So i want to bury a shipping container

[grenfell]

How about a scrap petrol tànker type thing. Cylindrical, large and with access holes on top?

I've got White Heat in my mind now , the James Cagney film where the gang use a converted petrol tanker trojan horse style to raid the refinery , " top od da world ma ! "....

petrol tankers are smaller than you might imagine, i woudent be able to stand up in one, and im not volunteering to do any welding on one lol

Cagney and the gang had to travel sat down as I recall and I think they climbed into from underneath. I suppose a tanker or any vessel of similar shpe is going to be a glorified "tent" in that nearly everything is done without standing up. For a pretty short period of being in hiding not being able to stand up wouldn't be too much of an inconvenience but spending weeks either prone or at best seated wouldn't be ideal.
Just another thought but something like the Whale tankers used for sewage and waste would make a better bet than a petrol tanker as people would be less likely to investigate the contents...

[jansman]

well thats the great unknown, i dont know whats coming so i dont know if the bunker is for 1 day 1 week or 1 month

So how much water will you store?

I don't know yet

I would suggest that water,after air,is the most important factor. If I were planning to be underground like yourself ( purely hypothetical in my situation), then my bunker design would be based upon water. Then of course there is one pint in ,and one pint out.The old 1980 Protect and Survive suggested shelter from nuclear attacks for minimum two weeks. That’s a lot of water ,and the following p*ss and sh*t too! Just sayin’…

[Baloo]

I imagine hundreds of bottles of drinking water and being on a well shower water can come from there, there's no limit on waste water or sewage it's all downhill in the next field
How long does bottled water last ?

[jennyjj01]

well thats the great unknown, i dont know whats coming so i dont know if the bunker is for 1 day 1 week or 1 month

So. So many unknowns for all of us. You could expend your effort on building and equipping this and be just nipping down to the Post office when the bomb drops. Just like I could die of botulism, before getting through 1% of my food stash.
We all need a project to stay sane, but who knows whether the problem will match our ready built solution.

Have fun and good luck with your project. I really do look forward to hearing how this bunker fits with your other prep ideas. Powering it? Water storage ideas? Cooking thoughts? How many occupants?

Incidentally, Hiding your vent pipe in an expensive looking bit of kit might not work. It occurs to me that some looters would first nick your JCB, then might have some fun wrecking your shed with it, because they can. Other looters might take a fancy to that nice ironwork..... Actually, rather than loot, they might make it their own bolt hole.

[jennyjj01]

I imagine hundreds of bottles of drinking water and being on a well shower water can come from there, there's no limit on waste water or sewage it's all downhill in the next field
How long does bottled water last ?

Are you expecting gravity to do all the work of losing your waste? Don't you have concerns that it might reveal your hidey hole location? Don't toilets usually need a vent chimney, too? https://www.drainagepipe.co.uk/soil-and ... soil-pipe/

[Baloo]

I imagine hundreds of bottles of drinking water and being on a well shower water can come from there, there's no limit on waste water or sewage it's all downhill in the next field
How long does bottled water last ?

Are you expecting gravity to do all the work of losing your waste? Don't you have concerns that it might reveal your hidey hole location? Don't toilets usually need a vent chimney, too? https://www.drainagepipe.co.uk/soil-and ... soil-pipe/

Yes I expect gravity to remain constant in just about any event that might occur, millions and millions and millions of toilets across the UK work perfectly on gravity, there is no vent required in house or bunker. Discharge point can be hundreds of yards away and underground too. I'm not expecting anyone to be searching for me anyway that's why it's a secret bunker

[jansman]

Just a thought about water: it’s recommended 6 to 8 glasses per day. That could be a cup of tea too. It amounts to be 1.2 litres. That’s if you are bone- idle! I drink a litre during the night!
At the unit I attend in hospital, the medical staff drink water like… water and they push it hard! It prevents all sorts of problems for sure. Personally, my cancer treatment relies on my blood being good, and my liver and kidneys too. Water is the main factor. About 3 litres per day is a good number according to my specialist. And she said , “you don’t guts it all at once”
Another factor is washing. Now burying yourself in a transport container will limit storage. A regular shower ain’t gonna be on the radar I am guessing? However, hand washing is! Having been in the food industry all my life, it’s a regular occurrence; hand washing is normal. I see folks in public toilets who don’t, even at the hospital!!! Filthy bast*rds. It is an important factor.
So 3 litre of drinking water would need at least the same for cleanliness. Not washing hands can mean preparing food and causing sickness , vomiting and diarrhoea- which actually means more water is needed! 6 litres per day , minimum- per person. So if it were me and my wife . I wouldn’t be alone as I wouldn’t want to go mental- for the Protect and Survive two weeks , you’d be wanting 12 litres a day, 84 per week, 168 for two.
My emergency water at home is stored in 25 litre water containers. They stack tightly, and can be used as tables and chairs even! Standard bottles take room and empty ones become trash. There’s another thought.

[Frnc]

Regarding washing. You can get boxes of coin towels - wet wipes that are dehydrated and comressed into 'coins'. Just add a little bit of water and you have a wet wipe. In fact they are stronger than normal wet wipes, they are made of cotton I think. Don't ever flush one. I think you could re-use them, but they come in boxes of several hundred. Some are individually wrapped in plastic. This is wasteful and pointless, and probably more expensive.

Of course you can stockpile ordinary wet wipes but the water in them means they have an expiry date. It's ok to use them after that date as long as they haven't gone mouldy. Also they could dry out.

You can also wash using a washing up bowl with a bit of water in it. Eg hold one armpit over it, splash water on it, add soap, splash water on it to rinse. A flannel is useful for this method, but you can use the corner of a towel. But you don't need either, actually. Of course a towel is useful to dry yourself after.

You can clean your teeth using a cup of water.

Hand washing.
I keep a stock of individually wrapped hand sanitizer wipes. They come in handy if I travel or eat out. You have to watch the expiry date. They were very handy during Covid.

You could use a washing up bowl and small amount of water. Or a coin towel or wet wipe. Soap kills germs. A bar of soap lasts a long time if kept on a slotted wooden holder that allows it to properly dry.

[jansman]

…and of course,cooking? That takes water too. I forgot that. Even if you just live out of tins and packets,you will need to clean up after eating. So you’ll need another couple of litres of H2O. Per person.
What about food too? What will you store? Will you do it on the basic calorie equation? According to NHS it’s 2000 per day,per woman,2,500 for men.

https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questi ... lories-be/

I ask these questions simply because air,water than food are more important than anything else. Without them you are dead.Hiding underground ( from what?) comes at the end of the list. The amount of time * planned* ( planning is important as a prepper/ survivalist) is important if you are going underground. Planning means you will have sufficient supplies.

[grenfell]

I suppose if it's a 40ft container and the duration of the stay isn't in the months then there's enough space for a couple of people and their supplies. Air could be the bigger problem as that would have to be brought in from outside but again not insurmountable. The "emergency " exit is a very good idea but I could see that being a considerable amount of work too as it really needs to open some distance away from the bunker.
Another thing I very rarely see mentioned is some sort of equipment to monitor or check what's going on above ground. After all you wouldn't want to be safely tucked up in the bunker only to emerge a couple of weeks later in the middle of the zombie hoard. This could take the form of cctv , an acoustic listening device similar to how submarines hear or a simple periscope that would of course need to be disguised and perhaps someway of testing the air for contaminants The cctv is probably the best for looking round and would of course require a battery bank. That would also be useful for lighting and possibly cooking and could be kept charged with a turbine which wouldn't look out of place in the countryside although a dummy battery bank to divert attention might be a good idea.
I hope we haven't put you off the idea of a bunker , I'd certainly wish you well in the endeavour and would very much like to see how it goes. I suppose it's the natural pessimist in us that sees not just the burying of the container but all the additional work and expense of the supports , the drainage , the power , provisioning and so on but when all is said and done it's your time and money and as long as we don't see the tv report of a man crushed to death in a home made bunker then it's all good.