Hindsight is 20/20

[Aeson]

Thanks Lance, lots of good advice there

We get very good crosswind most of the time, so the windows should be enough to keep the second floor cool. The danger is if a strong typhoon ever hits directly we're so exposed the roof panels are probably a lost cause.

[Lancer]

Of course. But no worries there will be plenty just lying around.

[MrFun]

I chose to pursue a Masters degree in U.S. History.

[Lancer]

Wasn't the way to go MrFun?

Aeson, we had drilled an 80' iirc well in Pondol after the water to the house quit. The old Jagna market burned down so they moved it to the municipal lot and set up there while they borrowed money and built the new Jagna market. Problem was that we were on the same line as the municipal and they are at a lower level. So we had sent 2 friends ahead by a few days and when we arrived in Jagna they told us there was no water. What a trip that was. I got with a couple guys we hired and hauled water in 5 gallon plastic jerry cans from a friend's house down the street. Of course nobody had told us there was no water in the house. So we figured we had an option. We could wait for the new market to be built or dig a well. Should have waited. Dolores and I got jobs that lasted years and we never went back. $1000 (iirc) gone. Meanwhile someone found another line from somewhere else and piped it into the house and that allowed the filling of the tank at night.

Get your water tank yet? Must have if you got your toilet...unless you're running off your irrigation system?

So how many gpm does a farm take? There are guys in Duero who stock rainwater, don't know how well that works in a drought.

About the time the brownout stopped I was getting ready to hook up 3 12V water pumps I bought for the cat to pump water up to the tank. They would run off the cat's solar panel's batt. Had it lasted the full 2 months I might have rewired and plumbed the whole place.

[Lorizael]

I chose to pursue a Masters degree in U.S. History.

Well, how's that saying go? "Those who can remember the past are condemned to underemployment." Something like that.

[The Mad Monk]

Might be a dumb question, but did you do any drawdown tests on your well? The permeability may not be what you think it is. Did it ever bottom out while running that pump?

[Aeson]

Aeson, we had drilled an 80' iirc well in Pondol after the water to the house quit. The old Jagna market burned down so they moved it to the municipal lot and set up there while they borrowed money and built the new Jagna market. Problem was that we were on the same line as the municipal and they are at a lower level. So we had sent 2 friends ahead by a few days and when we arrived in Jagna they told us there was no water. What a trip that was. I got with a couple guys we hired and hauled water in 5 gallon plastic jerry cans from a friend's house down the street. Of course nobody had told us there was no water in the house. So we figured we had an option. We could wait for the new market to be built or dig a well. Should have waited. Dolores and I got jobs that lasted years and we never went back. $1000 (iirc) gone. Meanwhile someone found another line from somewhere else and piped it into the house and that allowed the filling of the tank at night.

Get your water tank yet? Must have if you got your toilet...unless you're running off your irrigation system?

So how many gpm does a farm take? There are guys in Duero who stock rainwater, don't know how well that works in a drought.

I know how those water outages can be tough. We went 6 months at Net's parent's house one year (Summer 2011?) having to truck in all the water, because the municipal water system here had a broken pump. (Their well is near to our's out at the farm, one of the reasons I chose that area since I knew it had good water.) We brought it in from our well out at the farm. That was a huge hassle. Now there's only an outage when I forget to run the pump or it breaks down.

We built a water tank up on the hill back in early 2010. It's on the neighbor's property so we made a deal we hook up their house to the water system. It's one of the projects that worked out just as planned. The tank is 3000+ gallons, about 8' x 8' x 8' inside, just a simple poured concrete cube, 8" reinforced walls, with a 1 1/2" GI pipe through the bottom of one wall, a couple through the top of the same wall. One is a vent and the other a pressure release if the valve on the outlet is closed while the pump is running. Then a manhole on top.

Running all the drip tube on the 2000 linear meters of beds we have on the farm will use it up rather quickly. With two lines on each bed that works out to about 60 gpm. Much faster than our 15gpm pump can refill it ... but we only have to water some of the rows some of the time so we could pump enough water to irrigate most of the land out here with the setup. Rain water wouldn't cut it for most crops during dry season.

We're building a cistern right next to the pump that will fill with overflow from our well. Sometimes the well goes artesian with a little stream coming out from under the cap. Also have a 1/2 HP jet pump that can pump about 5gpm up to the water tank. It can run almost constantly. We'll have a hand-pump for use in worst case scenario. The water level in the well has never dropped down below about 10 feet (when not being pumped out by the submersible), so there should always be water that way at least.

About the time the brownout stopped I was getting ready to hook up 3 12V water pumps I bought for the cat to pump water up to the tank. They would run off the cat's solar panel's batt. Had it lasted the full 2 months I might have rewired and plumbed the whole place.

A good idea with how often the power goes out here.

[Aeson]

Might be a dumb question, but did you do any drawdown tests on your well? The permeability may not be what you think it is. Did it ever bottom out while running that pump?

Yah, it was supposed to be a drawdown test. They said they had a 1 1/2 HP pump, but I could see the water level didn't change when we had the pump at 80 feet or 40 feet. It jsut wasn't pumping more than 6.5 gpm.

So I couldn't be sure if there was morethan 6.5gpm or not.

We have a water level switch that cuts off the submersible if the level gets down to about 70 feet. The pump is at 80 feet. It will cut off after about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how wet/dry it is. So that's how long it takes to work through the "buffer" of the 4" x 70' cylinder. If I increase the back pressure enough it will run indefinitely now, but I just keep it to the minimum recommended backpressure.

[Aeson]

Well, how's that saying go? "Those who can remember the past are condemned to underemployment." Something like that.

They avoid teaching "History of Wages for History Majors" until it's already too late.

[The Mad Monk]

It might be worthwhile to get some proper measurements done, but it sounds like the pump is actually more than you need for that well.

[Aeson]

Yah, it is. A 1/2 HP at 60' or even a jet pump would have suited us fine, and probably would have run on the electrical line too. Much better than a 6.5 HP generator to run a 1 HP pump in a well without enough water to run the 1 HP pump for extended periods of time!

[Lancer]

The best bet is modern solar panels all over the various roofs. When the Pondol house sells, if it ever does, I'll be talking to the solar company in Cebu, see what it would take to unplug the house. That might be an issue though with a freezer, cold room (small AC), the 3/4 hp pool pump, 2 refs, 2 small aircon rooms for guests. Business stuff partly. If they tell me its impossible with the sq meters available at least I'll get enough for the freezer, cold room and one small fridge. Can drain the pool and keep it drained without electric, and condense everything down for the fridge. Lights too, but I'm switching over to LED bulbs so that's not much. Some of the stuff would end up in the cold room. Stay in business anyway.

I'd really like to unplug the house though, but they're going to say no.

[Aeson]

Well you could have both. You don't really need everything all the time. In an emergency you could get by on much less, and then day-to-day make up the difference from Boheco.

[Lancer]

Sure, and I'm certain that's what the solar panel folks are going to say. We spent less on our roof by going up, but that doesn't leave space for many panels. Of course the roof is much closer to the sun. Emergency power... Civvin in the dark.