Wednesday, 16 November 2011

Little water works

I have mentioned before the fact that there is a well in the garden. I have decided to exploit it so that I can water the garden in Summer without feeling too guilty about using tap water of drinking quality. The well doesn't always have water in it, so I need to be able to store the water if I want it continuously available. My recent weeks have been spent in setting up a couple of storage tanks.

The project was simply to build a small hard standing, and put some water tanks on it. First I had to clear the undergrowth from the area where the tanks will go. Then build a little frame to hold the concrete, with some rocks at the bottom and some steel reinforcement on top of them so hopefully it won't crack.




















Then pour the concrete. I borrowed a mixer from a friend down the road (thanks, Brian), which made the whole thing easier, but there were still 34-and-a-half 35Kg bags of premixed dry concrete to put into it. It took about four hours in all to mix and lay the concrete. For the water tanks, I had to buy them one at a time and transport them in the trailer because I couldn't quite get one in the Espace.




















Once the concrete had dried, I put the tanks on top; this all seems to work well. I chained them to the concrete in case of light-fingered natives. So now, if they forget to bring their battery-powered angle-grinder (15 seconds to cut the chain) and instead only bring their lump hammer and cold chisel, it will take them 10 minutes to free the chain from the concrete. That'll be safe then.




















The tanks aren't all connected up to the well yet, and the pump in the well is not permanently connected to the electricity (I have to plug it in) but at least I can now fill the tanks and have proper well water on tap.
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6 comments:

  1. Tim Trent16 November 2011 at 05:23

    We all now fully expect the solar and wind powered pump!

    We just did something less grand, but just as satisfying. We put rain gutters on our garden shed and daisy chained three water butts together. Peculiarly the supplier recommended linking at the top. That works for filling, not for emptying! And no, we didn't follow their instructions!

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  2. the fly in the web16 November 2011 at 06:00

    Super project.
    The last time there was a summer drought when I was in France they were forbidding you to use your own well water!

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  3. Mark In Mayenne16 November 2011 at 06:06

    The only advantage I can see for links at the top is if they leak. Then the loss of water islimited. But if you put them on the bottom carefully, I don't see a problem. I'd put them on the bottom myself.

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  4. Mark In Mayenne16 November 2011 at 06:15

    You are right, Fly, they have done that here too. But what they tend to do is prohibit watering (using any kind of water) between the hours of 10 o'clock in the morning and 8PM.

    The thing is, if you use tap water they can tell how much you've been using, an more importantly, when. If you use well water, they have no way of knowing.

    And in any case my tanks might leak :)

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  5. the fly in the web16 November 2011 at 07:17

    I pumped mine from the river...my wells had dried up in any case...equally illegal, but since the maire adjoint was filling a tanker from the river in the field next door....

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  6. Sarah17 November 2011 at 02:56

    That looks a good clean job you've done there. Nice!

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