Moved my water storage way up the hill behind my house

Fat Boss

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I needed to replace the 50 year old steel water tank due to it rusting through and being on it's last legs. Initially I was just going to put two new poly tanks right next to the existing tank. My friend came by and said, "why not put it up on the hill and get some gravity pressure?"

My friend is actually quite good with his Bobcat and cut a VERY steep road up my hill behind my house and carved a nice 10 x 20 pad to place the tanks. He then did the main 160+ foot trench with the 'cat and got me wholesale pricing on the PVC through his pool business.

I'm happy with how it turned out, since this was my first time doing a large water project like this. I've sweated copper and run sprinklers and controllers, but nothing on this scale. Now I have enough pressure (35 PSI at the main house, and better than 40 at my rental house) that I don't need to use the pressure pumps and tanks at each house. I was getting seriously tired of hearing that pump kicking on and off. I just need to insulate the exposed piping and fill in the trenches. Anyway, I'm pretty stoked and here's the obligatory pics to prove that it happened.

Here's the road looking down towards my ranch style house. My buddy Dan found some nice clay as he dug the pad and he used that to create a solid road. It's just about too steep to walk it.

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Dan used a laser level and made the pad +/- 1".

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The Bobcat made quick work of hauling each of the 3000 gallon tanks up the road.

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The trench.

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Water tanks in place with fill pipe and float switch conduit.

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I made the manifold so that it can charge a fire hose with either 1 1/2 or 2 1/2 NH hoses. I also put a ball valve for each house and another on the old steel tank to use for fire as long as it lasts.

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You can just see the tanks waaaay up on the hill. I think I have about 80 feet of elevation above the house.

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Fat Boss

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Very nice. Even better got some land to yourself in the south bay area.

Thanks! It is nice. I have 2 acres, but it backs up to the Santa Cruz Mtns on the side and rear of the property. The only issue is there is very little flat ground and I want a shop.

nice!

Now take pics of all that piping before ya bury it for future reference... in 15 years you'll be like "how the hell did we run that" when something starts leaking

I've taken a ton of pictures and ensured that there are trees in view that can be referenced.

Curious why pvc- was pex not a better option?

I looked into it. The well guy who's been in business forever recommended the 20 foot PVC sections that have the flared end for lots of engagement.

Probably due to the size of the pipe and cost needed for enough flow. pex gets pretty expensive in 2".

I ran that 2" so I can fill a fire engine reasonably quickly. I think I am about $8k deep all said and done, so another few hundred bucks for PEX wouldn't have been a big deal. But as I said the well guy said use PVC. I hope to move within the next 5 years or so to somewhere with a big shop so longevity isn't too much of a concern lol.

The best part is not listening to that damn pressure pump kicking on and off. I'm looking forward to enjoying even more flow to the shower when I get around to removing the pump that is still inline, but doesn't kick on since the pressure switch doesn't get activated. The pressure switch is set to turn on at 30 PSI and turn off at 50.
 

tistan

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I ran that 2" so I can fill a fire engine reasonably quickly. I think I am about $8k deep all said and done, so another few hundred bucks for PEX wouldn't have been a big deal. But as I said the well guy said use PVC. I hope to move within the next 5 years or so to somewhere with a big shop so longevity isn't too much of a concern lol.

The best part is not listening to that damn pressure pump kicking on and off. I'm looking forward to enjoying even more flow to the shower when I get around to removing the pump that is still inline, but doesn't kick on since the pressure switch doesn't get activated. The pressure switch is set to turn on at 30 PSI and turn off at 50.

2" pvc is about a dollar a foot, 2" pex is $6-7 a foot plus the fittings are super expensive in that size. You would have been out more than a few hundred.
 

7998

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Question, why do you need a water tank? And what do you use it for?
 

Fat Boss

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Question, why do you need a water tank? And what do you use it for?

I live where there is no city water supply. My well can't produce enough continuous water to keep up with the demand of my two houses on my property. The well can produce enough water in a day to more than cover my demand in a day though.

It's quite common and everyone in my neighborhood has them. I only have two 3000 gallon tanks. My next door neighbors have three 5000 gallon tanks, mostly because their house is built to a more stringent fire code that calls for that much water with a 4" pipe and hydrants in their yard. My house is 50+ years old and didn't have that requirement.
 

IronSnake

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It's always cool to see the difference in living that exists out there. This isn't something you'd ever see in the SE lowlands. No hills to put it on much less need for water tanks.
 

Fat Boss

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The funny thing is people at work call me a hillbilly mountain man, but the people up the street call me a flatlander or pavement person. I'm in no man's land. I do have pavement to my house and I'm on the grid which is significantly different than my friends up the street who drive through a creek and use solar and generators for electricity. Ten minutes away are multi million dollar homes that have nice amenities like city water, natural gas, and a sewer system. But, I prefer the country and ten times the property for half the price.
 

CobraBob

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You're happy with what you have and that's all that matters, @Fat Boss. You're probably happier than the people who live in those multi-million dollar homes.
 

Fat Boss

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You're happy with what you have and that's all that matters, @Fat Boss. You're probably happier than the people who live in those multi-million dollar homes.

I am pretty happy with what I have. I just wish I had flat ground to build a shop. Here's the view from up on my hill. You can barely see my house at the bottom. Then there's the wildlife. Always keeping an eye out.

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Fat Boss

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nice!

Now take pics of all that piping before ya bury it for future reference... in 15 years you'll be like "how the hell did we run that" when something starts leaking

I've taken some more pictures as the backyard has evolved. One thing I wanted to do was bury the main water line coming down the hill out of sight and under the retaining wall. Here's what it looked like to begin with, and my landscape guy doing the digging:

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For some reason they pussed out when they built the wall or more likely later ran the pipe down the hill. The house has been here fifty years, so who knows.

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That pipe is now buried and unseen, and a poor man's fire hydrant added. It's outstanding to use a true 1" golf course hose to water the backyard in about 2 mins. The cable was put through there somewhere along the line when that was in the little pump house.

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Next up is putting in about 650 sq/ft of pavers and some lawn. The forms are in place for the concrete work, including the steps down to the small patio made of pavers, and a long sidewalk along the back of the house over the above piping. The big dirt square will be a small lawn for Sterling Archer to destroy.

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The landing and steps will be pavers as well. The concrete just gives it a nice solid base.

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Shifty Powers

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Nice. It will be cool to see the progress of the back patio. Nice job on the tanks!

So I see a bobcat and mountain lion. Nice haha
 

Fat Boss

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Thanks. Yes, Bob hangs out there and takes care of rodents. Leo just passes through looking for Bambi. I'll post pics when the pavers are in.
 

Serpent

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Thats a pretty bad ass property. Been looking at homes in Santa Cruz and Aptos, considering Morgan hill too, but commute to Silicon Valley area is a nightmare. I have a coworker that commutes from Gilroy, her commute on monday after the rain was almost 2 hours despite leaving at 5am. I think 101 was flooded.
 

Fat Boss

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Thanks. The only thing it's missing is some flat ground to build a shop and turn a trailer around.

I'm 8 mins from 101 and Bailey and when I do commute to Fremont (across 880 from the Tesla plant) it takes me right about a half hour leaving at 5:30am. It's about 40 mins home if I leave the office at 3. Not bad, but I need an HOV sticker to make it all work without losing my mind in traffic.
 

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