Warning - Distilled Water Jugs

[outwest]

In my experience it is all in how the jugs have been handled when placed on the store shelf. I carefully examine any one I'm about to purchase for any dents. If dented, they will leak eventually. Only buy perfect jugs and make sure they stay that way until you get them home and safely stowed.

 

[NedL]

Yesterday I was standing in my garage, where I keep my UV exposure unit... it's in a corner where nobody will look at any stray UV by mistake, next to a sturdy workbench. I keep my waste discharge jugs on the concrete floor under the workbench while they are waiting to go to the waste facility. I felt something wet on my foot and looked down and saw that my shoe was pressing against one of the jugs and it was making a little stream of liquid onto my shoe! It stopped when my foot stopped pressing it, and the jug is still full... it wasn't leaking over time, only when it's pressed. It had a little dent on the side just like outwest described.

 

[AgX]

So this leaking described in this thread may "just" be due to mechanical stress on under-dimensioned plastic (as argued by me somewhere above)?
And not by intended disintegration? Or both?

 

[NedL]

I used to use similar milk jugs for another purpose, starting seeds outdoors using a method called "winter sowing". Over time the material becomes brittle if left outside. I was never able to use the jugs for more than two seasons before they fell apart. But everything I was talking about in this thread happened with thin plastic and appeared to be caused by mechanical stress just as AgX suggests.

 

[GRHazelton]

I've also had the thin plastic jugs of distilled water leak, so I've begun to decant the water into thoroughly rinsed empties of Arizona Tea. These are 1 gallon with a proper screw cap, and much heavier gauge plastic than the distilled jugs. My Wife has used them for watering plants outside; the jugs often get left out and seem reasonably resistant to UV degradation.. Of course, YMMV, as always.