Augason Farms Water Treatment and Storage Kit

The item arrived as described. Complete, undamaged in cardboard box. I have not used the included pump yet, but it looks similar to ones I have used in the past. I sanitized it, loaded it onto my drum cart and added the purification bottle. I filled it to the 55 gal. mark and for the past 2 weeks not a single leak. High quality drum, the bung wrench works as intended. Overall I am very pleased with this. I'm sure Augason doesn't make their own drums, but whoever they source, it's a good drum for the money.

The pump absolutely ***does*** fit directly into the smaller of the two threaded ports. Everything works great. There are ***no*** stamps on this product that say not to use / reuse for water or food. The box came in perfect condition. The 55gal drum is also in perfect condition. This is a brand new never used product. I am very happy with this product. Lots of peace of mind knowing this was never, ever used before I got it. If you are worried about other people's negative reviews on this product, I can tell you what ever they had issues with have been fixed. A shiping company could mess up the box, but we risk that buying anything online. Everything I saw that was written in the reviews that I did not like was fixed. This is a very high quality set up. The pump is probably the weak link as it is plastic. but if it were to fail you still have a long tube setup for a 55gal drump and can easily make a syphon with it. Just lower the end of the tube below the water line and sucking till you see water come out and it will start. You would also have to open the other threaded port to allow air to come in otherwise you would have a vacuum inside the barrel and the syphon would not flow. If your water leave in the drum is really low you would need to extend the tube to get it below the water line. If you don't know how a syphon works, little tip. Basicaly It will only work if the outlet is below the inlet side. I added a detailed description of the product in one of my pictures (I just uploaded) form a different site that sells this very same product. Same manufacturer literally the same thing. I am surprised they do not have that slide on Amazon like they do on other site, so I added it here for other people to see it.

2025 update: Finally got around to emptying the water I first stored in 2019. Used the hand pump to empty the drum and it worked well. I have two that I store outside under a tarp. The drums are still in good condition and I plan to clean, refill and put back on the side on my house. Considering how much these go for now I am glad I got them in 2019. 2019 Review: I am giving this a four star review as I ordered two of these recently. The water barrel is excellent and the fact that it comes with the pump, wrench and water treatment is a great package. I had no issues with the barrel and won’t try the pump until I need to use the water in an emergency. The issue I have is the water treatment included. My first order came with the correct two ounce bottles for part an and part b of the water treatment. The second order, the water treatment containers were 1 ounce each. The two 1 ounce only treat 30 gallons. The correct two two ounce bottles treat 60. The barrel is 55 gallons so getting the wrong bottles is inconvenient. I ordered both direct from amazon and it looks like they both shipped from the manufacturer without having been opened. I am not sure why the manufacturer is including the wrong water treatment bottles in the package.

I purchased in 2019 b/c here in Florida we are prone to hurricanes and if we lose power we also lose water being on a well. I read the negative reviews regarding the recommendation to not re-use it after one time. While I will recognize this fact , I am fine taking my own chances. I always keep it empty with the caps on but not fully tight so as to allow it to breath when not in use. Recently we needed it during Hurricane Ian. I filled with a food grade faucet adapter from my kitchen sink. But I did this only after filling it with a few gallons of water and adding bleach. Swirl the bleach water around then Empty and refill with more water and bleach for a second treatment. If the water after all this is still suspect. I possess water purification tablets and filters. Some will still fall back on the fact that none of my precautions are scientifically sound. And I say any water barrel manufacturer can stamp anything on the barrel to avoid lawsuits or charge much more claiming their barrels are top of the line in terms of safety. That means nothing until you use it. I approach this with common sense. I need drinking water in a clean container, this barrel serves this purpose. Anything storing water could be contaminated if misused or no precautions taken. If any lingering doubt remains , tertiary measures can be used. My take is if safety is this much of a concern that only 100% absolute certainty will do, than storing your own water in a barrel is likely not a good solution no matter how much you pay for the container. Life is always a risk. This barrel has faithfully stored drinking water on hand in case we had the need and provides much comfort to our minds that if we lose power we have a solution for drinking water. I also purchase a barrel carriage so it can be easily rolled across the floor to a good resting place. I can't say too much about the included hand pump but thats not a big deal. If your into this sort of thing, than you should have some knowledge about how to siphon if the pump isn't getting the job done. As for me, I purchased an electric water pump to dispense the water for the luxury of hurricane parties :-). I also purchase a bung wrench which isn't essential but will help with opening and closing. My parting thoughts are the disclosures are given as the result of an abundance of caution in case of misuse, or storing improperly during times when not used. Keep it out of the sunlight, don't tighten the caps so the air and moisture gets trapped. Clean it with bleach before using it. Odds of contaminated water if you take care of it? Very low.

I bought one of these back in October 2022 and it’s done its job. The main reason I’m writing this review is to note I paid $153 then and it’s $276 now. Never used the included hand pump. I purchased a hand crank pump and it’s effective and easy to use. The plastic wrench is useless. Buy a metal one.

I received the barrel and it seems like what I wanted. No complaints other than I ordered the kit including more than just the barrel but the pump, cleaning chemicals, etc. was not delivered and it was just the barrel. I don't really want to return it in hopes there was an easy way to contact the company to have the rest of the kit delivered but I am not seeing an easy contact channel for that request. So if they don't read these comments and reach out to me I'll return it shortly and try a different company I guess. If I get the kit and it's the same quality as the barrel I'll change from 1 start to 5 starts. I think the barrel is great but can't give more than 1 star if I'm not given what I paid for which was the kit. 03/22/2019 update. I called Amazon and after about 20min on the phone we agreed to issue me a credit to order the missing parts separately to complete the kit I wanted. There were other options given but this one satisfied me. The new orders came quickly and were as expected. Moving my rating from a 1 to 4 stars because of this easy fix. Would have been 5 stars had the original order been complete.

When it comes to preparedness water storage is at the top of the list. You see people selling second hand barrels that have had god knows what stored in them or companies selling cheap thin walled versions. Go with a company that you can trust like Augason Farms. Their products are excellent, this item was not cheap but worth every penny.

I am so proud of myself for getting TWO of these. Now all I have to do is fill them up. We are debating how to do it. Turn on the hose from the backyard? Pay the grandkids to make a bucket line like when they had fires back in the 1800's? Not sure yet. I've heard negatives about using the water from hoses. The water is just as good as what you normally drink, but going through the tubing.....hmmm....all those plasticky chemicals? Maybe we could run a cup of bleach out the hose first. Anyway the tank is sturdy, very well built. I have a lot of confidence in it. I know we should have more than 2, but this will be a good start. At least it will be better than drinking toilet water when we've run out of water and are looking for every drop we can find. Gross thought! One never knows what one will do when your water is cut off. Everyone's water. I heard the folks at Hoover Dam ordered tons of ammunition. I think we may need to get some firepower ourselves. But hey, I'm an RN, I save lives, I don't take them. At least none I know about! I just know I'd really protect our water, and we have a great start with these Augason Farms Emergency Water Storage Kits. Two! Whoo!

Not bad a little pricey for everything plastic