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Water

Windows, Wind and Water

Well, things have been pretty quiet around here, Bob is still working on the bedroom, it has a roof now, and he is installing windows, it’s going to have lots of windows, he is planning on extending a deck beyond the bedroom so he is also making a door to the outside. It’s been pretty windy the past couple of days, yesterday and last night, we were worried about the new addition, there are no walls to speak of, we were worried the wind might damage the roof or the windows, but everything held up just fine. :)

I just ordered a water purifier system, it’s called a Berkey Water Purifier. These are touted to be one of the best there are, it uses no electricity, needs no water pressure, you basically pour the water in the top, it filters down through 2 filters and is stored in the base.

The shatter resistant and virtually unbreakable Berkey Light™ system is made of high impact strength Lexan® which, ounce for ounce, is stronger than steel. In fact, this is the same material used for making bulletproof glass.

The Berkey Light™ system does not leach foul tasting plasticizers into your water and will not retain foul tastes and odors from waterborne contaminants. As the system purifies water, it produces the delightful and relaxing sound of falling raindrops.

The revolutionary Berkey Light™ self-sterilizing and re-cleanable purification elements purify water by removing pathogenic bacteria, cysts and parasites entirely and by extracting harmful chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, VOCs, organic solvents, radon 222 and trihalomethanes. They also reduce nitrates, nitrites, sediment and unhealthy minerals such as lead and mercury.

I have read (and seen on line) that it can remove food coloring without removing minerals and such that your body needs. I can’t wait to get it, I should be able to get water from any source and this purifier will make it safe to drink. In this ever more dangerous world, with no guarantee of being able to get safe water, it’s nice to know that I don’t have to worry about it now.

I was able to get a good deal on a blemished unit, it’s still fully functional, the holes where the filters go were drilled off center, I could care less about that, but the nearly $40 in savings is a big deal! With shipping and tax it came to just under $200.00.

Do a search for Berkey water and you can learn all about them. Oh, they are also all over YouTube.

6 Comments

seth said…: Hi Wretha, my name is Seth and i recently purchased land in west texas. First, i have to say i’m glad to have found your blog and enjoy your posts, secondly, i appluade you guys for what you are doing. has been a dream of mine for a long time, but with four

…

May 2, 2008 6 Comments

Off-Grid 101

Questions from a reader

One of the very nice ladies who reads my blog, asked me several very good questions, I thought I would copy the message here and answer them, I think they are the sorts of questions that other people might ask, they are certainly the kind of questions I would ask if I didn’t live like this and had the opportunity to ask…

Hi Wretha, this is Marty.

I enjoy reading your b-log but I don’t know where the guestbook is to sign it. You had asked if we would sign it so that you would know others are reading.

I wanted to ask you some questions about going off-grid.

1. How do you get water? We have a well and though there’s an electric pump on it I heard that we could get a solar well but the whole well has to be redone. I would also like to add a hand pump.

We do not have a well, it’s way too expensive for us to even consider right now, so I get my water from my neighbor, he has a well and is extremely generous to us, we do things for him as well. We have a 300 gallon container, it used to hold fruit punch concentrate so it is food/water safe. We also have a 55 gallon drum inside the cabin, next to the sink, we have a 12 volt pump attached to it and the water faucet, when I turn on the faucet the pump comes on and I have running water, it lasts me about a week, maybe a week and a half if I’m careful. I use that water (inside the cabin) for washing dishes, hands and such, not for drinking. I go to my neighbor’s house pretty much every day for drinking water, I carry it back in one gallon containers.

If we have to, we can get water from the community well, it’s free to the residence out here, we can get as much as we want, but we have to get it back to our property, that was the original plan to get water from there, but since our neighbor turned out to be such a great guy, we get it from him for now.

2. How do you keep cool in the heat? I think I could go without a lot of things but not being able to keep cool I just can’t. (also going through menopause!)

That’s easy, it does get hot here, but the humidity is low, it’s high desert on a mountain range, it is hot during the day, especially in the sun, but if you have any shade, it’s comfortable, there is almost always a breeze too. The nights are cool year round, even in the hottest part of summer, as soon as the sun goes down, you start looking for something to cover your arms with.…

April 21, 2008 2 Comments

Change Your Toilet Change the World

A simple and effective way to conserve water and save money on water bills is to change your toilet to a dual flush one. This can be done as simply as buying a new dual flush toilet, just a dual flush tank, or using a conversion kit for a conventional toilet.

Since a dual flush toilet is designed to only use the water needed to flush the waste you save and you don’t have to use the practice of only flushing on number 2 as has been advised to me before. If you live in a house full of people, did I mention that 6 people live in my home and during the summer/fall months 7, that can leave an unpleasant odor lingering in your bathroom. Since composting toilets are also not an option, we’ve looked into other avenues.

Dual flushing toilets sound like a great idea for those who aren’t ready to change bathroom habits, but want to stop wasting galleons of water daily. If you want a complete toilt you can look into purchasing one at a local hardware retailer. Or you can check out Aquanotion, a company out of Canada, to see some of their solutions that aren’t as expensive as replacing a complete toilet. They offer a two flush solution that will work with an existing toilet by using a kit to replace the inner workings of your tank. This kit once installed, and can usually be done by someone themselves, will give you the option of a low flow flush or a regular flush, depending on the need.

If you don’t wish to fiddle with the tank they also offer a tank designed to fit most toilet bowls sold in North America that already comes complete you just need to fit it onto your bowl. This would save time but still would require some minor installation to be done.

Of course know that we started to research toilets we saw electric composting toilets that mix everything for you, and can last up to a year before needing to be emptied. Then to top it off they don’t use harmful chemicals so the waste can then be introduced to your compost pile. We were almost in love till we saw the price tag the cheapest being $1,799 with a non electric coming in slightly cheaper at $1,399 (and no we didn’t put the comma in the wrong place). Still if you can afford it why not. We’ll be waiting for the price to come down or just admire it from a far.

So options have greatly increased in everyday appliances to make changes for positive in both our pocketbooks and our world. We just have to notice them that’s all.

This site and subject was suggested on the forum and we would like to thank seafury for the idea and letting us know about the …

April 2, 2008 No Comments

Water

The One Stop Septic System

septic-5542691 There are a number of options for your waste water, the water that has been used in your kitchen, bathroom, and laundry. Some options would mean keeping this waste separate and dispose of in different ways, but the one stop solution and most common is a septic system. As this option is the common for those who cannot get city water or in older homes this is an option that is not unknown to the common person. Though if you are considering this you need to make sure that it is an option in some suburban and urban (not practical in most cases) areas. In our area it is hard if not impossible to get approved for a new septic system as our county wants everyone connected to our city water. Since it has one of the best treatment plants in the country it’s not as big an issues for us right now. They have made this push to get and keep our waterways cleaner.

There are four main components to a typical septic system:

A pipe to carry the waste from the home
The actual septic tank to start the digestion process
The drainfield to spread out the waste water
The soil with microbes to do the final filtering and cleaning of the water

septank-3254553 The pipe carrys all the used (grey and black) water out of your home and into the working parts of the septic system.

A buried watertight container is the typical septic tank. These tanks can be made of concrete, fiberglass or polyethylene. The purpose of the tank is to hold the waste water long enough to allow solids to settle out (sludge) and oil and grease to float to the surface (scum). This allows for partial decomposition of the solid materials. To prevent the sludge and scum from leaving the tank and entering the drainfield, it is compartmentalized and has a T-shape outlet. Additional screens are recommended to make sure the solids do not make it into the drain field. On newer tanks risers with lids for easy location, inspection, and pumping of the tank.

When the wastewater has been process by the tank it exits the septic tank into a drainfield to complete it’s treatment by the soil. This wastewater is continually pushed into the drainfield every time new wastewater is introduced into the tank. Since drainfields can overload with too much liquid , flooding, and can cause sewage to come to the ground surface or create backups in your plumbing and prevent complete treatment of all watsewater. To prevent this having a reserve drainfield, as required by many states, also on your property is a good idea. This area should be cared for as well as you care for your primary drainfield.

The last part of your septic system is your soil. Soil is essential to removing contaminants from your wateswater before …

March 31, 2008 1 Comment

Off-Grid 101

Water and how to save it

Five ways of using water to best effect in the home and garden…

March 29, 2008 No Comments

Water

Working, Gardening and Well Update

03-22-08

Yesterday was fun, I started at the country store, I shared my training day with another lady, I guess the store owner wants double backup, just in case… anyhoo, it was great fun, we learned the basics, where all the lights are, how to light up the coolers, how to run the register, how to run the ancient gas pump, well it’s not THAT old, but you do have to do things in a certain order, or else the pump will lose prime and will not pump anything until a repair guy comes out and fixes it, it’s not a good thing to do! The main thing we do up there is talk to the locals, I met more people and dogs that day, a lot of the people I saw I had met previously, at least once, it was nice to see everyone again. I don’t know when I’ll start for good, I hope next weekend or the following week after that, as far as I know, it’s every other weekend (Friday and Saturday).I know one of the first things I’ll be doing on the next day I’m there is dusting, the store is pretty clean, but I noticed the can food has a layer of dust on the tops, that is pretty standard out here, everything has a layer of dust no matter what you do, it’s non-stop dust here, perhaps it will not make much difference, but I have to try. :)

While I was training, Bob helped out on a storage building outside behind the store, there is a RV/camping place out back, it’s not much, but it’s not supposed to be much either. This building had roll up garage doors on it, the owner wanted barn doors on it, she had already make one door herself (she is pretty talented with her hands too!), so Bob had a template to go by, she was very happy with it and impressed with how fast he goes. He went back today to finish the doors (there is another set to be made) and to do some other things. After that he is supposed to go help our friends repair their new(old) house so they can get moved in faster.

Garden

A few days ago, we started working on our garden area, we have a clearing not too far from the cabin, it’s flat and the ground looks great, there are trees surrounding the clearing so I hope it will be a bit protected from animals and weather, at least it will not be an eyesore to anyone. We will have to fence it around and over the top to keep out the deer, birds, raccoons, skunks, foxes, peccaries and any other hungry animals. Bob asked me how big an area did I want to garden, I answered as large an area as he can fence in, …

March 25, 2008 2 Comments

Well update

Andy Prude came over and pulled up the pump head, we didn’t find a hole in the pipe, but we did find the check valve on the pump wasn’t working right, that explains why the water was running back down the well. Andy put on a separate check valve, and replaced the pump, we suggested that we didn’t need to have the pump so deep in the well, we went from some 400 feet to 200 feet deep, we are going to try it at that level and make sure it works OK, so far so good, our neighbor may still decide to replace the pump, it turns out that the pump is too big (horsepower) for that size well, it’s too strong and believe it or not, that is not a good thing. It causes the pump to prematurely wear out, go figure… anyhoo, he may change it out soon, but for now, it is working.

It was so interesting watching Andy do his thing, he was great and we learned a lot from watching, helping and asking questions. We got to help a little, our neighbor said we cut at least 2 hours off the time it would have taken (as compared to the last time he had Andy out to replace his pump).

I’ll post updates as they occur, but so far, so good! :)…

March 17, 2008 1 Comment

Well water problems…

Our neighbor still has no water as of today, he can reset the pump and make it work for a short period of time, enough to flush toilets and such, but the water coming through is still not clear. We went into town to get some groceries and picked up 4 gallons of drinking water, a couple for us and a couple for our neighbor. On the way back, we pulled in behind the local well guy, what a great guy coming out on a Sunday to repair the well! Andy Prude is his name, and if you have well trouble in this part of the country, I highly recommend him! Anyhoo, we followed him to our neighbor’s house. They are outside right now checking the well, it may be that there is a hole in the pvc pipe that goes down the well, if that is the problem, then it will be much less expensive to repair, it would explain all the muddy water coming through and the fact that the water keeps draining out of the system.

I’ll post an update as things happen.…

March 16, 2008 1 Comment

Solar Water Heating Not Just For Us Campers

Campers have known the benefit of solar water heating, but homeowners are just starting to see the benefits of letting the sun heat their water instead of paying the power company to do it for them. There are two different types of solar heating systems: passive, which doesn’t rely on circulating pumps and controls, and active, which does.

You will still need a well-insulated storage tank so don’t throw away your water heater just yet. You can opt to add a solar storage tank which has additional outlets and inlets that connect it to and from the collector to form a two-tank system. In which the solar water heater preheats the water making the amount of energy needed to heat the water to desired temperature much less. The other option is to go completely solar and get a solar tank that has a back up water heater in it. Since nights and cloudy days can have a significant effect on how much water is heated by the sun.

For us needing a residential system we have three options:

Evacuated-tube solar collectors
This system features parallel rows of transparent glass tubes. The tube is made of a glass outer tube with a metal absorber tube attached to a fin. This fin has a coating which absorbs solar energy nut stops radiative heat loss. Though this system is used more in commercial applications it is available for residential use also.
Flat-plate collector
For this system glazed flat-plate which are insulated are contained inside a weatherproof box. The box will have a dark absorber plate situated under one or more glass/plastic cover. There is also a unglazed flat-plate collector system that is typically found for heating pool water. This system also has a dark absorber plate, which can be made of metal or plastic, but it does not have a cover or enclosure.
Integral collector-storage systems
These can also be called a ICS or batch system, as they feature black tanks(s) or tubes in an insulated, glazed box. This is a two tank system as cold water will first past through the solar collector to preheat it then continue on to a conventional water heater. This system will always be a source of reliable hot water, though it can only be installed in climates that no to a mild-freeze because of the possibility of the outdoor pipes freezing or bursting in sever weather.

For those who want an active solar water heating system you can use one of two systems. The first is a direct circulation system which uses pumps to move the water through the collector and into the home. Once again only advised in mild climates because of the damage freezing can have on the outdoor parts of the system. The second is an indirect circulation system which uses an alternative non-freezing fluid through the collectors and then into a heat …

March 15, 2008 No Comments

Dogsitting and water…

Well, today is a beautiful (but windy) day, I spend the day at my neighbor’s house dogsitting, so today was a TV and internet day, honestly I took a fat nap during the day, but it was good to get to watch some tube and surf a little.

Last night, I came over to my neighbor’s house to get some water, once I got back to my cabin, I noticed the water looked cloudy, it smelled OK, but really looked a bit muddy, I called my neighbor and told him. He is on well water, and is reported to have one of the best wells out here.

Today, when I got over here to dogsit, I tried to do some laundry, but the water intake on the washing machine kept clogging up, the water still looked a little cloudy (though better than last night), there were lots of things floating in the water, we barely got one load of laundry done and gave up, we figured there was a disturbance in the water, maybe someone is drilling a well upstream from us or something like that. Later on in the day, the water quit running all together.

We waited for our neighbor to get home, and started looking at the well house, it seems that there is a reset button, they pushed it and the water started flowing again, the pressure is not as good as it should be, and it still looks a little cloudy (floaters) to me, hopefully it’s something that can be fixed easily.…

March 14, 2008 No Comments

Water

Danger from the water grid

Drinking mains water means ingesting small but significant amounts of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — according to a new study. Moral of the story: Don’t drink water from the grid.…

March 11, 2008 1 Comment

Water

Keep it Pur

A new water treatment product guarantees cheap, clean drinking water wherever you are in the world…

March 8, 2008 No Comments

All you need to go off-grid

Water

Windows, Wind and Water

6 Comments

Questions from a reader

Change Your Toilet Change the World

The One Stop Septic System

Water and how to save it

Working, Gardening and Well Update

Well update

Well water problems…

Solar Water Heating Not Just For Us Campers

Dogsitting and water…

Danger from the water grid

Keep it Pur

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Water

6 Comments

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