Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I haven't paid a water bill in 37 years- - - - -

I haven't lived anywhere there wasn't spring or well water since I was a wee yonker....

Indirectly, you would have to prorate the cost of the well, plus the electricity, plus the assessor takes the well and septic system into consideration.

Bet sand is screwing up the switch.

I have had the same jobs that you described for 43 years.

I got tired of the switch going bonkers so i put a 4 micron screen in line before the switch.

Only once have i had a problem and that happened when the power went out when it was in the low 20's with a 35 mph wind.

I also started using stainless steel 1/4 in.pipe in line with the switch.

We run 40-60 lbs of pressure on the system with 3 houses and the pump is a 3 hp Gould it is set at 175 ft. and is in an 8 in.casing.

When everything is doing right the weather is fabulous and well you know the rest.

That bull scat is probably better for you than what’s in the city water you drink.

Our well was drilled in '95 along with installing the septic system. So far the only issue has been the pump going out after 15 years. It's down 200' and cost about $1000 to replace. The cost of pulling it was much lower than I'd expected. Most of that was the price of a 1.5 hp pump.

Our well is 100 ft deep, the water level stays at about 60 ft. - and the taste and content are very pure. We are blessed. This has been the case for 30+ years, and the system is still operating on the original submersible pump, pressure tank and switch. We are doubly blessed. The windmill well feeding our pond sits about 150 yards down into the pasture and it is 75 ft. deep with the water level at about 35 ft. That water seems to taste even better than the house well water. We are triply blessed.

Need to add that the RO water folks test the water every 6 months and after going through the system it's about 1200 pmm.

I like to say that it's liquid rock.

We had a Gas and Water head honcho in clarksville.
"Surprisingly" the subdivision he lived in wasnt metered for water for
a considerable amount of time.....

Or just develop a spring on the hill behind the house. The one at my Uncles house produced rainwater soft and was far enough up the hill to make 60 PSI at the house and about 50 GPM. It comes straight out of a basalt mountain and is the best tasting drinking water I have ever found.

Lincoln County (Fayetteville) just recently had some major drama concerning the water system- - - - -financial irregularities of some sort involving several of the good ole boys who ran the show!
Jerry

I have both well and city water here at my house. I also had a septic system but switched to city sewer. Just had a natural gas line run from the street to the house for free as well. Getting rid of the oil boiler and tanks this spring/summer.

Our well water is pure but slightly alkaline, about a pH of 8.0. So is the soil. We don't have any issues but we do have to be sure to never plant anything that requires an acid soil. I sure wish we could grow blueberries but they just won't grow in this soil. Oh, and if you live here, NEVER pay any attention to the garden books that say to add lime.

Currently installing a mini-hydroelectric power generation unit at my son's off-grid place. In winter the solar lags in power production so this water generated trickle charge will help immensely.

We've buried about 400 feet of 4" pvc pipe pen stock which drops down about 150' in elevation and is providing 74 psi water pressure at the generating pelton wheel. Had to run 2" conduit back up the hill pull wire and hook into the battery powerhouse. First test run is tomorrow.

Is it free water? Oh hell no, not with install cost and upkeep, but having engineered water pressure providing power to run a solar well is pretty close to no water bill.

When this project comes to fruition I'll share some pics with y'all if interested.

Our 2 places here on the Kenai with wells both go 110 feet to water. Rental units are 8 miles away from home, and water tastes better, but mine is OK. For the first year after we moved from there to here we hauled water from there to here just for coffee. . We got used to it here....

We have walking water at our remote cabin also....I walk 50 yards to the river, and 20 feet down the bank, scoop it up in 5 gallon buckets and walk back. We keep several 5 gallon buckets of river water on hand, or if it is going to rain and raise the river (silt and beaver poop) , we fill a garbage can beforehand for several days water until the river clears. Because beavers poop on the sandbars, we try never to take water in a rising river, anyway.

We boil all cooking and drinking water there, and add bleach to the rest. Oh, yeah - it is all brown. Tannic in the water. Tastes good tho.

Don't have to deal with all that electronic and filtering/pressure BS. .

We have a well and septic system at the farm and spring water and privy at the cabin

Hotrod Lincoln, For several years I had the same issues. I got rid of my well pit, using a pit-less adapter, and brought all of the electrical into the house. It sure has made life “mo better”! memtb

Ten or twelve years ago the state made us put a sewer system in, it was by God crazy expensive but federal money paid for all but your own hook up, which was 3-4 grand for most folks but the cost is 35 bucks per month , which is dirt cheap if you ever tried paying for a septic tank and a leach field if your would perk. We have our own well with great water so I'm happy with the setup .

I installed a water treatment system with KDF media several years ago.....It worked wonders on my iron water....

For the same reason one only has a flat when he's about to go somewhere. If go out and just do a walk around to check things, the tires are always fine.

Maternal grandmother never had any kind of water in her house but from a well her entire life. Her well was originally outside her back door a few yards and powered by a hand pump only. Her sons upgraded it back in the '70s, piping it into the screened in back porch and put a new hand pump on it, too.

Her well water had a sulphurous 'rotten egg' odor but I guess it was harmless because that's all she drank and cooked with and she lived well into her 90s. Did take some getting used to though but tasted alright once you got past the rotten egg smell. No idea why but when she cooked a big pot of beans with that water they never caused flatulence.

She kept a porcelain bucket of water with a dipper on a little table near the back door for drinking and a porcelain dish pan with a bar of Lave soap beside it for washing hands. She heated water on a wood burning cooking stove for bathing, washing dishes and clothes.

For years the little town we live in had it's own city water system fed by a well. It had varying sodium levels and occasionally had to announce warnings for customers on low sodium diets to not drink it until warning was lifted. It was so high in sodium naturally that it would 'pit' ice cubes made with it. Coffee and drinks made with it tasted like you added salt to it. The ice added to carbonated drinks would go flat in no time. They had to treat the water with all kinds of chemicals to meet government approval. The chemicals were so harsh at times that they eventually would eat through the tanks of water heaters and bottoms of automatic dish washers.

We've been on county water piped in from an adjacent county for several years now. It is relatively expensive but worth it considering what we had to live with before.