Water In; Water Out

[Bird]

Ouch, Larry, us poor folks couldn't afford to live in California, even if we wanted to./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

$1.49 for propane? Can I bring a tank truck? My January propane fill was at $2.29. Regular gasoline at the time was $1.60 or so. I could've heated with fuel oil cheaper. I taked with several people who are planning to change to electric water heaters because they say it is cheaper than using propane right now. Natural gas (City gas) is not available in most rural areas here. It has been considerably cheaper than propane, but there has been a price freeze on it for the last three years. That has expired as of last march and folks have been warned to expect the price to double next winter. Here, we can get metered propane, where the tank is filled regularly and you only get charged for what you use. We can also "pre-buy" our propane (pay for it in August at the August price), or sign a contract to "lock-in" the price. Since last winter, almost all propane companies are bending over backwards offering "lock-ins" and pre buys.

SHF

 

[jinman]

All this talk about utility bills reminds me of what my waterwell driller said when he finished my well. I asked him how long I could pump water steadily out of the well before it might run low or suck mud. His answer, "How much electricity can you pay for?" It's easy to think of the water from my well as free, but it's not. I just get billed for it on my electric bill./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif


JimI

 

[StoneHeartFarm]

JimI

Your driller has a "dry" sense of humor! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

SHF

 

[Chillimau]

A few of the older homes in the area have a regular septic system, tank and leach field. I guess DEQ wasn't as strict or even around.

Already had a perc test and mine won't perc. A lagoon system has a septic tank for solids and then has a square pond instead of a leach field. Pond is seven foot deep, two of which is a berm around the pond to keep surface drainage from filling the pond so you have about a five foot deep working area. Ponds range from about 25x25 to 50x50 bottom depending on the size of house and the estimated evaporation rate in your part of the state. Berm is sloped 3:1 to the bottom. I would need about a 30x30 or 35x35. Also must fence to prevent easy access. I could put this thing downwind and maybe a 1000' foot from the future house. Our predominant winds are southerly during spring summer and fall. My wife's grandfather just cringes at the idea of a lagoon and suggests a sand filter or low pressure system. I really cringe at the thought of being dependent on electricity for the toilet to work properly. I have rural water access so a well pump is not an issue.

Parts of Ardmore have been without electric for over a week because of last week's storms. I would probably be low priority on getting service restored in storm damage, why restore one or two when you can restore ten or twenty in the city in the same time?

Yes, Moore was hit twice a couple of years ago by tornadoes. Both went within a couple of blocks of each other. The May 3rd storm was the big one and went about 2 miles west and a mile north of my house. The TV stations were saying to get below ground or leave because you would not survive above ground. We went to a friend's who had a storm shelter and it got within about a 1/4 mile of us in the cellar. Talk about running from the smoke into the fire!

 

[jinman]

Thanks for the info on the lagoon system. It sounds kind of like a high-tech cesspool with a politically correct name. It also seems that 1000' of line to get it away from the house is pretty expensive too. I'm not being critical, just "scratchin' my head thinking of alternatives." Hmmm....

JimI