I Fill the Tub Before I Leave. My Family Uses It While I'm Out on Storm Duty

When a big storm is coming, I'm usually heading out on the trucks. Whatever water plan the house runs on has to work without me there to set it up. Filling the tub while the forecast is firming up is one of the simplest free steps on that list.

I'm Mike. I've been a union lineman in New Jersey for 22+ years. On mutual aid trips in other states, locals would walk over while we worked to ask about restoration times, and a lot of them brought us water, hot coffee, or baked goods. At home, the water plan has to be staged before I leave, same as the power station and the lights.

Why fill a tub at all

Many homes lose water when the power goes out. If you're on a private well, the pump needs electricity. Town water systems can lose pressure, or put out a boil advisory, if pumps lose power or a main breaks. The Red Cross includes filling bathtubs and large containers with water for sanitation in its hurricane prep checklist.

The biggest everyday use is flushing. A toilet will flush without power if you pour a bucket of water into the bowl. A full tub keeps the bathroom working for days, which keeps your drinking water for drinking.

When to fill

Fill when a storm watch or warning firms up, not after the first gust when everyone on the street fills at the same time.

Fill while the water is still clean and the pressure is still good. If an evacuation order comes, leave. Take sealed water with you instead of staying behind to fill a tub. In an apartment, ask the building whether its water pumps have backup power. Upper floors can lose pressure even when the street main is fine.

Bare tub or bladder

A clean bare tub is free and fast. Nothing to buy. The limit is that the water sits open to dust, soap film, pets, and kids. Best for flushing and washing.

A bathtub water bladder keeps the water covered and cleaner. Most come with a pump or siphon. You have to buy it ahead, and it's still a short-term fill, not long-term storage. Bathtub bladders, like the WaterBOB, are food-grade plastic liners that sit in the tub and fill from the faucet. WaterBOB lists its capacity as up to 100 gallons in a standard tub. That's the maker's figure. Your tub size decides what you actually get.

Because the water is covered, a bladder is the better choice if you might need tub water for drinking. Even then, sealed bottled water and treated jugs come first for drinking.

How to fill a bare tub

Scrub the tub with regular cleaner, rinse well, and wipe it dry so soap film isn't sitting in the water. Plug the drain. Fill from the faucet until the tub is as full as you can safely manage without sloshing over the edge.

If you have small kids or pets, a full open tub is a drowning risk. Cover it with a fitted bladder, a rigid cover if you have one, or empty it and rely on sealed jugs instead. Never leave a toddler alone near a full tub.

How to use it for flushing

Keep a clean bucket by the tub. Scoop water from the tub into the bucket. Pour it into the toilet bowl, not the tank, when you need a flush. A few gallons does the job on most toilets. That stretch of bathroom use is why I treat tub water as sanitation first.

Hands and dishes can use tub water for a wash and rinse when the tap is dead. Dry with clean towels. For drinking, stick with sealed bottles or treated food-grade jugs. If a boil water advisory starts after you filled, treat any tub water before drinking it. Boil for a full minute at a rolling boil, longer at high elevation, or use a treatment method the CDC lists for your situation.

How a tub fits the gallons you need

Agency floor for drinking and cooking is 1 gallon per person per day. Comfort lands closer to 2 gallons when heat or hard work is in play. A tub does not replace that stored drinking water. It covers flushing and washing so you don't burn through the sealed jugs on the bathroom.

Run the numbers for your household with the water storage calculator. Pair the tub with multi-day outage water planning on Prepper Evolution, and long-term storage habits that keep jugs rotated.

What I tell my family before I leave

Fill early. Treat tub water as flush and wash water. Keep sealed water for drinking. Cover the tub if kids are in the house. Empty it when the storm is over so you're not staring at a dirty standing pool for a week.

You're not building a bunker. You're buying a few quiet days of working bathrooms while the crew is still out fixing the lines.

Written by Mike, a union electrical lineman in New Jersey with 22+ years on the job. He sees how power actually fails, and what families need when it does, on ordinary workdays, not just big name disasters.

Full plan and calculators on Prepper Evolution: https://prepperevolution.com/articles/how-to-fill-bathtub-before-a-storm