When deciding to purchase our remote property years ago, there one strong positive feature, and another feature that took some ‘getting used to’. On the plus side the property included a small 12×16 cabin and a working 370′ deep well. This took care of the big unknown everyone faces when developing their remote property – WATER. The detracting feature was that the property had been in a wildfire burn and there were many 6″ diamater black poles that were formerly known as trees.
Well its been a few years and we’ve had several years of wood cutting when jackie and myself and the kids would look like coal miners after working with the black charcoal coated wood. Things have grown back and I’m really thankful that we didn’t let that factor keep us away! On the plus side, that well has supplied our water needs without any problems.
Since we started with a working well, I didn’t think it would be useful to replace the 240Vac 1HP well pump with another expensive ‘solar friendly’ one. I researched the alternatives, but there were few when the well is 370 feet. This early decision shaped several other decisions about inverters and our water system.
This large electrical load could come on at bad times and be detrimental to our power system if it came on automatically. First result: The well system would not run automatically, but manually when we need water.
Because the well is a large electrical load, it would be best to only run it off the generator, however, we must be able to run it some with our solar power system in emergencies (generator failure, gas problems, etc). Second result: I purchased 2 – 120Vac inverters and slaved them together to provide well power if / when needed.
The natural design of our water system was clear. We’d need a large water tank or cistern to fill up with generator power and then a pump from it to provide the home water. I found a large poly 2500 gallon tank for this and placed it on a flat spot behind the house.
Once inside the house, our water system is powered with a 12V RV pressure pump. These pumps will keep the house plumbing pressured at all times and only turn on when the pressure drops. So whenever you open the facuet the pump goes on. The flow is a little lower, about 2 gal/min, but 
these little SureFlow pumps last about 3 or 4 years in our full time situation and only cost about $60.
Normal well water systems use a bladder tank to hold 30-60 gallons of water under pressure and ready for use. They also rely on an automatic switch to run the well. Thats why we have something different. Our neighbors, who are part time summer visitors, have a bladder tank. They have to run their generator / well for each 50 gallons. This may work short term, but this constant chore would drive you nuts for full time! With our system, I run the well for about 6-7 hours once every 5 or 6 weeks. That I can and do live with!
Please leave a comment about what water system works for you! Or just leave a question.
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Franklin now offers a soft start module for 240V deep well pumps. The dual Trace setup can now be replaced with a step up transformer 120 to 240V so if you only need the wattage provided by one inverter for the rest of the house, you do not need to buy two inverters. Unfortunately no one thought of this solution back in 1999 so we only offered the dual inverter plus balancing transformer configuration. Outback (former Trace engineers) now have a better solution. Just FYI for when you finally decide to upgrade or replace with something else. Or for those readers who are just now getting into the off grid life style.
Best of all Outback inverters can be stacked serially or in parallel. They offer more design options.
Thanks, I’ll give the Outback line a look.
Hi, Arild gave me the link for your interesting site.
How do you avoid the water to grow algae during summer, when temps go over 10 deg. C??
I am thinking of making a raincistern to feed the toilet, and will follow your advise regarding placing the tank underground.
Thanks again for a good and informative site.
Regards Michael
Michael, Welcome. The picture above is just like ours, however, it’s made of clear plastic. The temperature doesn’t get as hot, yet light comes through. We haven’t had any real algae problems over the years. About once a summer I add a small amount of bleach that chlorinates it enough to help. Look at pool guides, and use half of what they say. After about 7 years I had to climb in and clean it out, that was interesting, mostly black sediment from well water.
Algae growth and chlorophyll activity seem to be dependent what contaminants are present in the well water. One place I lived in we used spring water from Glacial melt water and I could store this water in direct sunlight at high summer ambient temps without a problem. Place we live in now has water that grows cloudy after only a couple of months storage abd shows a definite green tingel after as little as one month.Yet the water test as ‘safe’ by the department of health. There is obviously a greater concentration of micro organisms at this place. Air borne contaminants can also enter via the air vent needed on larger storage tanks as the water inside is depleted. Breather vents should have not only a coarse screen to keep out insects but perhaps also some kind of HEPA type air filter to minimize the number of air borne micro-organisms that might be drawn in as the water is drained from the storage tank. Air has to be drawn in to replace the volume of water taken out.
Marshall’s water source in the Cascades is likely good but other places where ground water percolation is greater could easily contain various contaminants including live organisms especially if the well is shallow. Wells that draw lots of sediment may need a sand filter ahead of the storage tank to cut down on how much sediment collects in the storage tank or cistern. Remember that such filters concentrate microbes as well as inert sediment and must therefore be cleaned frequently. Still its better than having to climb into a large enclosed volume tank which has its own hazards and require special precautions when working in confined spaces where oxygen could be depleted.
Remember, we have a deep well at 370 feet that provides wonderful quality water, not hard or full of minerals and other things. We’re spoiled with the water, and can really “taste” water when traveling.
We who live on the west coast enjoy really good quality water, be it from snow pack melt water or ancient glacial melt water deep underground. When I lived or travelled back east I found the water quality to be very much worse. I can only attribute this to the source of the water. The Great Lakes are supposedly remnants of the last glacial age but most municipal water systems draw from water levels closer to the surface not the bottom of Lake Superior. And inland from these Lakes, water is drawn from underground aquifiers that are now seeing contamination from sources many miles away. Even deep 300 – 400 foot wells have been found contaminated by chemicals and bacteria. Soil types has a great deal to do with water quality.
Hi, our tapwater comes from the local well, which is very fine water, some of the best in DK. But the algae concern was regarding rainwater collected in a platic tank underground. And I fear, that the rainwater, when it comes inhouse and warmed to 18-20 deg. C( inhouse airtemp.) in the toilettank, will grow algae if not treated/filtered somehow. Are there any experiences outthere?
Best regards, Michael
Michael, for long term storage of ‘rain’ water you probably need some sort of sterilization equipment. My friend who runs a summer camp and is required by law to take monthly samples for the board of health tells me that chlorine will dissolve and disappear from stored water in a short time. Chlorine is likely the lowest cost method of disinfecting water stored in bulk, to make it palatable you may have to use a charcoal filter before drinking it. For washing use it will be fine. The farm house my step father built in the forties had a 2000 gallon cistern to collect rain water. Even in the sixties this provided useable wash water for the people living there at the time. By then my stepfather had built a newer house close by and parcelled off a chunk of land with the original farm house. We constantly ran out of water in the dug well and ended up drilling deep to get hard but usable water.
Michael, you should have no trouble with using rain water for your toilet, since your not drinking it. if you start to see green in the bowl or tank add a little bleach to both. Algae usually needs light to grow and the tank probably has a lid and the restroom light is normally off and or bowl lid down. Hope this helps.