Whoops: We actually have 4,799 square feet of metal roof that we will use for rainwater collection. I copied the wrong number; sorry about that. We plan to use this water on trees, bushes and plants--not much lawn. When I plant grass I plant Buffalo grass that dies back during a drought and then comes back strong after a rain. This system is not intended to provide potable water; although, lets be realistic. If our aquifer should disappear on us in the future we would be drinking and cooking with this water after running it through charcoal, ultraviolet, ozone and Heaven only knows what other kinds of filters. We have a neighbor a few miles up the road who doesn't use any well water whatsover (or so he claims). He collects water from the roof of his house (a large house because he's a stockbroker and has done well by himself the last few years) and saves the water in two, fiberglass, 10,000 gallon tanks. He has not done any irrigation up to this point and says that his tanks are a little over half full after a year's use by his wife and himself. From what I gather from others, if rainwater is the only source of water, a couple should think in terms of at least 40,000 gallons of water usage annually. As I said in an earlier post, I'm going to keep track of our rainfall during the next year or so and then we will make a decision on the size of our primary tank. I really don't expect our 4,000 gallons of water in our four catch-basins to take us much beyond the end of spring and the beginning of the dry summer season.
A pump for greywater
- Thread starter GlennT
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Bird
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Glenn, this water situation is just another of many things that have changed over the years. Of course, I'm old enough (or was poor enough) to remember when all we had was a well with a bucket, rope, and pulley and then the water wasn't fit to drink. Dad hauled drinking water from town in 10 gallon milk cans. And after dad bought a place that had a really good well and windmill, our nearest neighbor just had a cistern that collected rain water off the roof that ran through a charcoal filter. Folks in those days didn't think about all the filtration, purification, etc. that we worry about today.
Bird
Bird
Bird: I grew up on a farm in South Dakota and it wasn't until many years later that I realized that the top of the well casing was at the bottom of a slope which lay directly below the manure pile outside the barn--and the pile was usually sizable. I wonder if I can blame the runoff for some of the memory losses and deficiencies of character which my wife mentions occasionally?
Bird
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Glenn, all growing things need a little fertilizer, don't they?/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif
Bird
Bird
jimmoore
Platinum Member
Bird, been there and done that. Our well bucket was one of those long skinny things with a trigger in the top that you pulled to release the water. Dad had a V trough built that ran from the well about 10 feet and through the fence to a #3 washtub that the mules drank out of. After a hard day of pulling a cultivator that old mule would skin his lips back and suck up the water faster than this 11 y/o could draw it up and release it into the trough.
jim
Bird
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<font color=blue>Our well bucket was one of those long skinny things with a trigger in the top that you pulled to release the water</font color=blue>
Yep, Jim, that's what we had, too. Fortunately, the horse and milk cow could water at a stock pond one place we lived, and a little creek at the other, but I had to draw that water and carry buckets for the chickens and hogs.
Bird
Yep, Jim, that's what we had, too. Fortunately, the horse and milk cow could water at a stock pond one place we lived, and a little creek at the other, but I had to draw that water and carry buckets for the chickens and hogs.
Bird
jimmoore
Platinum Member
Bird, Friday was wash day and I had to carry water from the well to fill the old wringer type washer and two #3 wash tubs for rinse water. The first tub was for regular clothes and the second tub was for white clothes, mom put some kind of blue stuff in it to make the clothes whiter.
jim
Bird
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Jim, our wringer type washing machine stayed on the back porch. In pretty weather, we set it out in the yard to do the weekly laundry, and during inclement weather, we moved it into the kitchen. We had 3 homemade stools that we set the tubs on; two rinse tubs so everything went through two rinses, then the third tub had the "bluing" in it for the whites. And I sure hated hanging those wet clothes on the clothes lines in cold weather. Gloves were useless because they'd just get wet, too, so your hands were just going to be cold no matter what you did.
Bird
Bird
ronjhall
Super Star Member
Jim
I remember the <font color=blue>blue</font color=blue> flake stuff. What was it called? I'll have to call my mother to find out what it was if nobody remembers.
I remember the <font color=blue>blue</font color=blue> flake stuff. What was it called? I'll have to call my mother to find out what it was if nobody remembers.
Bird
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"Bluing" is the only thing I remember it being called, and I don't remember the package or a name on it.
Bird
Bird
I don't know anything about flakes; up north we use "Mrs. Lydia's Bluing," which came in a small bottle with a thin neck, a red stopper, and a label showing the head of a thin-lipped, stern-looking spinster with her hair drawn back tightly. I must be a bit older than some of you guys; I remember my mother doing laundry in a machine with twin copper tubs. The largest tub contained the agitator and a second smaller, stationary tub had an internal tub with holes which spun madly to extract water after the final rinse. This gorgeous machine (the tubs were copper on the outside and chrome on the inside) was connected via a belt to a one-lung stationary engine outside of the "summer kitchen" where the washing machine lived. On wash days, Mom got up early to start heating wash water over a twin-burner kerosine stove, which also tempered the cold somewhat in the small uninsulated building. A bit later, Day would run the belt from the engine through a small sliding door to the washing machine, pour warm water SLOWLY into the hole of the engine, and then crank the bejabbers out of the thing to get it started. Naturally, clothes hung out to dry froze solid; it was fun watching Mom carry in a stack of frozen long johns. These are great memories, but GOSH!--it's nice living in Texas with an automatic washer.
Bird
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Glenn, I never tried the bluing for anything but the laundry, and I think it was a liquid that Mother used instead of flakes.
Bird
Bird
jinman
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Glenn, your original message asked about a pump that would handle greywater/wash water and after reading all the responses, I did'nt see one which metioned what to me is the obvious answer. How about using a washing machine pump and attaching a small motor? They are cheap, plentiful, and work pretty darn good. ...just my two cents worth.
JimI
JimI
