well drilling time

[tommu56]

Just got my quote from Del Rio - 40K including pump. THat's about twice what I was hoping for.

If you are doing it off grid make sure the pump wont have a large inrush.
Most drillers aren't use to off grid and put a standard pump in with huge inrush.

My grundfus runs off a 2500 watt inverter with no surge.

tom

 

[BoFuller]

Del Rio drills a lot of wells off-grid, and he had a low surge pump in his estimate. Even with that, I'm going to try the rain-harvesting route for awhile and see how it works.

 

[MotorSeven]

Bo, why don't you just build a cistern out of concrete. Down in the Fla Keys many houses are on 30,000 gallon cisterns. I think it would be way cheaper than buying a bunch of tanks. They use concrete block, then marcite it just like a pool, form up and pour a top. All of them there are above ground, but you could go in ground at your location.

Full time living on a cistern requires a big change in water usage. There is a sign in my buddie's bathroom, "If it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow, let it mellow"

 

[Pettrix]

Del Rio drills a lot of wells off-grid, and he had a low surge pump in his estimate. Even with that, I'm going to try the rain-harvesting route for awhile and see how it works.

Don't forget that Seligman averages only 11" of rainfall per year.

 

[BoFuller]

Bo, why don't you just build a cistern out of concrete. Down in the Fla Keys many houses are on 30,000 gallon cisterns. I think it would be way cheaper than buying a bunch of tanks. They use concrete block, then marcite it just like a pool, form up and pour a top. All of them there are above ground, but you could go in ground at your location.

Full time living on a cistern requires a big change in water usage. There is a sign in my buddie's bathroom, "If it's brown flush it down, if it's yellow, let it mellow"

Thanks M7. We can conserve. We do it now when we are up there in the trailer.
As far as the huge tank, I think I prefer having 3 or so smaller ones. If something happened to contaminate one, I would still have the others.

 

[BoFuller]

Don't forget that Seligman averages only 11" of rainfall per year.

I knew that, but the guy I was talking to says he harvests 12,000 gallons a year. 11 inches can be a lot if you are ready for it. :thumbsup:

 

[BoFuller]

Don't forget that Seligman averages only 11" of rainfall per year.

And if in a couple years I find out I have had to haul too much, then I can drill.

 

[Boeing]

Bo,
How much is hauling water....gallons and $$$?
Where would you store it? These might be ideas for me.
The drillers are talking 900' deep plus pump and wiring.......many $$ required.
Plus, I would still probably need a surface reservoir to store water in case the pump/electricity failed.
With that in mind, what IF....I put a concrete storage tank, aka septic tank, in the ground to hold 1,000 gallons or so and had it delivered? Do you add clorox to keep it pure? A much smaller pump/wiring would do for that application..... good idea or bad.....?

 

[BoFuller]

Hauling water is just the cost of fuel. We have a 500 gallon trailer we take 3 miles down the road to the shared well. And even if we drilled, I would still put in 3 or 4 2500 gallon tanks for storage. And yes I put about a quart of chlorine in the 2500 gallon tank when I fill it.

 

[edlegault]

We were looking at buying some land (80 acres) in Arizona. Water wells were very deep and expensive. There was a place in town to buy water real cheap. The gas to drive truck/trailer to get water was more than the cost of the water. We ended up not buying the property because the property had CC&R against any type of commercial work or business conducted on it. Deal buster.

 

[Brake Weight]

I worked with a guy that had his house drains going to a series of storage tanks. The toilets were the only thing going to the septic tank. The reclaimed water was for irrigation of his garden he kept. He kept a small 'truck farm' of various crops rotated out annually. If you actually put all the dish soap, laundry detergent, and shampoo/body soap for a week in one jug it's not that much compared to the amount of water used. Makes sense to reuse it for crops. He had a small settling tank ahead of his large catch tank that would catch the solids/silt from the washing processes.

The same could be done for roof runoff. I'd suggest a metal roof. The in ground cistern styled like a basement is a good idea also. It stays cool year round and out of sight when TSHTF from those unprepared. You could do a basement and have the tanks you want put in prior to the house construction, also. Maybe even recycle your wash water.

 

[BoFuller]

We were looking at buying some land (80 acres) in Arizona. Water wells were very deep and expensive. There was a place in town to buy water real cheap. The gas to drive truck/trailer to get water was more than the cost of the water. We ended up not buying the property because the property had CC&R against any type of commercial work or business conducted on it. Deal buster.

We have that same CC&R rule and it was a deal maker for us. I prefer not to have some loud business next door. We do allow some business though, as long as it doesn't generate traffic, due to the dirt roads. No restaurant, but there are construction companies with equipment. Just depends.

 

[edlegault]

When we inquired about the CC&R rules and business/commercial rules we were thinking about an experimental gardening/dwarf fruit tree/winery business with very little traffic impact and almost no noise. Also, a bed and breakfast (just a couple rooms). They had no problems with a private airstrip (for B&B and personal use), but not the business aspect of it. Also at that time I still operated a professional photography business and wanted to put up a very small sign for same. Funny thing is the outfit selling the land advertised about how much commercial grape growing/winery potential there was in the area, but yet they did not allow it on the land they were selling. That, plus the 30-40 miles of dirt/gravel roads and my wife told me to look in another area. Too much heartburn in my old age.

 

[dieselscout80]

I worked with a guy that had his house drains going to a series of storage tanks. The toilets were the only thing going to the septic tank. The reclaimed water was for irrigation of his garden he kept. He kept a small 'truck farm' of various crops rotated out annually. If you actually put all the dish soap, laundry detergent, and shampoo/body soap for a week in one jug it's not that much compared to the amount of water used. Makes sense to reuse it for crops. He had a small settling tank ahead of his large catch tank that would catch the solids/silt from the washing processes.
The same could be done for roof runoff. I'd suggest a metal roof. The in ground cistern styled like a basement is a good idea also. It stays cool year round and out of sight when TSHTF from those unprepared. You could do a basement and have the tanks you want put in prior to the house construction, also. Maybe even recycle your wash water.

What size are his tanks?

 

[Brake Weight]

I'm not sure. I haven't worked with the guy in probaby 4-5 months. I think the settling tank was a modified plastic 55 gallon DOT drum. The kind with a lid that latches shut like a chain binder. He had some sort of skim plate across the top of it so that the water has to go under the plate and back up the other side to exit the tank. This keeps any floating debris/oil out and allows the solids to fall out a lower point in the tank. Also, you don't want the skim baffle too deep, as this may cause some turbulance to pick up unwanted trash and defeating the purpose. Too shallow and everything passes under it. The amount of flow is the determining factor.

When I worked the older oil rigs they all had a skim tank for the waste/rain water to pass through since most of those rigs leaked from everywhere. Every so often we'd have to get in the tank and suck out the trash left behind. I'm assuming this is where that guy got his idea from and put it to a practical use at home.

His description was that his house was halfway down a hill over a hollow. The garden was above his house on some terraces and the tanks were housed in an old cinderblock shed of some kind below his house. He caught his used water from his house, minus the toilets, and the rain from the gutters. This went through the small skim tank and into 1 or 2 holding tanks (size I don't remember). This in turn had an overflow from hard rains that just dumped down the hill. He had a pump in the shed tied to the tanks that fed a sprinkler system for the garden, and a few hose spigots I think. His set up was purely for agriculture use. You may be able to take his idea and have it suit your needs.

For a new build house you could use this water as a seperate system to flush the toilets, wash cars, water the garden or yard, and send it through a filter into a potable tank for human consumption.

I like the idea of a cistern and am planning one for myself, also. I am trying to get my funds right and will incorportate one with the construction of my barn/workshop that will be several hundred yards from my house. This would supply me with water for a single toilet and sink. Nothing spectacular, but cost effective.