It’s been awhile since I’ve felt like writing. The move was a real ordeal. When I feel overwhelmed, I simplify what I’m doing. I’ve been focusing on what needed doing for awhile now and I’m ready to move on…
What better than a little detective work to shake things up.
I have asked a lot of people about this barrel at the base of the water tower ever since we first looked at the property. No one had the foggiest idea… despite very leading questions from me… I was convinced it was some strange kind of water filter and would have liked someone identify it as such–dumb. What really frightened me was that the lid on the barrel was warped and did not seal. Despite the lovely report on our well water, I had no intention of drinking the water after seeing this… and an old piece of rotting carpet visible through the cracks in the lid.
Karen and I had a few minutes free the other day and I ripped off the lid to the water barrel. What a surprise! Peanuts!
It’s just insulation. It does get below freezing and everyone wraps their pipes here. This is the oddest insulation I’ve ever seen, but I imagine it works. However, it’s disgusting and I’m tearing it out when I have time and I’ll switch to more standard setup. The whole area is going to be contained in a pump house eventually. We’ll be adding a pressure pump and all the required plumbing as well.
After giving Bill (of Chris and Bill) a hand replacing the kitchen faucet in the place we’re renting, I got a few new ideas on how the pressure pump plumbing should be configured. For one thing, I want one shutoff valve that will stop water to the house without requiring the pressure pump be drained. Also, I want to be able to supply water to the house via gravity feed for testing or if the pressure pump ever fails.
On the nice side, I was very relieved to find a main shut off valve. I was really mystified that there wasn’t one and unhappy at the thought of draining the water tank just to add one. One more problem down.
I’ll have to tear apart the barrel in order to run down one remaining question.
What is this pipe for? Given how large it is, I suspect it’s for draining the tank, but we will see.
Another bit of detective work required I cut off a lock. There we’re no keys from the previous owner. There’s a pad lock on our front gate that needs removing and there’s one to the electrical box for the solar powered pump.
Would you like a look inside? Of course…
So what do we have here? Well, on the bottom there’s a nice screwdriver, some electrical tape and a pair of reading glasses very much like ones I wear. On the top, there’s an excellent manual on the entire solar system.
The box on the bottom is the controller and it seems fancy to me. It tells the story of the entire system. From left to right, there’s an indicator for incoming power. (if any) It’s either solar, wind power, or AC if you have a generator. Below this, there’s a funky little icon indicating that repairs are needed. There’s something to indicate the water tank is full and one to let you know if there’s enough power being generated to run the well pump.
The box on top is for hooking up the solar panels and possibly a generator. It also lets you turn power off to the lower box.
There was also an estimate for the entire installation from Elbrock–a local well and septic company. Very interesting stuff.