Question from a suburban kid who now lives on 5 acres with a well

[lizziegrace]

I know when I lose power, the well pump loses power as well. But how long can you draw off water after the power fails? The pump house is about 75 feet from the house and is on a hill. Do I have minutes? Should I draw any water at all? I also have a 60 gallon electric hot water tank.

When the weather is predicted to be bad or the power flickers, I fill the tub with water. Anything else I should do?

[liberalmuse]

1. I think about a day...

I have friends who live on 8 acres with a well. When they lose power, they fill up the bathtub to use for washing and the toilet flush. You might want to consider doing the same. I suppose they go to the store for bottled drinking water for everything else.

[Fumesucker]

2. Depends on the size of your storage tank and your rate of flow..

On most well systems there is a pressurized tank that stores water to be used, the larger this tank the more you can drain out of it before the tank is empty.

There should be a label on the tank somewhere to tell you the nominal capacity in gallons and the empty pressure.

Here is a link to a little FAQ about wells, tanks and pumps.

http://www.pumpsandtanks.com/faq_page.htm

[Frosty1]

3. It depends on the pressure tank.

When the power goes out we usually have enough pressure/water left to flush the toilet once

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[beyurslf]

5. Growing up with a well, when our power went out, we pretty much lost water then.

We may have been able to run the sink or flush a toilet once, but that was gonna be it. We had a hand crank on the well that could be used in emergencies though. We also filled the tub in bad weather just in case.

[safeinOhio]

7. If out in the boonies, get a generator.

You'll end up being the last to get power restored if there is a storm. Used for a couple of hundred bucks.

[lizziegrace]

9. It's on my list

I'm in Central OH near Columbus.

Nice to 'meet' you!

[safeinOhio]

19. Just up 23 to 75 in Findlay

I move here from a small farm in Michigan and that generator came in handy many times. I had ran a box to the barn and could run the generator out there and light up the whole house. The most important use was to keep the sump pump running so the house didn't flood. :hi:

[lizziegrace]

20. Sump pumps

I've got two and if they stopped running, the basement would surely flood. The run-off from the fields, especially this time of year is mind-boggling.

[Jackpine Radical]

6. It depends on the exact sort of system you have.

Most likely you have a pump that sucks the water up out of the ground and forces it into a pressure tank. The size of the pressure tank determines how much water you have available after the power goes off. The pressure tank will ordinarily hold the water that's in it indefinitely until it's drawn off, and has within it a bladder of compressed air that forces the water out when you open a valve (e.g. in the house). It is this bladder that provides the pressure for your whole water system. Therefore you should be able to get at least several gallons of water out even without power, just from the pressure of the compressed air. Even after no more water will come out of a sink, there will probably be a few gallons left in your pressure tank that you can recover by going out to it and opening a valve or faucet on the bottom to drain the dregs. I would shut the valves off to your toilets because if one of them is flushed, it will otherwise automatically fill, using about 3 gallons of water that you might have a better use for. Your water heater is also plumbed to automatically fill if it is drained, so you should turn off the inlet valve going into it too. The water heater will essentially serve as a secondary reservoir of water. If you have shut it off, you can drain the water out of a bottom valve for emergency use. It would be a really good idea to turn off the power to the water heater for safety (even though you already don't have power).

It would also be a really good idea to google around for one of those "how things work" websites and look at their diagrams of a rural water system to get a clearer picture of what I'm talking about.

[lizziegrace]

8. Thanks! I'll look for diagrams.

The house was built in 1846 and I'm renting it. (Hope to buy it some day.) The pump house has a padlock on the door, but I'm sure the landlord won't mind if I cut it off and replace it when I'm done looking around. The lock is rusted, so my guess is that it hasn't been accessed in many years.

We keep at least 10 gallons of drinking water in the house and could always run the hot water tank down if we had to.

[Atman]

10. Thanks for the info...I moved to a lake so I thought it wasn't a big deal

Basically same situation as the op; always had city water/sewer, but now we live in the boonies. Trouble is, it's been so cold this winter the lake is frozen solid, so it won't be a very good source of water (unless I saw out blocks of ice and melt them). Guess I'll have to check out that pump and see how it works!

.

[Jackpine Radical]

11. I lived a couple of winters in a cabin without running water.

It was on a lake, so I kept a hole open in the ice for washing water & carried in drinking water. The ice varied from about 24-30" thick, and it was under a couple feet of show I had to keep shovelled off. Use an ice chisel or ice auger to get to the water in the lake & keep the hole covered with thick styrofoam or something when you're not using it so it doesn't freeze all the way down again. Once you get the hole drilled all the way through, the liquid water will rise to within a few inches of the surface of the ice, so it's easy to dip out of the hole.

[enough]

12. Just one caution. Depending on your system, you may be able to get the

water out, but be careful that you don't also "drain" all the pressure out of the system or you may have to prime the pump after you get your power back, which can be a very pesky job involving carrying water from elsewhere.

In our case, having experienced this several times, we do not run the water at all when the power goes out.

All of this depends entirely on what kind of system you have. This is something you should get to know. I'd guess your landlord knows all about it, since he owns the place.

[lizziegrace]

13. Unfortunately, my landlord is also a city kid

and knows nothing about it.

He bought the house because he fell in love with it and couldn't sell his McMansion. I'm now the caretaker of this grand old lady we call Tara. :)

[ensho]

14. the pump could lose its prime and be time consuming and difficult

to get it reprimed.

depends on your system.

[lizziegrace]

15. From the information I've gotten here

I won't use the faucets or toilets when the power fails. Too much potential trouble. If there's a storm approaching or the lights flicker, I'll fill the tub and buckets.

I'm putting in a rain barrel this spring. That also should help with water needed to flush toilets if I lose power.

[ConcernedCanuk]

33. re: using the toilet

.
.
.

if that is a concern - do the following:

shut off the valve that feeds the water to the toilet. I've never seen a toilet that didn't have a shut off valve just below the tank.

Flush normal; and just refill the tank of the toilet with a water pail/jug.

[donco6]

16. Do you have a pressurization tank?

We have one in the crawl space. It gives us about two flushes and a sinkful of water with no power.

[lizziegrace]

18. Not a clue

the old house has a 3/4 full basement with a 60 gallon hot water tank and a water softening system. If there's a pressurized tank, it's not in the house. I'll get my landlord over here when it's a bit warmer and cut the lock off the pump house and see what's out there.

[Warren Stupidity]

17. Pressure in tank will last a little while.

And then "if its yellow its mellow" kicks in. Invest in a pail. We have a pond nearby. Consider a generator.

[safeinOhio]

21. might check this out

http://columbus.craigslist.org/tls/1576163947.html

Looks like a good generator for $100 and only needs a new or patched gas tank

In worthington Ohio, may be near you. Your sump pump being out will be a bigger problem than no water. You may need a couple of extension cords. One for the pump and one for the sump. That generator will handle that plus a bunch of lights, tv and computer.

[ConcernedCanuk]

22. If you have room(basement, porch) it might be an idea to keep some 20 litre(5gal) pails of water

.
.
.

ALL THE TIME.

When you have a power outage, you will realize what a luxury being able to "flush" really is!

With that in mind, you, or your landlady may opt for a toilet that flushes on only 1/2 gallon.

A generator will be ok for the sump pump(usually 110/120 volts and un-pluggable), but elaborate wiring will be required to run the water pump, usually 220/240 volts. Even more elaborate wiring would be required to wire a generator into the whole house circuit.

Go PAILS for now - it's cheap

[Po_d Mainiac]

23. Geez....

A) You can't loose your prime by running water if you have a pump..It's called a foot valve folks......Unless the well runs dry
B) You can run the water till the pressure drops to zip....It don't mean the water tank is empty..just means there is no PSI to push it.
C) It don't matter where the well is (elevation wise), it matters where the end of the pipe is. (above or below the elevation of a faucet)

Don't guess....shut off the breaker to the pump and see how long you (flushes) u have pressure

PM for more

[lizziegrace]

24. Thanks

I'm smart about a lot of things, but obviously this isn't one of them. :shrug:

[murray hill farm]

25. Buy a new plastic garbage can..or...

large plastic packing box..and when conditions exist for possible electrical failure, fill them up with water and cover for use as you need it until power is restored.

[newfie11]

26. about two toliet flushes n/t

[LWolf]

27. Are you pumping directly from the ground into a pressure tank?

Or do you have a holding tank or cistern?

My current well pumps directly into the pressure tank, and when the power goes out, so does the water. Not enough to make any difference at all. I keep some 5 gallon bottles of water stored (filled from the well,) and I keep my horses' water troughs topped off so that if the power goes out we've got about 4 days before it's a crisis.

Then I can drive to town and refill those 5 gallon bottles.

In my previous place, we had a 1500 gallon tank on a tower, with the pressure tank below. The well pump ran twice a day to fill the tank, and it fed the pressure tank. When the power ran out, we had gravity feed to tide us over. Not good for a shower, lol, but everything else was fine.

Something like this, except that our tower was higher; the tank and windmill were at the same height. We climbed the windmill and walked a plank across to the tower platform.

[hollowdweller]

28. Not long for my well

Maybe a sink of dishes and a couple flushes.

I have a second well with a hand pump on it.

[bvar22]

29. All the wells in our area (Central Arkansas)...

..have a submerged 220 volt positive displacement pump.
We have two 50 gallon rain barrels (adding more this year) plus we keep about 20 gallons of emergency drinking/flushing water.

Our rural electric grid is pretty good. In the last 3 years every power outage has lasted less than a day. There is a potential for an "ice storm" here, but we haven't had to deal with one yet. The locals say they happen about every 10 - 15 years.

Our well head/house is about 50' in elevation below our house, and our house has exposed PVC plumbing under the raised cabin. The well house is heated with a 60 watt lightbulb which I turn OFF/ON manually depending on the forecast.

Our plan for an extended sub freezing power loss is to:
*Pull the breaker at the pump
*open the drain valve at the tank
*open all the faucets in the house
*let gravity completely drain the system

A submerged pump does not have to be primed.

So far, so good.

[dixiegrrrrl]

30. About water when power goes out.

I lived for many years in similar situation, had a well, had power outages during storms.
I had been warned about not using well water when the pump was off.

I also had a cast iron wood stove with a huge flat surface, in the living room.
This came in handy when there was no power, we had wood heat,
(with electric as 2nd source when needed.)

About the water:

First thing I bought was a large chest freezer, kept it on the covered back porch.
( Still have one, even tho I live in town now)
filled clean used milk jugs with water, kept about a dozen frozen in the freezer.
Used them for cooking, drinking when the power went out.
Always kept at least two 5 gallon buckets filled with water, with a lid of sorts,
if power went off unexpectedly, half a bucket poured into the toilet works fine.
Used up the water for the animals from one bucket at a time, then filled it, did not let the water sit for more than a few days in warm weather, but in cool weather it can sit longer.

If it is snowing, you have snow to melt for the water for the toilet.
Hot water on wood stove for washing up.

Normally you can figure when the power is likely to go out and have things lined up.
High winds, snow storms, that sort of thing.
So if well pump is off, you can go to back up water as needed.

[humus]

31. prime

look up the type of pump you have
read info on how to prime it
the vertical drop from pump to well water is what is in need of filling with water (priming)
on my well 80 ft. depth it is about 6 gallons of water to prime the line.

[LWolf]

32. My well is 475 feet deep. nt

[humus]

34. good luck, be a good steward

Do you have a submersible or jet pump?
http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/agdex639
I too moved from the burbs to the country although it has been 22 years now ,
I still remember one of the first things i had to learn was to prime a well pump.
Looks like your going to need a lot of priming.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

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[lizziegrace]

36. Anyone want to PM me about the deleted message??

This is a thread asking for information about water wells. What the hell??