Water-Getter

Alternative energy sources
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The usual. As I have two large solar PV systems here, and my lab assistant just put one in, and others are interested in things like this, here's where that stuff goes. This is mostly for things that work now, not "gee someday a fusor will do this" -- we know that, but it's not someday yet.
The hope is to save anyone embarking on this sort of thing a lot of wasted time and money, as at least I have been off the grid since 1980 and have had a lot of practice (and made mistakes you won't have to).

Water-Getter

Postby Doug Coulter » Sun Nov 13, 2011 8:34 pm

Another site I post on has a section for alt living other than just energy, so I thought I'd write up some of what I do myself, and post it both places for the benefit of all who care about such things.
Dumb stuff like water security seems a heck of a lot simpler than it actually is. What I have now isn't perfect, nor perfectly convienient, but it's the best I've had after a heck of a lot of trying things that seemed obvious at the time that didn't work so well. Trailering a barrel around behind a lawn tractor, or even my pretty big Simplicity hydrostatic one has "issues" like the barrel shattering due to bumps, getting stuck, and the advantage of getting to places a truck won't go is minimal, because at least around here, the water in those places is so small you can't get it up quick without getting a lot of dirt anyway. I've been known to build dams to avoid that one but then they wash out, silt up...it goes on for more hassle than I care to relate.

So, after a lot of revs, this is what I have and do now. Remember, I could just drill a well...except then I get a building permit (or they won't do it). If I do that, then my barn becomes a dwelling and is taxed 10 times as much...and some of us like to live as if the S had already hit the fan, just for practice. That way it won't be such a shock when it does. A little exercise is good for one.
WaterBarrel.jpg
Barrel in the back of the truck (4wd).

Here's the main show. Yeah, it looks simple, and it is, now. This is your ubiquitous plastic barrel you can sometimes scrounge. They're not that easy to find cheap, but worth it. Do get the blue type, not the white ones, which grow algae like no tomorrow (the devil really is in the details with this stuff, it only looks simple). You'll see I've got it on its side, and have added some stuff. The top bung is just sealed up (those plastic bung things aren't as easy to scrounge by the way). In the bottom I have a copper pipe with a sweat type ball valve - which lives through freezing better than most other kinds and certainly flows the best (another few revs...) followed by a heater hose outlet pipe, which is superior to all the others tried as it doesn't take a kink so well and take a set in that kink when you try to straighten out the hose later for delivery. The truck lets you get to a place where you can use gravity output, and it will drain this drum pretty quick. I got some hose barb fittings and put some clear plastic hose on there as a sight glass - very handy both for knowing when to get more, and when to stop filling before you get sprayed out the top. There are two corked holes in the top, one for filling, one for air and sighting if you're going for getting that last drop. And yes, this level of attention to detail is required to make this "conceptually trivial" thing work as well in real life as in the imagination. This is the result of some years of trying things - not a day. Ok, so we got a container we can fill and empty, and a way to move it around. In this case it's a Honda Ridgeline truck I inherited half of and bought the other half. It does real well getting in and out of "impossible places" probably due to the front wheel drive (when it's not set to 4wd) and the fantastic Michelin mud+snow tires it has (stock!). Horrible gas mileage, worse than the Camaro was, but I don't joy-ride this one, I'm not the "lets go out and see if we can get the truck stuck/wreck it" type.

PumpTop.jpg
Pump for barrel filling

This is the pump that gets the water into the barrel. It's kind of a rare piece, if I find another like it, I'll buy it even if it's expensive. It moves 6 gpm, is magnetically coupled (no seals), and only draws 100 watts. That combo is quite rare out there, new or surplus. Just a centrifugal pump otherwise. But out of the 20 or so pumps I've tried, this puppy kills them all easily, and also did many thousands of hours service running a solar hot water heater in a previous life - and it's still tight and reliable. The trick here, is when getting water out of a creek or pond (former much preferred) you don't want to get stuff floating on the water, or the silt, and from a creek, there might not be a lot of depth available, usually not. Or from the little wheelbarrow I collect water in from a spring - same issues. This pump is mounted on some foam, I glued together just enough to float it out of the water nicely. Heater hose is used again for the adapters for all its nice properties (once you wash out the rubber smell, which doesn't take long). It's adapted to a lightweight "marine" water hose, otherwise standard, it's also one that doesn't take a set after it's put up kinked -- you'll find little details like this matter when you depend on something like this.

And here's the pickup, nothing fancy - in use it sticks down about 1/8" below the foam, and the whole thing sinks about 1/2" into the water under the weight of the pump. So you put this in the creek, fire it up, and up comes water to the barrel, nice. Go play a song on the guitar or pop a beer (or both) and you'll soon have a barrel of water with no silt or pollen in it. The little fish run away from the noise, so no free soup either.
PumpBottom.jpg
Water pickup - simple appearing, but this is after trying numerous other things.

Of course, that pump is 120v AC (the mains in USA). One of the reasons the 100w draw is so juicy is that most motors need a larger inverter to run than you'd think, and in this case, most 100w inverters will not run a 100w motor. But a dirt cheap 400w inverter doesn't break a sweat. Neither does the deep cycle ultima battery, both of which live under the back seat of the Honda, and the battery is wired to charge from the Honda's system. The Honda also has a 1 foot square (roughly) solar panel maintaining the batteries, since I don't drive it that much (that nasty gas mileage - 16 or so).
PumpPower.jpg
AC power in the truck.


Now, I don't always have to do this. I put gutters on the "barn" and direct the outflow to a trash can (plastic) collector as well:
Rainwater.jpg
Rain collection

This water is always good enough for toilet flushing, washing dishes and bathing. Often, it's better quality than spring water, where I live, because the air is clean (the one good thing EPA did was regulate those coal plants in Ohio, west of us). There are times, spring and fall, when it gets a lot of pollen, and then it's nasty. I use a plastic screen over the trash can, and it has an overflow hole to wash floaters out of when there's a rain that fills it, and a pickup not on the bottom, so anything that sinks and gets past the screen isn't picked up later. I have to wash this out with clorox about twice a year, because sun can get in, and in pollen season, you get nasty algae slime that's just unaesthetic if nothing else. The propane tanks are the main and spare for a space heater just the other side of that wall. Very nice to have when the woodstove has gone out and you wake up cold at 4 am. The heat runs right upstairs to the bed, quick. I don't use it that much, and again, a large fixed tank needs a building permit, which leads to high taxes and government interference in one's life.

Once you have this, you can have an indoor or crawl space barrel or a few to hold water for longer periods, or to store water from the rainy season, in a place it won't freeze or grow funny life forms. I have this going in one of my buildings, but not my main one - I'm waiting for them to come and try to declare it a dwelling, so no indoor plumbing in that one (my illegal toilet/drainfield is in a storage building...).

So, I have access to unlimited water, as much as I want to go get, all year round, sometimes with almost no work. If things get bad, I won't notice. This is what I do anyway. I'll probably put in some storage in the crawl space, because it's not handy to need the truck for something else when that barrel is full, but otherwise, this is "done and done" and it works - stick a fork in it.

Some might be thinking this isn't as good as tap water, or bottled water. You'd be wrong, I've done plenty of chemical tests. Both of my main sources are soft, Ph = 7, no residue if you boil down a quart, no microbes to speak of...though the paranoid could further filter or treat it easily. Any plasticizer in those barrels is long gone (It can be a problem if they get too much sun, they get brittle) - not true with your bottled water which has so much I can smell it, and unlike your tap water, I don't have all the crap medications people have put down toilets in the city - birth control hormones, antibiotics, you name it - all are in your tap water. And did you know that bottled water only has to meet *easier* standards?
Posting as just me, not as the forum owner. Everything I say is "in my opinion" and YMMV -- which should go for everyone without saying.
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Doug Coulter
 
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Joined: Wed Jul 14, 2010 7:05 pm
Location: Floyd county, VA, USA

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