Scepter Military Water Container

The Scepter military water container suits a household that fills its own drinking water at home and has someone who can lift about 45 pounds. Scepter, the maker, lists “Food Grade Material” for it, and the body of the can holds up in the owner and reviewer reports on file. Leaks are the risk: some owners of Scepter military cans report them, and the reports that say where point at the caps, not the body. So a filled can spends its first night on its side over a towel before it goes on the shelf. The button on this page opens a pack of four green 05177 cans, 5 gallons (20 L) each, not a single can. It is not the sand-colored 05935 can, not a black can of the same design and not the blue Scepter can with the flexible spout. None of the owners quoted on this page says they have this green pack of four; each quote says which can it is about, or that the owner does not say.

Every house has one person who closes the pickle jar so tight that nobody else can open it. You might think these cans need that person. Not quite: no grip fixes a seal that isn’t there.

Four cans, 20 gallons

The Scepter Military Style Water Container 05177 is a tall can with a wide fill cap, a small pour cap and a vent. Scepter’s own page lists “Food Grade Material” and “BPA Free” for it.

Four cans hold 20 gallons. At the CDC’s gallon per person per day, that is about five days for a family of four. Three cans cover the CDC’s three days; the fourth starts the two weeks the CDC suggests when you can manage it.

The Prepared named this Scepter design its top water can overall.

The can is tough. The caps are the question.

The body of the can takes a beating. An r/preppers owner filled theirs, laid them on their side and jumped on them. Survival Stoic laid a full can on its side under two 45-pound plates overnight and found no leakage.

The caps are where the leak stories start. One r/prepping buyer returned 4 of 5 Scepter military cans for leaks (size not stated). An r/CampingGear owner has two 20 L cans that leak while sitting sideways: the air plug and the main top have seals, the pour cap does not. A Home Depot buyer of a single green 05177 says its lid “is not water tight” and leaks out of the top. And one video reviewer says the small breather piece breaks often; Scepter sells the whole cap as a replacement.

Other cans held. In a 2022 video of the green single can, the full can sat overnight with the lid cranked down and did not leak, and the main fill cap has an o-ring. A black can of the same design lay on its side for a few minutes with the caps snug and did not leak either, and a long-term owner on video has never had one of these cans leak.

So the leaks show up cap by cap, and the only way to know about yours is to check each one.

One night on a towel

Clean each can first. The CDC’s cleaning steps are on our emergency drinking water guide: soap, a rinse, a bleach solution, then air-dry. Fill the can, close all three caps, and lay it on its side over a dry towel for a night. Two of the reviewers above left full cans overnight too, Survival Stoic with its can on its side.

A dry towel in the morning means that can goes on the shelf, standing up. A wet one means that can needs work before it holds anything you plan to drink. Owners on Reddit suggest O-ring size 238 for the main opening and 116 for the small one; those are owners’ answers, not a part number from Scepter.

Store them upright either way.

The towel decides, not the grip.

New cans taste like new cans

An r/camping owner found the water from a recently bought can “tasted like plastic, as if I were drinking from a squirt gun,” and later fixed it by washing the can with soap and a brush. A Home Depot buyer of a single green 05177 left the open can on the back porch for several days until the plastic smell went, and the long-term owner on video rinses new cans with vinegar or baking soda.

So the first fill waits for the CDC’s cleaning steps. Then taste a glass before you trust the batch.

About 45 pounds each

Empty, a can weighs 4.332 lb (1.965 kg), the figure on Scepter’s European webshop, which Scepter’s European distributor runs; Scepter’s US page gives none. Five gallons of water is about 42 pounds, so a full can comes to about 46 by our math. The video reviewer with the black can weighed a full one at 45 lb 8 oz. An owner who used them for years moved to a smaller size because one full can “causes you to lean to one side.”

Decide now who in the house lifts it and who pours.

No spigot comes in the box. You pour from the small cap, and one owner bought Scepter’s dispenser spout separately. The cans do not stack either. They are tall and narrow and stand upright, so four of them need four spots on the floor.

Where the cans live

The CDC says to keep water you filled yourself at 50 to 70°F, out of direct sunlight and away from gasoline and pesticides, labeled “drinking water” with the date, and to replace it every six months. Scepter’s European webshop calls the can, in principle, a container “for transport and short-term storage.”

So the label matters as much as the can. Write the date on it the day you fill it.

Straight from the threads

Who should pick something else

If nobody in the house can lift about 45 pounds, or you want containers that stack, skip it. Cases of bottled water stack, and our emergency drinking water guide works out how many a family needs.

If you want to store full cans on their side and never check them, skip it too.

If the water is for the car or a go bag, look at the sealed water pouches on the guide instead.

Back to the person with the pickle jar. Let them give each cap its last turn. Then let the towel have the final word.