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

[buickanddeere]

One way or another. This would be the time to run some power at the same time out to the barn. Sending 120/240 to obtain a pair of 20 amp T-slot circuits works well. One circuit for lights and the other to plug in portable equipment. Also has 20amp 240 in case something 240 is ever used out there.
If the water tests good in the old well, I would use it instead of chlorine water from the municipality.

 

[Beltman60]

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.

my tanks are above ground
I have 2 275 gal in a lean 2 that I foam insulated and have a bunch of 1" insulation boards stacked around them
I also have a 24 volt 600 watt water heater element hooked up to 2 205 watt solar panels
with that much mass I have never had a freezing problem
I never go in there to check on things unless it's a least 40 deg (but so far have never had a problem)
my pump is a cheep 300 gal/hr $100. that has some pressure but I wouldn't want to run a pressure washer off it (not enough volume)
you could run a garden hose, sink and other things

 

[wmonroe]

my tanks are above ground I have 2 275 gal in a lean 2 that I foam insulated and have a bunch of 1" insulation boards stacked around them I also have a 24 volt 600 watt water heater element hooked up to 2 205 watt solar panels with that much mass I have never had a freezing problem I never go in there to check on things unless it's a least 40 deg (but so far have never had a problem) my pump is a cheep 300 gal/hr $100. that has some pressure but I wouldn't want to run a pressure washer off it (not enough volume) you could run a garden hose, sink and other things

Thanks!

 

[Beltman60]

you can get a much more volume and pressure pump for about $300 but I just use it to move water around and mine is 12 volt because of my off grid situation
makes it more efficient than running my inverter to power 110 volt

 

[Gary Fowler]

If it were me, I would just run a PVC waterline from my city water supply to use in normal situations. Buy a generator to run a deep well pump that is used only for emergencies or whenever you need to fill up some portable storage tanks. Those 275 gallon TOTE tanks can be had for free at most chemical places that use them or for a reasonable cost from folks that pick them up and clean them. A couple of those full of water would last you a long time between fills I don't have any idea on cost of a pump but the generator should not cost more than $1000 for a 10,000 watt surge rated genset that will run any residential water pup made. A benefit of the genset is that you could also use it as emergency power for your house during power outages.
Running a PVC water line tied into your house would be a cheap way to get water there. 1" PVC is about $25 per hundred feet and you could rent a trencher for a couple hundred per day to dig the line or hire a backhoe to dig it in if you have a lot of rocks. I have my own TLB so this proposal would cost me estimated about $1500 to do the entire thing. I can get tanks for free from a local manufacturing facility so only thing I would have to buy is a pump and genset and piping (I just purchased a 10K genset for the house so nix that item but YMMV)
As for power, you may consider having the power company run a separate line to your barn with a separate meter. That is what I have at my shop because I built it prior to building my house and the utility company ran the line for free.

 

[Beltman60]

I called my power provider and in my area if you have a residential meter and want a second one they charge you commercial electrical prices on the second meter
3 1/2 years ago that was 4.5 times the cost of residential
I didn't think I would use that much electric in my barn and told them to go ahead and do it
then the guy tells me well we have to come out and survey it and draw plans up and submit it to the county at a cost of somewhere between $5000-$5500
this was for a 100' run from my neighbors transformer not the 600' from mine that would have been over 10K
I told him that it didn't sound like he wanted to sell me any electric for over 4 times my going rate
that's when I looked into having my barn off grid

and where I live we have nothing but rock (SOLID ROCK)
when the house was built went down 4 ft hit solid rock
looked into blasting for the basement to costly
built house from there and brought in 280 ton of of dirt to fill in around it

have a sump pump hole and never had to put in a pump to this day

 

[riptides]

I called my power provider and in my area if you have a residential meter and want a second one they charge you commercial electrical prices on the second meter
3 1/2 years ago that was 4.5 times the cost of residential
I didn't think I would use that much electric in my barn and told them to go ahead and do it
then the guy tells me well we have to come out and survey it and draw plans up and submit it to the county at a cost of somewhere between $5000-$5500
this was for a 100' run from my neighbors transformer not the 600' from mine that would have been over 10K
I told him that it didn't sound like he wanted to sell me any electric for over 4 times my going rate
that's when I looked into having my barn off grid....

That's horrible.

 

[Beltman60]

yeh had my wife call first
when she told me I guess I got this look in my eyes like what kind of crack are you on
so she told me to call and that's when I hit the roof

 

[Gary Fowler]

That's horrible.

That is not normal from my experience, most commercial rates are less than residential and I have never heard of needing a plan survey and approval from the county especially at that cost. Building plans in some areas need county approval, thankfully not at my location. The utility company did a survey of my place but only to see if it was within their maximum distance from the pole/transformer and not need another pole. I would have had to pay for the pole according to the one surveyor but then my brother in law needed 3 poles to get power to his house and he said they didn't charge him anything.

 

[Beltman60]

sorry guys but that's the way it is here
Like I said, had my wife call and I was hoping she miss understood something or explained something wrong
I called knowing exactly what I wanted and needed and got the same thing
this is from DP&L electric co. that at the time was close to going under
how a electric co can come close to going under is besides me
now they have new trucks everywhere so maybe that's how they did it

just telling you what I was told