dieselenthusiast wrote:
I'm thinking about deleting the solar pump and keeping the hand pump to save some coin. The solar is tempting because in the end we would be getting the hand pump and part of the labor for free due to the 30% tax credit. Unfortunately the solar system would cost an additional $4,000 up front, which is a lot of money considering what we already have into the water system.
We made our decision to delete the solar pump at this time. Since this decision doesn’t compromise our overall plan (being able to function off the grid), we felt this was a fair negotiation. I hate missing out on the tax credit (free money), but spending money to save money doesn’t align with our philosophy of being debt free. This is the same reason why we don’t have credit cards. We can, however, go back at a later date and add the solar pump since all the plumbing will already be in place.
dieselenthusiast wrote:
I'm also thinking about deleting the cistern. Our pump installer said that underground cisterns are hard to keep free from sand or other contamination. He said that it doesn't seem to matter how much sealant you use on the risers, fine particles and contamination can find their way into the tank. If I change my setup, I would have water coming from the pitless straight to the pressure tank. I'm going to use 1" PEX for all the plumbing. Standing water in a 1" PEX line has a less chance of freezing than standing water in a 3/4" line.
After putting in countless hours researching cistern designs, functionality, and burial strength; I hated to abandon this project. After weighing all the advantages of having a water cistern, we decided the risk of water contamination and possible hidden leaky fittings was something that we didn't want to deal with. The cistern is no longer on the table, at least in the capacity that I had originally planned.
Now that we know the basic design of the water system; we can start buying parts and preparing for the system install. We ordered and received the hand pump assembly which contains:
Stainless steel pump head assembly
Pitless adaptor
5 gpm Pump Cylinder Assembly
36” handle lever arm assembly
6" inch Trega cast aluminum well cap
9’ foot threaded PVC
9’ foot sucker rods
The above contents are packaged in the shipping tube seen in the photo.
How does this system work? The bottom of the pumping system will be approximately 145’ feet in the well casing. The hand pump will flow approximately 5GPM. The water will not be discharged from the well exterior like traditional pumps are designed to do. Instead, the water will be pumped and discharged approximately 4’feet below the ground surface through a pitless valve. The water will then tee into the main line that comes from the electric submersible pump. The main line runs directly to the pressure tank. In a grid down situation, we would be able to hand pump the water straight into the pressure tank. Pressure tanks do not require electricity to pressure the house, barn, yard hydrants, or irrigation outlets.