Jose Martinez - Member - The Prepared

Discussions

Reply to: Berkey-like water filter that works with water softener? Posted 6 days ago

Don’t blame ya there, kids are a handful. Reverse osmosis or distillation are going to be your best solutions for clean water with softened water as they remove the salts, but both of those systems are very expensive and remove the minerals from your water that you might want. I’ll keep my eyes out for a better solution.

Reply to: Berkey-like water filter that works with water softener? Posted 1 week ago

Not familiar with a water filter that works with a water softener, but your water softener should have a bypass valve or a way to get water before it passes through your softener. So that may be a possibility, receive your drinking water through that way and fill your berkey with that water. Another idea is to collect rain water and run that through your berkey for drinking water. I looked a little into why you can’t use softened water with your berkey and they say that softened water contains some of the salts that are used to soften the water and that isn’t filtered through the berkey filters. So you will have build up over time of salt on the outside of your filters that could clog the pores and shorten it’s lifespan. Some things you might be able to do are to wipe down the outside of the filters every now and then to get off that extra salt. Or backflush your filters with distilled water to force the salts away from the filter. Sorry I’m not too familiar with water filters on the market and don’t have any specific recommendations.

Reply to: Keeping your BOB / GHB Fresh Posted 2 months ago

Thanks for the reminder. I’ve been trying to go through my preps more often and charging batteries, checking expiration dates on food, etc… I think i’m going to start adding expiration dates of certain things and reminders on my phone’s calendar and look at things more frequently.

Reply to: New gun owners with questions? Posted 3 months ago

You have me sold! Backup solar power, shake to turn on, 50K hour battery life, that sounds awesome 🙂 That still is smart to change out the battery every year.

Reply to: New gun owners with questions? Posted 3 months ago

That is super cool! Thanks for showing a picture. I have shot a friend’s rifle with a red dot before, and it felt like cheating. It really made a world of difference in finding your sight picture immediately and accurately shooting a bullseye every single time. Great choice for a pistol too i’m sure. And that is good that you can still use your iron sights as well. Follow-up question – how often do batteries last in that? Is the red dot always on, or do you have to toggle it on? If you have to hit a button to turn it on, that might not be the best for an every day carry gun right? Cause if you are at the point of pulling out and using your gun, you probably won’t have time to hit the button and turn on the dot.

Reply to: New gun owners with questions? Posted 3 months ago

Thanks for the suggestion on the ammo! I’ll have to keep an eye on that website. And thanks for the video, i’ll have to give it a watch later tonight 🙂

Reply to: New gun owners with questions? Posted 3 months ago

Nice looking gun! Do you mind showing a point of view picture of what it would look like looking down your sights? it obviously isn’t the stock sights, so I’m trying to see why you went with that upgrade.

Reply to: New gun owners with questions? Posted 3 months ago

Thank you for starting this forum thread. I am pretty new to guns and have many questions, so I appreciate you offering your knowledge. I just bought my first gun, a Glock 19, which is a 9mm. What are some accessories that I should buy with it? What ammo do you recommend (that is if I can ever find any…) I feel like on Pirates of the Caribbean where all of their guns have wet powder making them useless and then Pintel comments how they can still use them as clubs. Gun feels pretty useless without ammo.

Learning from the past – Otzi the Iceman

1

11

Posted December 4, 2020

Learning from the past – Otzi the Iceman

1

11

Posted December 4, 2020

Reply to: Berkey-like water filter that works with water softener? Posted 6 days ago

Don’t blame ya there, kids are a handful. Reverse osmosis or distillation are going to be your best solutions for clean water with softened water as they remove the salts, but both of those systems are very expensive and remove the minerals from your water that you might want. I’ll keep my eyes out for a better solution.

Reply to: Berkey-like water filter that works with water softener? Posted 1 week ago

Not familiar with a water filter that works with a water softener, but your water softener should have a bypass valve or a way to get water before it passes through your softener. So that may be a possibility, receive your drinking water through that way and fill your berkey with that water. Another idea is to collect rain water and run that through your berkey for drinking water. I looked a little into why you can’t use softened water with your berkey and they say that softened water contains some of the salts that are used to soften the water and that isn’t filtered through the berkey filters. So you will have build up over time of salt on the outside of your filters that could clog the pores and shorten it’s lifespan. Some things you might be able to do are to wipe down the outside of the filters every now and then to get off that extra salt. Or backflush your filters with distilled water to force the salts away from the filter. Sorry I’m not too familiar with water filters on the market and don’t have any specific recommendations.

Reply to: Keeping your BOB / GHB Fresh Posted 2 months ago

Thanks for the reminder. I’ve been trying to go through my preps more often and charging batteries, checking expiration dates on food, etc… I think i’m going to start adding expiration dates of certain things and reminders on my phone’s calendar and look at things more frequently.

Reply to: New gun owners with questions? Posted 3 months ago

You have me sold! Backup solar power, shake to turn on, 50K hour battery life, that sounds awesome 🙂 That still is smart to change out the battery every year.

Reply to: New gun owners with questions? Posted 3 months ago

That is super cool! Thanks for showing a picture. I have shot a friend’s rifle with a red dot before, and it felt like cheating. It really made a world of difference in finding your sight picture immediately and accurately shooting a bullseye every single time. Great choice for a pistol too i’m sure. And that is good that you can still use your iron sights as well. Follow-up question – how often do batteries last in that? Is the red dot always on, or do you have to toggle it on? If you have to hit a button to turn it on, that might not be the best for an every day carry gun right? Cause if you are at the point of pulling out and using your gun, you probably won’t have time to hit the button and turn on the dot.

Reply to: New gun owners with questions? Posted 3 months ago

Thanks for the suggestion on the ammo! I’ll have to keep an eye on that website. And thanks for the video, i’ll have to give it a watch later tonight 🙂

Reply to: New gun owners with questions? Posted 3 months ago

Nice looking gun! Do you mind showing a point of view picture of what it would look like looking down your sights? it obviously isn’t the stock sights, so I’m trying to see why you went with that upgrade.

Reply to: New gun owners with questions? Posted 3 months ago

Thank you for starting this forum thread. I am pretty new to guns and have many questions, so I appreciate you offering your knowledge. I just bought my first gun, a Glock 19, which is a 9mm. What are some accessories that I should buy with it? What ammo do you recommend (that is if I can ever find any…) I feel like on Pirates of the Caribbean where all of their guns have wet powder making them useless and then Pintel comments how they can still use them as clubs. Gun feels pretty useless without ammo.