Moved my water storage way up the hill behind my house

[BLOWN PONY]

Cool setup.
I'd wondered about doing this same thing. My well only produces 4gal/min but the pump sucks 10gal/min. If I water my yard for over an hour without breaking I loose all water pressure for about 30 minutes.
I wouldn't have thought you needed 3000 gallons per house though.

I thought something like a buried 250 gallon tank would do the trick.

 

[Fat Boss]

Cool setup.
I'd wondered about doing this same thing. My well only produces 4gal/min but the pump sucks 10gal/min. If I water my yard for over an hour without breaking I loose all water pressure for about 30 minutes.
I wouldn't have thought you needed 3000 gallons per house though.

I thought something like a buried 250 gallon tank would do the trick.

There are a lot of reasons we use large storage tanks out here. First, some times of the year/drought my well produces less than 4 gallons per minute and there are two houses on my property. I haven't actually measured it, but it currently produces about 10% of the water it did in April. It does that seasonally, but we're in the middle of a bad drought right now. Second, there are times I get the 1.5" fire hose or one of my golf course 1" hoses out and water for an hour. I'll go through a LOT of water a couple times a summer to drench the landscaping. Third, we do in fact have power outages occasionally. Fourth, I'm in a high fire danger area and a volunteer firefighter. It's nice to be able to fill the engines at my house- although the next door neighbor has three 5k gallon tanks with hydrants in their front yard as well.

 

[BLOWN PONY]

There are a lot of reasons we use large storage tanks out here. First, some times of the year/drought my well produces less than 4 gallons per minute and there are two houses on my property. I haven't actually measured it, but it currently produces about 10% of the water it did in April. It does that seasonally, but we're in the middle of a bad drought right now. Second, there are times I get the 1.5" fire hose or one of my golf course 1" hoses out and water for an hour. I'll go through a LOT of water a couple times a summer to drench the landscaping. Third, we do in fact have power outages occasionally. Fourth, I'm in a high fire danger area and a volunteer firefighter. It's nice to be able to fill the engines at my house- although the next door neighbor has three 5k gallon tanks with hydrants in their front yard as well.

Different coasts, different worlds. LOL

 

[CobraBob]

Wow, we have city water and I can see that I take our water availability for granted. Our last house had a well and it was a miserable experience. When they built the house they didn't dig the well deep enough. Watering our lawn for the most part was not possible. And sometimes the water level would drop to the point we'd get a light brown silt mixed in the water. Installing a whole house water filter helped, but I had to replace the filter about monthly. This probably isn't a "normal" well scenario, but for us it was horrible. I can see very easily how a water storage tank could be invaluable when the water table changes during drought conditions.

 

[365 Saleen]

Our well is at 450' and not likely to run out. Currently it can supply 4.5 gallons per min. We have a Generac generator that pretty much ensures we will have a constant supply of water. We have never had a water pressure or volume issue.

 

[CobraBob]

That's a nice depth. In my case, after a couple of years we have the drilling company come back and go deeper. Not sure of the actual depth, but after they deepened the well we at least got clean water. Still couldn't water the lawn more than a section at a time.

 

[Fat Boss]

Looking at buying the property next door at auction. Guy hasn't paid his property taxes in years. The county is seizing it and selling it for their money. It'll triple my land and double my water supply if I get it.

I'm guessing the deteriorating economy and rising interest rates bode well for a lower winning bid. If anyone is interested, here's the link to the County Fire requirements for water storage in the Wildland Urban Interface Fire Area of Santa Clara County. https://stgenpln.blob.core.windows.net/document/FMO_NoPurveyor_Brochure.pdf

Since the property is only 150 feet wide, it's highly likely any future house will be within 50 feet of a property line, so going to ensure I'm covering the numbers plus the 50% add per the above link. I think 20k gallons on the hill at the new site is what I'll do, provided I get the property. I'd place four 5k tanks on a pad, again waaaaay up the hill haha.

Looks like 4" pipe, and likely PVC is ok. Still maybe $3/ft for the main 4" pipe down. I'll probably suck it up and go schedule 80 again. I think inch or inch and a quarter will be fine for the feed line going up. Total materials cost for the project will likely be in the $20k range, but should add that amount to the property value. I'll have the requisite wharf hydrant down at the bottom, along with a 2" spigot of some type, as well as probably one or two more spigots along the route up the hill for use in a fire, or irrigation of some landscaping.

I'm still not sure at all what if any 120 or 240 volt wiring I'll run up the hill, and how far. That will most likely be a game time decision once I own the property and have my buddy with the bobcat with tracks carve the road up, the path for the piping down, and the flat areas for the tanks and maybe a "vista point" somewhere.

 

[Fat Boss]

My next door neighbors got their "welcome to country living" moment last night. I heard some water rushing, like a fast moving creek or something about 9pm. When I investigated with a flashlight I could see multiple streams of water as big around as my thigh emerging from the neighbors property near their driveway. I hustled over to let them know and by the time I got to their door and had them come out to see, all 15,000 gallons had drained out and was in the drainage ditch and street. I think they have a 4-6" pipe that comes down the hill from their elevated tanks to a couple fire hydrants in front of the house at about 40 PSI. That pipe must have burst just under their paver driveway as that is where most of the water was coming out. They paid $3M for the place last June and they're now in the 3rd world this morning with no running water. Sigh, welcome to the country.

 

[CobraBob]

Oh wow, that's shame. I watch a lot of Alaska off-the-grid living reality shows and know that stuff like that is always on the radar. Country living can be tough. Rewarding, but tough sometimes.