Agree or disagree . . with all my prepping, no matter how well I felt I was prepared, without a source of water, I felt lacking. The pump was hooked up wrong to the solar panels last week and immediately burned up the pump and control box so the new ones arrived this morning. Vince hooked everything up this afternoon and . . it was time to test it! I think Vince was a bit nervous after having burned up a brand new pump already but it wasn’t his fault. The guy at the pump place told him how to hook it up and the minute the pump burned up, the guy realized he had told Vince wrong so the company replaced the pump and control box.
Time to Flip the Switch!
Vince put the pump into a bucket of water to be sure it was working before dropping it into the well. The test worked so he dropped the pump down the well and turned it on and waited for water to come out the hose.
Waiting for Water!
It took a minute or two, which seemed like a very long time . . thoughts running through our heads about whether or not it was going to work. The solar pump we got only pumps about 2 gallons per minute which is fine for the price. We’ll finish filling the 3,000 gallon tank and any time we need pressure, we’ll pull water from the tank. Otherwise, 2 gallons per minute is fine for leaving a hose around the fruit trees.
Water!
Mostly I wanted it to survive in case there’s a time when we have no electricity to pump from the main well.
Pumping Water
It will take us a while of pumping to get the water clear and clean and once we do that, we’ll finish filling the tank. We already filled it about half full from the house well. Vince wanted to put enough water in it to keep it from blowing away and we ended up putting about 1,500 gallons in it.
With a 3,000 gallon tank full and a solar powered pump, I feel real good about our water needs. Vince is happy to have that done and everything working.
Linda Steller says
Yeah! So glad it’s working. It’s a darn good thing you put water in that tank. It most likely would have blown away in the wind the night before!
Rhonda says
So glad everything finally worked out. Solar pumps are great and mostly trouble-free!!
Pauline Kennelly says
Congratulations on the new well and water. Not every well drilled hits water. We live in a very, very rocky place and drilling was out of the question.. No city water either. So we “harvest” rain water.. Not easy to do with the drought we’re going through here in the Texas hill country, but we have 3 tanks, 1200 gallon catch tank, 1500 gallon “using tank” and a 3000 gallon storage tank. Not pretty yard decorations, but we don’t care.. Rainwater is wonderful to drink, wash hair and clothes as well as bathe in. Great system!
Judy L. says
How well I know! Our first hole was dry. We thought about going the rainwater route, but that would not have given us enough water to keep the garden and orchard watered.
When we thought we were going to have to buy land and build, we negotiated with a coupe of landowners to drill for water before closing to be sure we could get a good well. It’s pretty hit and miss in this area so we’re very blessed to have 2 good wells.
Tammy says
I’m glad yall got the water problem solved. Whew…One less thing to worry about now.
Karen says
When I think about prepping, water is my main concern. I only have enough on hand for 72 hours. I am glad that you have your well! Living in the a small town within the city limits sure puts a damper on my ideas about prepping.
Ranch Wife says
And water is a precious thing – thrilled for y’all that your hard work and perseverance has paid off. I think I would have been doing a jig when that water first came up.