Lessons learned on the Hemlocks
water system
Bottom line, the system is up and
running, so far at least.
I had incorrectly assumed all was
well and had not even checked it for a month or two. I used to check it daily. Then I checked the
system today and it was down (like not pumping) , which was not a crisis since
the water tank that feeds the compound is good for around two weeks, and there
was plenty of pumped spring water in the tank, like enough to go another week and
a half at least.
The whole setup is gravity powered,
by the way. Even the RAM (an 1879 design) pumps from sandstone springs, gravity, and water pressure. That
extends to the waste water treatment system, too. So as painful as it may seem,
I have not paid a water or sewer bill in over a decade.
Now in my mind, the magic number is
50 psi, which is the water pressure on the gauge at the upstream side of the RAM
during best case times. I think that pressure is that in the white PVC pipe(1/2
" ID) which pumps from the RAM to the water tank about 850 feet horizontal
and 95 feet vertical when things are best. Today, the pressure was like 20 psi,
which implies the pipe was partially empty.
What that also meant was that the
RAM did not want to start up like usual. Later I did get it going, and the
pressure on the gauge (I also put a new one in today that should go for 10
years) started building up. I waited 15 minutes for uninterrupted pumping, and
the psi was already up to 30 psi after that time period. So I left things as
is, and will go back tomorrow to do a final "tune up", assuming
things have settled down to a steady state situation by then, which is probably
what will happen.
One more lesson learned was that one
of black plastic pipes that feeds the RAM feeder box had been chewed up in
three places, as well as pulled out of the box.
I assume the yard dogs did it, but don't really know for sure. The
location is a good way from the compound, too. Now this setup was icing on the
cake, so I was more irritated than mad. The RAM only needs two springs worth of
water to help it work, and the chewed up pipe was on a third spring.
Last, the
general design of the whole water setup is to use the spring water twice. First
is for drinking and cooking and bathroom water, and second is for making
electricity off-grid from TVA electric power. In that regards, the new micro
hydro turbo plant I ordered in April is still not in, but only lacks a turgo
(yep turgo) wheel they report. It (the whole assembled and tested thing) should
be in shortly. Plan B is to put in new bearings on the existing micro hydro
turbo plant, and hope that does the trick.
Even minimal electricity is important to me if I can make it. And by the way, I do have a solar backup to
this micro hydro turbo plant which will meet my minimal needs, or so I expect. It's
already working. And in both cases, the batteries that store electricity at
night will need replacing around 2020. I spent around $1300 for them in 2012,
so who knows what the cost will be in 2020.
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