Has anyone dug a well in town?

8ball · May 19, 2010

Martini_Up said:
activated charcoal filters out chemicals (think fish tank).

Carbon filters are useless against arsenic which turns up in WA wells regularly. Also, nobody has mentioned that you need to take special precautions on wells if you or your neighbor has a septic system nearby.

When you sell your property, the buyer can require you to have wells tested. If you have found arsenic in the past, some counties require you to disclose it by law. And if you didn't get permits...

Gunner3456 · May 19, 2010

8ball said:
Carbon filters are useless against arsenic which turns up in WA wells regularly. Also, nobody has mentioned that you need to take special precautions on wells if you or your neighbor has a septic system nearby.

When you sell your property, the buyer can require you to have wells tested. If you have found arsenic in the past, some counties require you to disclose it by law. And if you didn't get permits...

Oregon code requires a well to be 100 feet from any part of a septic system, but we are talking about a well in the back yard of a city lot.

We're also talking about a SHTF well, not a resale or primary source well. This well would for sure have to be filled in before resale. Resale might not occur during SHTF, imho.

Wheeler44 · May 19, 2010

Where would you get/maintain a large enough supply of activated charcoal in a shtf situation?

Activated charcoal is made from organic materials (wood/bone) burned in the absence of oxygen...Think metal box of wood chips thrown on an open fire..The VOCs burn off and leave charcoal.....

So the short answer is; wood or bone.

Gunner3456 · May 19, 2010

Wheeler44 said:
Activated charcoal is made from organic materials (wood/bone) burned in the absence of oxygen...Think metal box of wood chips thrown on an open fire..The VOCs burn off and leave charcoal.....

So the short answer is; wood or bone.

Not that Wikipedia is always reliable, but I tried to read up on that and it looked a lot more complicated to me. As I said, I don't know anything about it.

Link

"Activated carbon, also called activated charcoal or activated coal is a form of carbon that has been processed to make it extremely porous and thus to have a very large surface area available for adsorption or chemical reactions."

"Production:

Activated carbon is carbon produced from carbonaceous source materials like nutshells, peat, wood, coir, lignite, coal and petroleum pitch. It can be produced by one of the following processes:

1. Physical reactivation: The precursor is developed into activated carbons using gases. This is generally done by using one or a combination of the following processes:
* Carbonization: Material with carbon content is pyrolyzed at temperatures in the range 600–900 °C, in absence of air (usually in inert atmosphere with gases like argon or nitrogen)
* Activation/Oxidation: Raw material or carbonised material is exposed to oxidizing atmospheres (carbon dioxide, oxygen, or steam) at temperatures above 250 °C, usually in the temperature range of 600–1200 °C.

2. Chemical activation: Prior to carbonization, the raw material is impregnated with certain chemicals. The chemical is typically an acid, strong base, or a salt (phosphoric acid, potassium hydroxide, sodium hydroxide, zinc chloride, respectively). Then, the raw material is carbonized at lower temperatures (450–900 °C). It is believed that the carbonization / activation step proceeds simultaneously with the chemical activation. This technique can be problematic in some cases, because, for example, zinc trace residues may remain in the end product. However, chemical activation is preferred over physical activation owing to the lower temperatures and shorter time needed for activating material."