Thursday, November 19, 2015

Installing Windows, 5

I picked up five windows from Craigslist for $20 each.  They were samples for a window salesman.  You can see the suitcase handle he added.

I worked until 11:30 until the wind picked up to where it was blowing the shims off the floor and out of the deer blind.

Out of curiosity, I measured the water level in my well.

FerFAL has a series of posts on what it is like to be a modern city under siege.  Water was a major issue.

I had always poo-pooed the issue.  I have my own well and I have a cistern pump.  There are also four ponds with potable water within a quarter mile (400m) of my house.  That water would require boiling to make it drinkable...but they are there.

The problem with cistern pumps is that they are suckers, not pushers.  A sucker can only pull water up about 30 feet.  In round numbers, water requires about a half-pound of head for every foot of rise.  Pulling water is really a misnomer.  A sucker pump pulls a vacuum and the air pressure pushes the water up the tube.  Air pressure (near sea level) is about 14.7 psi.  It can only push it up 30 feet before you create a vacuum.  Actually, it is not a vacuum, it is very low pressure water vapor and CO2 that was dissolved in the water out-gasses due to the low pressure.

I rigged up a wooden clothes pin on the end of a fishing line.  I strung a small, steel washer between a couple of guides on the pole.  I figured the tension on the line from the weight of the clothes pin would keep the washer close to the pole.  I would know when the clothes pin was floating when the washer drooped.  That part worked pretty well.

By my measurements, my water is 42 feet below ground level.

Deep Well Pumps


It is easy to spend a lot of money on a deep well pump.  This one costs $859.

There might be some relatively inexpensive, 12V pumps that are capable of moving water (minimum of 20 psi head).  According to one source on the internet, windshield washer solvent pumps (i.e., from a junk yard) are capable of producing 35psi-to-52psi static head.  Certainly much more than the 21 psi needed to lift my water to the surface.  They are slow, kicking out about 6 ounces a minute or about a 2.5 gallons an hour.

To be continued...



1 comment:

  1. Thanks Joe. I knew that a shallow well pump would only work to about 25-30 feet, but didn't know why. Your explanation made sense, even to a c.f.w. (common foundry worker).
    I have driven 3 shallow wells on private property for mobile homes, near Hesperia. They have all been at about 25 -30 feet. Driven with a heavy walled pipe type of driver. On one of the mobile homes, I also dug the hole for the septic tank and drain field with a shovel and an ax. The ax was for all the pine tree roots. The tank was 1000 gallons. I was 30 years old at the time, going through a divorce and had limited funds. Of course, funds are always limited, but I would not want to have to do that again, ever.
    I have enjoyed learning different skills by doing things like that, though. I also like learning the why from people like you who have the knowledge to help me understand principles behind things, so thanks.

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