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Sounds like you need some type of insulation over the top of your water meter.
When I lived out in the country, the well house's thematically controlled heat lamp would always burn out at the most inopportune times.
My neighbor would bring over his portable AC/DC stick welder and hook up the positive cable clamp to the frozen metal pipe and then turn the welder on.
It didn't take very long to melt the ice inside the pipe.
 
Perhaps an enclosed space that can be heated to avoid freezing? I'd hate to see it all for naught.
Before I moved,I was deciding on what to buy because of the weather that I would most likely have here. So everything I do is for the severe weather changes.
I will build a rack for the 2 drums and will make a little room in the shop out of rigid foam and some cheap plywood. Then it will keep cooler in the summer and I can put a heater in there for winter.A heat lamp would probably do it
Code for most in the fire zones in California is for a 1000gal tank.The fire district tells them they can't promise they will make it
I may look into a larger tank later on.And I have plans for a larger bathroom and maybe utility room,so the water storage would move to there

Sounds like you need some type of insulation over the top of your water meter.
When I lived out in the country, the well house's thematically controlled heat lamp would always burn out at the most inopportune times.
My neighbor would bring over his portable AC/DC stick welder and hook up the positive cable clamp to the frozen metal pipe and then turn the welder on.
It didn't take very long to melt the ice inside the pipe.
The meter is 6 ft deep and has 2 layers of rigid foam over the top for 4in total.Guess that didn't do it though,lol. And that's the way the water guy explained how he would thaw the line. They like people to put "interrupters" in the line if they use metal pipe. All you need is a small piece of plastic in there somewhere and it won't mess with the electrical in the house if something is grounded to a water line
 
The title is bugging the crap out of me. I seem to light tap the keys (pretty funny if you knew me well) and missed the R in the second water.
Mods,can ya help me?

Salmonriverjohn,what do you think it will cast for such a tank?
I guess a farm store would be the place to price them
 
Salmonriverjohn,what do you think it will cast for such a tank?
I guess a farm store would be the place to price them

Mike, I've seen 1k tanks for as low as $385 but the average is $550 and up.
1k gallons may be more than you need though, possibly 250-500 gals is enough and the actual storage space is significantly reduced. The prices aren't exactly half of a 1k tank but unless you use a lot of water?
 
Well,or should I say So,since there is no well involved?
Anyway,I have snow melting on the wood stove ,so all is good. The neighbor lent me a water jug so I 3 filled with water.
And the water guy came out to check for me. The meter was frozen (good news or bad?) so maybe I won't have to put a new line in yet.
I could run a hose from my friends house in back if I really care that much. Or get a key and just take a shower over there since he's in nevada
No water isn't that much of a problem. It's the money fixing it

Funny that that happened to my meter 3 years ago, we are on a community well. The stupid kids they hire to read the meters monthly were too damn lazy to put the top layer of insulation back on in December. Well my meter is about 6-8" higher than my neighbor & without the insulation it froze. Called the water Co & they said I had to make check my house pipes before they would come out.:mad::mad::mad: I told them to get their azzes out here and do their JOB!!!!
Long story sort they effed up, had to pay for it and got a royal Azz chewing from a Caveman, it weren't purty let me tell ya.....

Good luck.
 
Most water districts are replacing their old water meters with remote digital data sending units.
Eliminating the human meter reader.
I was gunna say,even Salmon has the button on the lid to take the reading. But there is about 5 guys that work for the public works and I think 1 guy that reads meters and maintains them
Mike, I've seen 1k tanks for as low as $385 but the average is $550 and up.
1k gallons may be more than you need though, possibly 250-500 gals is enough and the actual storage space is significantly reduced. The prices aren't exactly half of a 1k tank but unless you use a lot of water?
Those were for you my brotha. I'd maybe do 200 gallons. Maybe 2 more 55 gal plastic barrels.
That way I can move them around or take them down to the river to fill:rolleyes:
 
Boy,know your soil if you use a metal tank. Some soils ,even rocky soils can be very corrosive. You can use anodes/zincs attached to them to help. Or paint them with mastic like paint and back fill with sand so no rocks are working their way in
And tanks will float too,right out of the ground if it's real wet soil
But out here (like I said,-30 before) it would be the best way to go for a larger tank
 
"Well" Mike, I just went ahead and threw down the coin and picked up the 1k gallon tank, $500.
Now time to fire up the 580 Case and cut in the line.
It's a gravity fed idea with the tank about 15' above the pump house in elevation and about a .45% grade from the tank to the well house, should be a good gravity feed system.

The idea is to cut a in-line feed to the house with a shutoff valve, I already have a valve between the pump and house feed so a simple intersection between the two with a shutoff available either way.
Turn off the main pump valve when the power fails and open the in-line gravity feed to the house and the 1k gallons of water back feeds into house from tank, gravity fed.

Once restoral of commercial power is complete, turn the valve off to the tank or leave it open until the tank is refilled then shut it off.
So, I'm more than open to any criticism or suggestions of this idea before I start digging, I'm pretty sure it should work, but if anyone here has any more experience than I do please feel free.
 
Just use quality fittings and teflon tape. I'm way behind the curve as to what they use for pipe nowdays. Is it still just poly pipe? Bed it whatever you use. Keeps rocks from wearing thru and sand ain't that much for 5 yards.
So you won't run the water thru it all the time? How will you filter it or is that in place already?
What model 580 you have? I had 20 years on those things
 
All good info and questions, thanks!
As for a filter, since we lose power so often during this time of year+ the gardening season is right on top of us and add to that the livestock use, I can't see the water ever standing in the tank for even a month at a stretch.
The well we draw from is 320' deep and is as sweet as it gets.
The tank will be, yes- sand bedded as will the pipe, and I'll be using Pex (Jbett).
The backhoe is your standard case 2x 580, man I wish I owned a construction king, but they were out of my price range. She's an old workhorse though, and still fairly tight for a stick and stomper.
 
For every foot of head you get 0.4 PSI

Generally you want 40 PSI or 100 feet of head to supply water to things like washing machines or the shower.

Of course, if you have power to run the washing machine you probably have power to run the well pump. If the well pump is down, then you can use the power to run a booster pump.

You can also use a solar pump - low volume low pressure pump, to slowly fill the big tank. In an emergency a few PSI is sufficient to draw water for drinking and hand washing.

My point is that 15' is not enough to get normal water pressure - you will get about 6 PSI with that, at best. Sufficient for emergencies, but don't expect it to work household appliances, many of which have a pressure sensor in them and won't run without enough water pressure.
 
All good info and questions, thanks!
As for a filter, since we lose power so often during this time of year+ the gardening season is right on top of us and add to that the livestock use, I can't see the water ever standing in the tank for even a month at a stretch.
The well we draw from is 320' deep and is as sweet as it gets.
The tank will be, yes- sand bedded as will the pipe, and I'll be using Pex (Jbett).
The backhoe is your standard case 2x 580, man I wish I owned a construction king, but they were out of my price range. She's an old workhorse though, and still fairly tight for a stick and stomper.
So you will constantly run water thru the tank for the house and all? Good idea.
My FIL that lives in SoCal in a fire zone had to have this for fire. He said some neighbors do and he doesn't run water for the house thru his tank. Heck if you have it sitting there,at some time you may need it and now you have to wonder whats growing in there:confused: before you use it
So your 580 isn't even a "B" or "C"? Does it have a ROPPS on it?
 

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