Long Post for Spare Water Tank Questions

[Pat]

chevdog, I'm sorry, did I forget to mention that I'm sometimes psychic (or is that psycho?). Anyway, far be it from me to queer a sale for the guy but if you store water for a reasonably extensive period and then drain the tank (using the water for irrigation or ??) then refill again and superchlorinate, there is no reason to use automatic equipment, just a bleach bottle and measuring cup. I don't see any advantage to anyone (except the salesman) for a continuous throughput system vice a batch system except for a minor savings in your labor for a BIG increase in cost. OF course, for you, perhaps $ is not a consideration. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Pat

[chevdog]

I have kids - therefore $$ are usually at the top of the list [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] as evidenced by the long hours I've spent doing everything except actually build the house!

I've known the rep at the company for some time - the equipment is at no cost, so he's not really hitting me up for any dollars. We've done enough business with them that I'm sure this stuff has been paid for many time over [img]/forums/images/icons/smirk.gif[/img]

Anyway, I can certainly do the cup o' bleach thing, but I don't know that the water would really be stored for any extended length of time. What I wanted to do was use the submersible well pump to get water up to a reservoir tank, then use a shallow well/jet pump to use that water in the house, for irrigation, etc. In my mind I did not anticipate that the reservoir water would have a long standing time.

I was also thinking about what you said about the FIFO - could I affect this with the placement of the inlet and outlet locations on the reservoir? Example is if the inlet is at the top and the outlet is at the bottom, would this help avoid any "pooling" of uncirculated water?

I also have a question about the new well pump, but that's in a separate post.

Thanks!

[Pat]

Nick, If you don't need chlorine in your well water then I don't suggest you add it for everyday use. If you need it anyway then the vented-to-the-atmosphere tank won't be too risky in-line if chlorination levels are high enough over the storage time (non-FIFO considerations). You could use smaller tanks in series to enforce FIFO but cost goes up. One advantage to the in-line tank is the well won't have to supply your surge usage.

You should consider a remote indicator or alarm so you know when your storage tank is "X" below the level where the well pump turns on. Otherwise your first indication of trouble in River City is when the toilets don't flush and the tap only drips. Murphy will ensure that this happens when your wife is in the shower with shampoo in her eyes, a child has an "ouchy" that needs washing, and your pastor is at the front door to tell you there is a grass fire approaching the back of your property. If there were an electrical outage how do you access your stored water? Gravity? RV type battery operated pump with solar backup charger is what a lot of folks use in Baja with their HUGE underground storage tanks (with superchlorination).

Best to you whichever way you go,

Pat

[chevdog]

Pat, thanks for taking the time to help me.

As far as back-up power, I'm installing a 10 circuit transfer switch so that I can use a portable generator to power selected circuits, one of them being our water pump. I don't want to raise the reservoir tank - it will be on a pad right on grade, and also enclosed within a ventilated shelter.

Our well water is of good quality - we test it on a regular basis - so no chlorine has been necessary. I would only add chlorine if water storage became an issue in regards to bacterial growth.

I had not mentioned it, but yes, the alarm/indicator was part of the plan. It's a must - I DID get caught in the shower like that when our well went south and the only saving grace was that we had an above-ground pool set up that quickly became a bathtub! If I did not put some type of low-level indicator then this would only be repeated no matter how large the reservoir tank was.

[Pat]

Nick, Sounds like you have most issues covered. I suppose we'll just have to have our differences regarding design. If I didn't need chlorine I would design the system so that I didn't add it on a routine basis. That implies an emergency storage tank with superchlorination. Tain't no big thing to put the chlorine in and take it out again, it isn't like it hasn't been done by a lot of folks. Folks into disaster prepareness (note how I didn't say survivalists?) often store large quantities of water in plastic drums burried most of the way in the ground. It is superchlorinated and will keep for a long time. They often favor several redundant containers to cover issue of not putting all their potable water eggs in one basket. I have 10 ponds and backpacking water purifier-pumps for DIRE emergencies, should it come to that.

Pat

[pault]

I have just started reading TBN again after a long time away. When I returned, I discovered CBN! Well, anyway, I installed the system you are describing 2 years ago, and have been very pleased with the results. I documented the process, complete with photos, in these two posts on TBN.

Fix a slow well cheaply (sorta) Part 1

Fix a slow well cheaply (sorta) Part 2

I don't think Pat's concern regarding the residual aging thing is a factor if the tank is buried, since the main reason for bacterial growth is sunlight. (I think Pat may be the same guy who brought up other concerns - like freezing - during the posts I made back then as well. Turns out freezing is not a problem)

[chevdog]

What a great place this is - tons of good info [img]/forums/images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Pat, I agree with you that adding chlorine is a good idea, so I don't want to rush to say that it's not needed just because the current "straight-shot" well system that I have does not have it. Seems that any storage arrangement would benefit from this. Sounds like you are well prepared with 10 ponds, etc - this coming year we will be building our first, prefaced by lots of CBN post no doubt.

PaulT - glad you came back - you've given me enough reading for a couple of hours to sort through it all. The pics are great to really show what's going on. Thanks for posting the 2 threads.