I've been benefitting from the wonderful information here for about five months but have never posted till now. I started off back in January and February at about a 3 or 4. Now I'm up to about an 8 (or worse!). I've seen many new names here recently and decided to join in. I don't know how much information I have to offer but at this point, it's nice to know there are others who are going through the same thing. I feel consumed by this now but every time I try to give myself a break, I start to panic.

OK, I need some help or advice. My largest prep left to do is figuring out how to get water. I live in a rural area and have a well approximately 85 feet, with a submersible pump. I've considered solar but have been told I would have to exchange the pump (take it out) for a lower wattage one. A deep manual pump costs about $1400. A shallow manual costs $85 but I don't know if I have water less than 25 feet down. My best option at this point is to just get a generator. I like this because it can be used for other things. But how much gasoline do I need to get, how to store, etc. My concern is that if it's REALLY bad and the gas eventually runs out, NO WATER!

Can anyone help?

-- dakota (none@thistime.com), June 21, 1999

Answers

What size is your well? If it's 4" or more there is a thingee called a well-bucket that you can use. Lehman's have them, but good luck getting one in time if you order from them, they are way-swamped. I went to Kidron, OH myself and picked up two. (We have a hand-pump but it's out next to the barnyard, and the other was for a friend.) I don't know who else might carry them. It's a fairly simple piece of equipment and you could make it yourself if you had to. You could make it for a 2" well or even 1.25" if you had to, but the smaller it was the less practical it'd be. It's basically just a pipe/tube with a lip at the bottom. Inside is a plunger-thingee attached to a washer thingee. When it lowers down the water pushes past the washer and fills the pipe. When you pull it up the weight of the water pushes the washer down to seal the pipe and you get a pipe full of water.

You can see why this wouldn't be convenient for smaller wells. But it would still work and you could get non-drinking/cooking water from a more convenient (though possibly unsafe for drinking) source.

It cost $39.95 plus 6% sales tax, and it's $49 postpaid if you order it. I don't recommend ordering it. I am not a technically skilled person, as you might have guessed from my descriptions above, but I could make one of these things.

If you're worried about the long-term, download some information on digging your own well by hand and make sure you have what you need to do it. (That's our philosophy on a greenhouse, we've got all the materials and plans but since we don't really want one we're holding off on building it.)

Good luck.

-- Gus (y2kk@usa.net), June 21, 1999.

If you are going to buy a generator you may have a hard time finding one now. Make sure you spend the extra to buy a good one as most of the ones sold at local building centers are not rated for heavy use. Try a local RV dealer for a propane powered unit, you can use a large tank in the yard or cylinders from 1# to 100#s. If you buy the portable tanks get the 40#ers if you can, as they are much easier to handle then the larger ones.

-- BiGG (supersite@acronet.net), June 21, 1999.

Of equal concern is the formation 'profile' of the fresh water zone that your well is located in. If your well is located on a uplift finger of the zone it could go 'dry' or empty should an excessive demand be placed on the formation. How thick is the zone that your well is drilled into. Lets say that this zone has a fresh water play from 70' to 125'. If possible, your pump should be placed as far into the zone as possible to accommodate fluctuations in the water table. Water first, power to pump second. BTW, don't windmills still work? Just asking.

-- Barry (barryjaynes@usenvitech.com), June 21, 1999.

How about going with a cistern and distiller? Would this be possible? I live in Florida.

-- dakota (none@thistime.com), June 21, 1999.

Hello- You may find the depth of your water by tying a small bell on the end of a string. After removing the cap, lower it down the shaft, wiggling all the way. When it stops ringing, pull it up and measure the string. You can pump manually up to 28 ft. in N. FLA. I know.

-- Tailgunner (tailgunner@hotmail.com), June 21, 1999.

Tailgunner -

That is so wonderfully simple, thank you, thank you!!

I'm in North Central, are you?

-- dakota (none@thistime.com), June 21, 1999.

We live about 1 mile outside the city and have a 5" well. My husband said we can pull the pump out, put a drop pipe in and then attach the hand pump to it. He discussed this with a guy that puts wells in for a living. We are going to try it pretty soon, just to make sure it is going to work. If you want to email me, I will keep your address and if works, I will email you the details. Best Wishes. Lori

-- Lori (ABaby72@aol.com), June 21, 1999.

Latest Countryside mag has ad for a emergency hand pump that can fit down besdie your submersible pump..sounds interesting. Ph.(316)623- 4081 and ask for Paul.

-- MUTTI (windance @train.missouri.org), June 21, 1999.

You can try the hand pump setup at http://members.aol.com/keninga/index.htm

It will work if your water table isn't too far down.

Otherwise, there is a deep well hand pump arrangement which places the cylinder and plunger below the water level and is operated by a long rod. It is a simple setup, and if you have room in your well casing you can slip it past the other plumbing. It seems to me that the whole arrangement shouldn't cost over a couple hundred dollars if you already have the pump.

I saw someone try this setup and it seemed to work pretty well, except that the water flow was kind of slow.

gene

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), June 21, 1999.

dakota; You know the water table will vary each season in Florida, just make sure your well is deep enough to get water. if you need a place to hold the water so you can filter it, go and get a septic tank ( new) and use it for a holding tank. They should hold about 1,000 gallons. Some are smaller like 600 gallons . Because it is new the tank can be used for water holding,besure to add bleach to it as recommended. If you can't bury it just leave it on top of the ground,plant shrubs around it everything else Florida has to grow. To conceal it from others.

Furie...

-- Furie (furieart@dnet.net), June 21, 1999.

Dakota,

What Gus was trying to describe is called a foot-valve. It opens when the pipe is filling with water, then the weight of the water pushes it shut and traps the water inside the pipe. You can get someone to put a foot-valve on pipe small enough to fit inside your well casing. Several pipes can be fitted with screw-caps to screw them together to get the foot-valve to the depth you need. If you absolutely had to do it, you could pump the pipe up and down manually. Or attach it to a small pitcher-pump. These pumps are fairly cheap, although it's getting harder to find one.

-- Helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), June 21, 1999.

The last two issues of our home-based magazine, Coming Home, features a series of three how-to articles on building your own deep well hand pump for under $50. Includes detailed instructions for the PVC pumps mentioned above. We have one on our well (water is 90 feet deep) and it works very well. Also explains how to set up a cistern/rain collection system -- well, it actually explains how we did it. Also how to run household water on a 12 v RV pump. We're doing all this. I think you'll find the articles very helpful. $8 for both May/Jun & July/Aug issues, ppd. Didn't mean to toss in a commercial, but this is the only place I know of to explain how to build these, step by step. Coming Home, PO Box 187, Canmer, KY 42722

-- Jim Erskine (erskine@scrtc.com), June 21, 1999.

dakota, i have some good news for you!

check out the bowjon windmill. its the best i've seen so far for ths type of application: easy to set up (u still need a well however), needs a relatively low wind start-up speed, and is inexpensive. it uses a piston airpump to drive water up the well. i'm considering buying one, just waiting to see what my well driller thinks of it. http://home1.gte.net/bowjonin/indx.htm

also, get yourself as large a cistern as possible for water storage. setting up your gutter system to divert all rainwater into will be a big plus too. i'm checking out how to get/build a 'roof-washer', which disposes of the first 10 - 30? gal of water collected during a rainfall.

finally, get a 'Big Berky' (or equivalent) water filter and u should be set fairly well.

good luck

-- lou navarro (lanny1@ix.netcom.com), June 22, 1999.

For a Big Berkey go to:

http://www.safe-water.com/ap/a273sw/index.html

-- Walt (longyear@shentel.net), June 22, 1999.

Dakota,

I installed a 120V pump and power it with a Trace inverter and battery bank. Charged by a generator, you will use faaaaaaaaar less fuel per unit time. Example, my father in law did not buy batteries. We both have generators and 1000gal of diesel. He has 1000 hours of electricity, I have 1000 DAYS.

Good Luck,

Will

-- Will Huett (willhuett@usa.net), June 22, 1999.