. I've done some internet searching on this issue and it is surprisingly devoid of advice. I think the folks who advise storing water in your vehicle in the winter never thought of the possibility of it freezing. If they did they would mention how to deal with the potential problem.

Constantly removing freezable items from the car and returning it to the trunk later when you need to travel seems to defeat the purpose of those items being handy when you need them. The time I need survival supplies is probably the time I'm lazy and forget to return a freezable item to my trunk when I set off on a trip.

I keep a case of bottled water under the back seats of my truck. Freezing pushes the bottom of the bottle out(most of them are partially concave) but I've only had a couple bottles break in the ~8 years I've been doing this. I'm sure some bottle designs work better for this than others, but I've had very few problems.

I'd buy one or two bottles of each brand you want to try, stick them in the freezer, and see how they do.

:buddies:

Parking your car in an attached garage seems to work for me, never gets below freezing at my place in my garage... And its gonna have to be very cold to freeze a bottle solid in your trunk while you are out and about for the day. If it is extremely cold then the risk is increased not only of needing the water but also of it freezing on you. Those would be good days to pull things into the passenger compartment you may need.

chmsam said:

Examine the trunk and see where the exhaust is closest. That will help to some degree. Turbo cars and rotary engines generate a lot of extra exhaust heat. In fact I know a guy who found out where not to store road flares in a turbo car with a broken exhaust.

Click to expand...

go the "things I learned the hard way" thread with that plz:laughing:

anyone here carry a thermo?
I think carrying water in that would be a good idea....but so far I haven't found any that can carry more than half to a liter or so.

I'm a morning coffee/afternoon tea drinker...and hot waters essential [not piping hot, but warm enough to dissolve the instant coffee mix]

I don't think a thermos is a very good idea. Even the very best thermoses are far from perfect and eventually the water will freeze. Most thermoses are rigid and won't be able to flex the way a water bottle does; my guess would be that they'd break. Especially the glass lined ones.

:buddies:

Diesel_Bomber said:

I keep a case of bottled water under the back seats of my truck. Freezing pushes the bottom of the bottle out(most of them are partially concave) but I've only had a couple bottles break in the ~8 years I've been doing this. I'm sure some bottle designs work better for this than others, but I've had very few problems.

I'd buy one or two bottles of each brand you want to try, stick them in the freezer, and see how they do.

:buddies:

Click to expand...

Maximum expansion of water (at -4C) is 9%. This means that if your bottle is <90% full, it will not break.