Water project ... done!

A couple months ago, after Don finished a large project (the new woodshed), I remember he came inside, sat down, and asked, “What should I work on next?”

There is never a shortage of projects, of course, and he could have gone in any number of directions. But I had an instant reply: “The water tank.”

Let me back up. Since moving rural in 1993, we’ve never had a secure source of water. What I mean by this is our wells have always had an electric pump. During power outages, those pumps don’t work and we have no water. We’ve compensated by storing water in anything from one-gallon jugs to 50-gallon barrels, but it’s still a limited resource. Water (or a lack thereof) has always been my biggest rural insecurity.

Our last home was particularly challenging because our well was 610 feet deep (with a static water level of 450 feet), far beyond the capacity of hand pumps and far beyond our financial ability to construct a deep-well windmill or other options. (We compensated by building a pond.)

The well here in our new place is much more shallow, about 120 deep with a static water level of 40 feet. This puts it within reach of a hand pump. (In fact, we purchased a hand pump but haven’t yet installed it because the well is inconveniently located inside a shed, which means we have to dismantle the shed before installing the pump. Yes, it’s complicated.)

So, in the spirit of “three is two, two is one, one is none,” we wanted to install a water tank fed by roof runoff as a backup source of water.

To this end, we purchased a water tank. There were a number of factors to consider in this decision: price, size, location, shipping, etc. After examining all possibilities, we selected a vendor in southern Idaho and purchased a 1500-gallon vertical above-ground tank which was on sale. Additionally – highly important – they could deliver.

So in April of 2023, they delivered the tank. We parked it next to the woodshed, covered up all the port holes (so critters wouldn’t get inside), and there it sat for 15 months.

But we had a tank! It’s hard to describe how excited I was by the prospect of a secure water source.

While Don worked on other projects and the water tank sat next to the woodshed, the Big Question was where we should put it. We had several options: Under the deck on the north side of the house; off the kitchen on the south side of the house; nearer to the garden; or even next to the barn (to supply the livestock).

After weighing the pros and cons of each location, we decided to place the tank under the deck on the north side of the house. The clearance was adequate, and this space wasn’t being used for anything else anyway. Additionally, it’s convenient for both fire suppression (a fire truck has the room to back up to the tank and hook into it) and livestock (the underside of the house is fenced off the keep the cows out, but it would be easy-peasey to put a water tank just outside the fence).

This decision was just the first step in a loooong process, beginning with cutting a level pad into the slope below the house

Don framed in the pad, then laid down weed cloth. Then he backfilled it with gravel (at the botton) and sand (on top) to provide a solid foundation for the tank that wouldn’t have any sharp rocks that could poke a hole in it.

The next step was to move the tank from the driveway to the new pad below the house.

This was an exceptionally delicate procedure. We knew the tank had adequate clearance under the deck … barely. The difficulty was getting the tractor to climb the slope below the deck and place the tank in location without the tank bumping into the deck in the process.

It took slow and careful work to get the tank in place. It also showed Don’s mastery of his machine.

That’s the clearance between the top of the tank and the underside of the deck. Don had this engineered to the nth degree.

He was also forced to lay down hardware cloth around the tank over the sand…

…after some neighborhood cats started using it as a giant litter box.

With the tank in place, the hard work began. Don had to design and implement an entire customized plumbing system to direct roof runoff into the tank. This included intake valves, overflow valves, guttering, drain pipes, etc.

I’m glossing over weeks of work here, folks. I can’t emphasize enough my clever husband’s success in plumbing this monster in.

But finally the bulk of the work was done. He had installed split downspouts in the gutters from both sides of the deck. By flipping a lever, water can either be diverted into the tank, or allowed to flow down the gutters.

He also installed filters that would sift out gravel and other debris before the water could enter the tank.

You can see how one of the gutter splits looks from this angle.

Plumber’s tape supports the pipes on the underside of the deck.

What we lacked, at this point, was rain to test the system. Finally the weather predicted some incoming precipitation, and Don pushed through to finish everything before it came in.

This included cleaning out the gutters.

Because our roof is shingle, debris gets washed into the gutters (not to mention all kinds of other detritus). Here’s a “before” photo…

..and the “after” pic.

The rain actually moved in before getting the hand pump installed. We let the rain wash the roof for about half an hour, then moved the levers to divert water into the tank. What a gratifying sound as the tank began to fill!

But we didn’t know how much water we’d gotten. Don put together a chart that gave an estimate.

• Average yearly precipitation – 24.89
• Highest ave month – 3.94 May
• Lowest ave month – 0.87 August
• Average monthly precipitation – 2 inches

Area served by gutters and downspouts to tank: 1,425 square feet.

1,425 sq ft x 1/12th of a square foot (1 inch of rain or .08333 feet ) over 1,425 sq ft = 118.8 cu ft = 888 gallons 

With a roof of such-and-such size and the amount of rain, we anticipated we got about 200 gallons from that one rainstorm.

But to access the water, he needed to install the hand pump. So he cut a hole in the deck to reach the access hatch on top of the tank.

He drilled a hole and sank a pipe next to the access hatch to plumb in the hand pump.

Don had ordered the hand pump several weeks earlier, so with the plumbing in place, he was able to install the pump itself.

He built a sturdy and permanent table heavily coated with a clear epoxy, and fastened the pump to the top.

A new pump must be primed to let the leathers soak before using it.

But then we were able to pump … and it worked!

Sort of. As is typical of any plumbing project, stuff happens. Don found there was a leak from a valve at the bottom of the tank. So he opened the tank and flushed out as much water as he could.

Then he fixed the valve and we waited for the next rainstorm.  This came in a few days ago, and the valve is not leaking. Right now we estimate we have about 300 gallons in the tank … far, far outstripping the amount of stored water we previously had on hand.

We’re entering a wet period and anticipate we’ll have the tank full to capacity within a month, after which we can switch the gutters back to divert water down the downspout, as before.

While we will add chlorine to the tank once it’s full, we have no plans to drink the water directly from the tank without filtering (or boiling) it first. However the water has endless other uses during a power outage: Showering (using shower bags), washing dishes, watering livestock, fire protection, etc.

The next step is to insulate the tank. We’re planning on making an insulated wrap to keep things from freezing in winter. That will be a whole blog post unto itself.

The sense of security this new project gives us is impossible to underestimate! I’ve always keenly felt our vulnerability as far as water during an extended power outage. This tank cures that concern.

It also underscores the need to tackle such complicated projects sooner rather than later. While obtaining the tank almost a year and a half ago was a major step in the right direction, we didn’t realize how many specialized parts would be needed to plumb it in. Don took many trips to the hardware store as well as ordered many parts online (including the hand pump) to complete the project.

Water project … done!

Source: http://www.rural-revolution.com/2024/10/water-project-done.html