Best/most cost effective way to get water to horses and barn

[riptides]

...what do you guys think?

Barn, horses, summer = gallons of water every day.

I have water right outside my barn, it should be inside, but I ran out of energy and time getting the water line that close.

 

[drssg]

I'm curious why you wouldn't tap into the water line going to the house? That wouldn't require power, and you could still have the well as a backup. It seems like you are considering a lot of additional expense and work with the well, and the quality of water is perhaps questionable. Have you done the math on the number of years it will take to recoup the initial investment on the well approach?

 

[Beltman60]

run your gutters into a large holding tank
My barn is almost 500 ft from my house
to run electric from the house was going to run me about 5k just to have 30 amps
and about $1200 to run water with it
I was able to buy solar panels and 32 batteries to run anything I need to run in my barn now

my gutters run into my storage tanks (2 275 gallon tanks)
I have a 12 volt 60 psi pump to move the water to the water buckets

all self contained and has been up and running for 3 1/2 years now

just remember solar is boring compared to wind turbines

 

[Beltman60]

you can collect a lot of water off a barn roof

harvested water (gal)= catchment area (sq ft) x rainfall depth (in.) x .623 conversion factor

so lets say you have a barn that is 40 x 50 that equals 2000 sq ft
you get a nice rain over night about 1/2 in

your water harvest would be around 625 gal. with just a 1 time 1/2 in rain fall

now you should have about 1 gal for every 100 sq ft of catchment area of diversion to make sure the rain water is clean
so 2000 / 100 = 20 gal of diversion

625 gal -20 gal diversion nets you over 600 gallons of clean water

diversion is nothing more than pvc pipe that would make up at a min 20 gal
on the bottom end is capped with a weep hole drilled into it
on the top is a t that comes from the gutter and goes into your holding tank
so the first bit on rain washes the roof off (bird droppings, dust & dirt) and that water fills the tube up and only after that is filled does it dump off into your holding tank
the weep hole is there to let the water out until the next rain
I have my cap screwed on for easy cleaning

 

[tjse9006]

I thought about just hooking into the line running to the house but I thought it would be good to have a backup especially with whats going on in WV now. We are on day five without potable water. Not fun!

 

[MotorSeven]

Not potable? Are you on city water?

 

[tjse9006]

Yes we are on city water, there was a chemical spill in Charleston last Thursday and over 100,000 people have been without usable water for five days

 

[mjarrels]

People who own horses seem to have deep pockets, put in electric!

mark

 

[tjse9006]

no deep pockets here but it does look like running electricity is the best option

 

[wmonroe]

run your gutters into a large holding tank My barn is almost 500 ft from my house to run electric from the house was going to run me about 5k just to have 30 amps and about $1200 to run water with it I was able to buy solar panels and 32 batteries to run anything I need to run in my barn now my gutters run into my storage tanks (2 275 gallon tanks) I have a 12 volt 60 psi pump to move the water to the water buckets all self contained and has been up and running for 3 1/2 years now just remember solar is boring compared to wind turbines

Are your tanks underground? Do you have enough volume to use a garden hose, sink, pressure washer, or whatever? I have been planning a similar setup and have been looking for someone who has done this.