Geek Prepper Survival Skills when SHTF!
Water is a high priority in most emergency situations; for something as simple as thirst, to decontamination, personal hygiene, or refilling a vehicle’s radiator. There are times that you need access to it, and it’s right there, but you can’t access it. You’ll find restricted water many places and it just takes one simple, inexpensive tool to change all that. What is that tool? A 4-way sillcock key.
Restricted Water
You’ll find restricted water many places. Next time you are out, start looking on the exterior walls of businesses, Malls, large buildings and even rest stops and you’ll quickly notice the secure restricted water spigots.
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All it takes is one inexpensive tool to make that restricted water accessible to you all.
What is that tool?
The tool I am talking about is called a 4-Way Sillcock Key.
A 4-Way Sillcock Key is used to open tamper-resistant hose bibs (with permission, of course…wink) and grant you access to all that restricted water!
I first saw this tool, when it was being used, at a closed rest stop. A gentleman used it to enable the outdoor spigot, so they could get some water to clean up a sick baby.
I was amazed!
Get one of these for emergencies! Water is a very high priority in most emergency situations. Every Automotive EDC kit, survival kit and bug out bag should have one of these. Don’t be the prepper that needs water, and it’s right there, but you can’t access it! Don’t pass this one up.
Also see:
- DIY Home Water Filter
- Disinfect Water with Calcium Hypochlorite
- Purifying water with bleach
- Restricted Water and the Secret Weapon to Access It
- Water Filter Systems for Preppers
- Bug-Out Bag with 1000 Liters of Water
Good one! (But I ain’t gonna ‘like’ you on facebook- because I would no be found dead on it.)
I have one of these at work. The largest end fits the square locks on some equipment cabinets and panels. I don’t use it on the job because I have a smaller, lighter one that I carry for that. You can bet that the Sillcock key will now be located in my GHB instead of my work tool box. I’ve had this for years and never knew what it was for. Thanks for a great article.
If you go to most any hardware store(Home Depot, Menard’s, Lowes, and even most mom & pop hardware stores) for about $1 - $2 you can buy a round knob that is made to fit them outside faucets.
It’s about 2 inches in diameter & about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick.
it just slides on & slides off & is easy to store in any pocket of any BOB.
I had no idea such a tool existed, outside of the sillcock I mentioned. Great information, thank you for providing it for us!
John,
What I have found in my previous experience is that a small set of standard sockets will work great on these sources of restricted water. I have a set that weighs no more than a half pound and takes up very little space.
-Tom
Great idea, Tom. A socket set should be part of any prepper bug out bag, or bug in tool kit!
WHERE CAN I BUY ONE??
I once lived off the grid in the desert for a couple months with a few friends. We were miles from neighbors. To get water my friend would load his pickup with 55 gallon barrels. Go to the nearest fire plug at night, hook up his fire hose and fill the barrels with the help of a large pipe wrench. I know they also make fire plug spanner wrenches and reducers to go from a fire plug hose to a garden hose. The water he returned with was sometimes rusty or had a dead mouse in it. So ya definitely want to filter and boil it. Had another desert rat friend who would go to a bridge over the aqueduct at night, and use a 5 gallon bucket on a rope to fill barrels in the back of his truck. I’m pretty sure both methods are illegal but people surviving in the desert some times, look at jail as a vacation.
Here’s another tool for accessing water, the Emergency Well Tube (www.emergencywelltube.com). Kind of a “key” for folks with wells when the power is out.