Potable verdict

We just got the test results from the well, we can drink it 🙂 This is huge for us. No more bottled water, almost a year in.

The first glass of water we drank and are still alive to talk aboutIMG_0109

Having a well is amazing and we are becoming quickly dependent on it. We use a lot more water because it’s easier to get. Watering the garden, longer showers, laundry, anything goes now 🙂

Surprisingly efficient way to do laundry, and so much better than wasting time and money at the laundromatIMG_4681

With the nice weather back and easier access to water, we’re enjoying luxurious showers.IMG_4682

When we had just moved in, I noted there were 3 things our household didn’t support:  potable water, laundry and reliance on gas to power tools. The well allowed us to eliminate 2 of the 3, with the 3rd one still unlikely to go away anytime soon.

Happy campers

FullSizeRender(2)Stainless steel Maine made Bison hand pump. Gets us water from 72′ deep, which at 1.5 gallon per foot is about 100 gallons that we get to pump from. We’re still not sure how fast the well fills back up 72′ deep, but we measured it at the top and it gives us a couple of gallons per hour.

So we still need to understand how fast the water comes up the water column. We also need to come up with a solution to prevent the water from rising above the freeze line. Fortunately, we have 8 months until next Winter to figure it out.

We aren’t drinking the water just yet, we need to wait and get it tested first. The pump operates very smoothly and pumps out a few gallons in little time and with little effort. Our effort to gallon ratio is about to go way down, this will be an enormous improvement from where we are now. Eventually we’ll run water to the house, there is still a lot of unknown on how we’ll do this, but we have ideas for manual processes that are part of a daily routine or solar instrumentation.

From 380' into the earth

Not exactly gushing out but the fact that it reaches ground level will make a hand pump quite doable. The whole experience was quite a roller-coaster of emotions. I find myself staring in fascination at the water oozing out.IMG_3603