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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sat Mar 01, 2014 4:15 pm 
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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 10:51 pm 
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The septic passed inspection. The inspector said that Luis Munoz (our backhoe guy) does the best work, bar none. He took about 30 minutes to inspect. He went down into each ditch with his level and took measurements at every 10' feet making sure the infiltrators had adequate slope. The fittings and the filter inside the tank were also inspected. He took a level to the tank and all the piping. I think you're allowed 1" inch of drop for every 20' feet of pipe going to the tank. If there's too much drop, the water goes faster than the solids. If there's not enough drop, the solids can get suspended in the pipe creating a clog. A properly installed septic will last a lifetime. I learned a lot from being part of the install.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:11 pm 
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Your inspector did his job well. We could use him up here. My neighbors septic froze before they lived in the house. 6000 dollars to redo a new septic. Have you had well and septic- propane before? A lot of neighbors lived in the city and retired up here. Didn't have a clue about this stuff. Either way helping with the install is a feel good too.
My first well, and the septic here were on my lots when I bought. When I had my mobile home
the guy who ran the sewer line through and under the slab had it going up hill. Was weird flushing a toilet 4-5 feet higher than tank and not having it flush. I had to dig under the slab and crawl in cut and re glue. I got high from the glue fumes and almost passed out. One more thing I learned not to do the hard way.


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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:16 pm 
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Cherrie 274 wrote:
...I had to dig under the slab and crawl in cut and re glue. I got high from the glue fumes and almost passed out. One more thing I learned not to do the hard way.

Gal, I want to party with you someday. :jester:

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:26 pm 
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Been there done that moved on. No longer drink, well my TAB is a must have.


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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Tue Mar 04, 2014 11:33 pm 
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Cherrie 274 wrote:
Your inspector did his job well.


The inspector was much more thorough than I had anticipated.

Cherrie 274 wrote:
Have you had well and septic- propane before?


Yes, this is our second time to live in the mountains. Our first time was in a 1,000 sq. ft., one bedroom, one bathroom, log home with a wood burning stove, propane for cooking, and propane for the hot water heater. The septic was for both black and grey water. We also had a very good well and the water was excellent. It was paradise. Enough so that we were motivated to build from scratch and do things our way.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Mar 07, 2014 8:28 am 
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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.

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.

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Last edited by dieselenthusiast on Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Sun Mar 16, 2014 1:23 pm 
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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.

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Last edited by dieselenthusiast on Sun Apr 06, 2014 7:08 pm, edited 6 times in total.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:38 pm 
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Nice thread! Inspiring.

You did good to abandon the cistern idea. With the overall and static depth of your well, your submersible pump/pressure tank combo will do just fine. Up in the high country of AZ, the Coconino aquifer makes for most wells to be ~ 600' or so deep. There they use a submersible/cistern combo with a level switch, then a shallow well jet/pressure tank combo for household pressure.

I love the high country of NM and AZ, drop dead beautiful country IMHO.

Subscribed and waiting for the videos, lol.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:39 pm 
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Post some pics with now snow! I need a fix;).


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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 12:31 am 
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Here's our official registered trademark and ranch brand‏

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 12:40 am 
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Nice work on the graphics. Did you do it yourself? :D

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 12:45 am 
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teddyearp wrote:
Nice thread! Inspiring.


Thank you.

teddyearp wrote:
You did good to abandon the cistern idea. With the overall and static depth of your well, your submersible pump/pressure tank combo will do just fine. Up in the high country of AZ, the Coconino aquifer makes for most wells to be ~ 600' or so deep. There they use a submersible/cistern combo with a level switch, then a shallow well jet/pressure tank combo for household pressure.


Originally, the cistern was designed to meet the needs for the solar setup. At some point, I might do an above ground cistern for solar purposes. For now, we will stick with the submersible and pressure tank combo with a backup hand pump.

teddyearp wrote:
I love the high country of NM and AZ, drop dead beautiful country IMHO.


I couldn't agree more. Pinetop isn't too far away, you know? :wink:

teddyearp wrote:
Subscribed and waiting for the videos, lol.


Thanks for subscribing. Hopefully videos will come soon!

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 12:59 am 
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profdlp wrote:
Nice work on the graphics. Did you do it yourself? :D


No, they were professionally done. I designed the ranch brand and gave the designers a sketch of what I wanted. We went through several revisions over the course of two weeks until we got what we wanted. Designing a logo was one of the hardest things I've had to do in terms of creativity! :mrgreen: There were a few other images and color schemes that I really liked, but in the end, Sarah and I both agreed on this logo.

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 Post subject: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:44 am 
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Cherrie 274 wrote:
Post some pics with now snow! I need a fix;).

Just saw this not what I thought I typed!
It was a request for pics Without snow in them. Stupid out correct.
And nice design !


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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 10:31 pm 
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Cherrie 274 wrote:
And nice design !


Thank you. The final design and ranch brand was something that I really wanted to get done.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Wed Apr 09, 2014 10:35 pm 
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We're getting ready to install the well components. The ditch is dug from the meter pole to the well house for power.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:54 am 
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The wife said we needed storage. I couldn't argue. We decided to get a portable building for now. We can always sell it later. We custom ordered a 12X28 and got it delivered yesterday.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 6:22 pm 
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Nice sized shed. Can't get them with a metal roof around here.

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 Post subject: Re: Going off the grid
PostPosted: Fri Apr 11, 2014 8:24 pm 
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Keep it for company to stay in.


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