Where to get the Water to fill the Storage Tank?

You beat me to the punch boilerman, as I was just pondering the same question with my wife. We are also on a well, but I figured I could fill it over at least a week, cycling the pump for a couple of hours at a time. We also have several local companies that can supply the nearly 2000 gallons we will need, but I am concerned about filtration and quality. Hopefully someone with prior experience will chime in.

Most good submersible wells are good for 1000 gals in a week easily..... My problem is water quality here.. We have iron and lime in our water and I DO NOT want that stuff in my system... Luckily, there's an old kinetico water softener in our basement that's not hooked up and I've laid claim to.......

FWIW, I filled my 1250 gallon tank in one day (testing my welds for leaks) out of the submersible well that feeds our milk barn........ No probs......

rainwater works. Roofs are a large collector. Most people have them. How much water falls on your roof in the course of the summer?

The pump shouldn't be an issue. I'm told by a friend in the business that the greatest wear on pumps is starting. Once started, they can handle extended loads. For what it's worth, when wells are first drilled or need to be cleaned because of bacteria, they are treated with chlorine. The chlorine is then run off by running a hose continuosly for 24 hours or so.

As for depleting your well, do you know the gpm yield when it was drilled? If greater than 5 gpm, you could run a hose to deliver 5 gpm and know the static level of the well would remain unchanged during the filling process. At that rate, you'd fill 100 gallons in 200 minutes, or a little under 3.5 hours. I have a neighbor that filled a large (10,000+ gallon) pool by running a hose non-stop into it. We rationalized the risk because the cost of replacing the pump was less than the cost of the water delivery. That was three years ago and the pump has never been an issue.

I would venture that unless you have a known problem with the well, let 'er rip. If something happens, that something would have happened anyway. If you overpump the well, it will come back on its own and you will know that you can't do that again!

FWIW, most people I know that have swimming pools on wells just put a slow garden hose in it to fill it. The constant starting and stopping is probably more stressful on the pump than a fast fill, but they usually need a lot more than 1000 gallons.

I like the rainwater idea; a lot less water treatment needed.

Chris

I've got a very old shallow, sand point well, and had the same concerns. Just bit the bullet and let it run. No problem.

As to filtering the cold water, easy. Use a house water filter with the approx 10" x 2-1/2" replaceable filters. That will trap all solids from the well. What about crud in your tank, boiler and plumbing lines? I have a hot water filter, similar to the house water filter, rated to 200F, which I kept on the supply to boiler line until it stopped catching anything.

Big issue with your water, city or well, is treating it to achieve pH balance and get rid of oxygen. From what I've read you want pH to range 8-9, and add sodium sulfite per directions based on water quantity. Once in balance, monitor occasionally, but so long as you are not adding water, it should stay OK, including crystal clear. I'm assuming a pressurized system. If an open system, you will have to monitor more often as adding water will change pH and add oxygen, and being open to the atmosphere will add oxygen.

Oxygen = rust and corrosion until oxygen consumed. Sulfite does this so the steel in the system does not have to.

pH - if acid water, major corrosion; that's why pH of 8-9 (base).

Find someone who fills swimming pools. Lot more water there and people do it all the time.

Call the fire department. Last summer they were very busy around here keeping all the cattle watering troughs filled for the ranchers, during the drought. They are usually glad to help out if they have a tanker in the fleet. It gives them practice

I would second the idea of checking the water quality. ph, hardness.

hr

I fill my above ground cheap vinyl pool every spring from my well and its 18ft round and the water level is at a little over 3ft tall. A quick est - over 5000 gallons and I take two days of it running during the daylight with no problems seen for my well.

I live in the city so water comes out of the tap, but there is a cost. I thought about driving 8 miles round trip to a friend's house and pulling water from a stream that borders the property. But then I need a pump, and barrels to carry the water, and I am limited to about 250 gallons at a time on the trailer. Then there is the goofy water laws which say that even though the stream is on your property, you cannot touch the water since it belongs to someone downstream. If I just fill the a 2000 gallon tank from the tap, it is about $10.00. That is the cost of runnng my sprinkler system for just a few days.

What is it about us wood burners that makes us do all kinds of crazy stuff to save a few bucks?

LOL! You're right. Then there's me....... I'm going to run my water softener to soften the water going into mine!

I'm glad your the first one to bring up using the water softener. I've been wondering if that would be a good "investment" as my water is fairly hard but if I use the softener, I'll have to pay sewer rates. Before I had the softener, I had to de-lime the faucet and shower heads every couple of months. I'm afraid of lots of "hard" water and high temps.

master of sparks said:

Call the fire department. Last summer they were very busy around here keeping all the cattle watering troughs filled for the ranchers, during the drought. They are usually glad to help out if they have a tanker in the fleet. It gives them practice

I would second the idea of checking the water quality. ph, hardness.

hr

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If you do this, find a food grade tanker. A lot of the fire departments rigs will have a sh!t load of rust and other junk in them. I know of a few pools looked pretty crappy after being filled with a fire tanker. I filled my in ground pool out of my well. (28,000+ gals). And i have a 8200 gal milk tanker. Couldn't afford my own rates
If you can't fill your 1,000 gal storage out of your well, you got a big problem. It would surprise you how much water you use in a day. Put the hose in and turn the tap on part way. Just try not to take any naps. :coolsmile:

most fire depts will help out , they like it if you give a small donation too, and lunch

filling with softened water is very important if you have hard water. I made that mistake. I got a softener after my pumps started leaking at the seals.