Backup for Well Water During Power Outages

We had a couple of major power outages this year and ran out of water, so it has renewed my interest in finding a backup when the power goes out. We live in Washington state and everything here is powered by electricity.

We have a woodstove for backup heat, and battery powered LED lights and radio that can last for days. Power failures almost always occur during cold winter storms, so we can just stick our perishible foods outside if the power goes out for more than a few hours. As long as we have water, we can cook on the woodstove or heat water in a pan for washing up.

We have a large pressure tank (80 gallon I believe). If the power goes out when the tank is full, we're fine. 80 gallons will flush a lot of toilets. Unfortunately, the tank is rarely completely full when the power goes out and this last time it was nearly empty when we lost power.

I've thought about adding a second pressure tank, but there's no way I can think of to ensure one is always fully pressurized (short of filling it up and shutting the valve off. I am trying to avoid stagnant water). Odds are both tanks would be just about empty when the power goes out.

The cheap solution is just to store containers of water somewhere. But, that takes space and isn't very convenient. I don't know that my daughter would be able or willing to lift a 5 gallon container of water to refill a toilet tank if I'm not around.

A generator is an obvious option, but power outages are rather rare. I don't want one more engine to have to maintain, worry about gas getting stale and gumming up, etc. Propane generators might overcome the long term storage issue, but they still take up space and require maintenance. Not to mention, I don't really want to go out in cold wind storms to start up a generator. Call me lazy.

An inverter/charger system with batteries would be a good solution. Unfortunately, I haven't seen an affordable system that can power my 1/2 HP 240V well pump. The ones I have seen cost more than a generator, or I would have to cobble together multiple devices (inverters, chargers, auto transformers, etc.) to make everything work.

One final option I've thought of would be to store a water tank in our heated attic space. I figured I could plumb the inlet at the top and the outlet at the bottom so it is flushed regularly. With only a 9' rise it would offer very little pressure, but I would think it would still refill the toilets. We wouldn't be taking showers or washing laundry during a power outage anyway. The major downside to this option is getting the tank into the attic space and modifying all the plumbing. Doable, just not my ideal option.

I'm curious what backup systems other water well users have come up with.

I am only looking for a backup for a day, not outages lasting a week or more.

Thanks,

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband
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Why would the tank not be full at all times?

I'd figure out a way to always keep it full .

Reply to
philo 

We live in a similar situation - propane for heating, electricity for everything else including well. Average power out situations more than 15 minutes maybe once a year. Longest power outage in the past 8 years has been 24 hours, with a few that were 1-6 hours.

We keep a 50 gallon potable water storage tank in the garage along with a couple of filled 8 gallon jerry cans. Add a small amount of chlorine per EPA guidelines and storage isn't an issue. The storage tank and jerry cans have faucet valves on them, so taking smaller amounts isn't an issue. That more than covers drinking water, flushing toilets and the occasional navy shower.

We have an advanced septic system with pumps and an air compressor. That has a certain amount of buffer (maybe a few hundred gallons max) before it needs power to process, so more storage water isn't a good solution.

An inverter/battery/charger based system is going to be expensive to get any kind of wattage/duration. I think a portable generator is really the correct answer. Costco has a nice dual fuel (gas / propane) portable genset for around $700 last time I looked. You can't run it off a BBQ grill tank for a long time, but if you have larger tanks for your house it should work quite well. They don't show it at Costco.com, but it looks like this one:

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Make sure you get a transfer switch wired into your house. Cheap manual ones work just fine. Running a suicide cord to a dryer outlet (or worse) is not a good idea. Maintenance isn't that big a deal. Run it for 15 minutes every month. If you use gasoline, add Stabil and replace or burn it dry once a year.

I've seen no reports for how well these work, but if you can get by with 900W, they look interesting:

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Keep in mind that well motors (or any motor) have a significant surge/startup draw that can overload your generator if not sized properly. And if you do an inverter, make sure it's a true sine wave inverter. They are more expensive than the square wave inverters, but a lot easier on your devices (if they work at all).

Or just go to Costco and buy a 100 cases of water in 1/2 liter bottles.

HerHusband wrote:

Reply to
Arthur Conan Doyle

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Because pump will only kick on again when pressure drops to low-pressure setpoint...which point has, if the pressure is set corretly, emptied about 75% of the full capacity.

Reply to
dpb

My first thought is if it's just for a day, whatever min is in that 80 gallon tank, ie assuming it's almost about to kick the pump on when power goes out, would be enough for me. Or that plus a couple of 5 gallon jugs.

One easy option would be to adjust the kick in pressure on your 80 tank so that it doesn't get as low before it kicks on. That should give you a min of 20 gallons to work with. Or add that second tank in series, so that it's always full of water, no air. If power goes out, you'd only have pressurized water for about as long as you do now. But you could still draw X gallons, X being the size of the additional tank into buckets. I guess you could also plumb in a tank of compressed air that you could activate, that would then provide pressure, so that you could use the full 80 or whatever gallons.

For me, in lieu of all that, I'd just get a generator, because not only can it supply water, but it can keep the heat, lights, fridge, etc going too.

Reply to
trader_4

You had better hope your pressure tank DOESN'T fill up. That would mean it has an air leak and your well pump would run continuously.

When our well pump died several years ago, we bought a bunch of 5 gallon plastic water cans to supplement the one can we had for camping trips. Took to neighbors and filled them.

Your daughter can fill a kitchen pot from the water can and dump into the toilet tank. Sure, takes more time.

If the road to a neighbor with power is open, make a deal with them to fill you cans. You do have a pickup, don't you?

If the water is stored in the dark and kept cool, it should last as long as the winter storms are possible. then dump and refill at the beginning of next winter.

Your outages can't be as long as we had in Issaquah, Wa in 1994. More than a week.

Paul, in Central Oregon

Reply to
Paul Drahn

Ok then. If the OP goes with the reserve tank in the attic...better take into account the weight of water.

80 gallons would be something like 650#
Reply to
philo 

Living with the same situation, I finally just bit the bullet and bought a generator. I have had it 3 years, new in the box.

Reply to
gfretwell

On Fri, 28 Nov 2014 18:00:39 +0000 (UTC), HerHusband wrote in

Ok, you are lazy, and there aren't any good solutions for lazy people.

If you weren't so lazy, I would reccomend that generator solution. It will not only solve your water problems, but it would also provide some lights and fans to move the heat from the wood stove around.

Reply to
CRNG

A small generator set is really your best option . Use it to fill the tank then shut it down . Most modern sets have a valve to shut off fuel flow so you can run the carb dry , and a little sta-bil in the tank will keep the gas usable for months .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

And if his attic was made with trusses he probably wouldn't want that weight on them. I wouldn't.

Reply to
dadiOH

My generator in a box sits along with a quart of good motor oil, and a spray can of ether.

Of course, the OP will need some wiring skill.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

My ETQ two stroke developed some really awful rod knock after I ran it dry a couple times. Need to use the rocker switch, and leave the gas mix in the crankcase. Still runs, but the quiet is gone.

I thought I was helping, by running it dry.

- . Christopher A. Young Learn about Jesus

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Reply to
Stormin Mormon

You fog 2 strokes

Reply to
gfretwell

I made the mistake of getting a generator about 20 years ago and just opened the box to see what kind of plugs and oil I would need, then sitting th ebox back over it.

The wiring is no problem for me. Had that taken care, but when it came time for me to use the generator, I could not get it started. It was dark and I could not see it too well with just the flashlight. The next day my son came over and we looked at it. Seems that it has an on/off switch that I missed seeing in the dark, and the manual did not have it listed either, They showed the very old style of springie thing over the spark plug to shut off the engine. I doubt that method had been used in many years.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

I'm not sure why you are telling me that I do some thing, when I've got no idea what it is you are telling me that I do. How would you know that I do this "whatever" thing?

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Wow. It has to be 40 years since I've seen a gas motor with a ground tab over the spark plug. That's amazing...

Reply to
Arthur Conan Doyle

Presumably by reading the owner's manual for the engine.

You shouldn't run 2 cycle engines dry as the fuel is used for lubrication inside the motor.

Reply to
Arthur Conan Doyle

I don't know how long it has been that the ground tab has not been used, bit it has been a long time. The generator was bought new around 1998 and the book showed the tab, but the engine actually had the switch mounted on it. Really odd that an owners manual that new would show one even if the engine did not have one.

I just pulled the manual for the generator. It says to stop the engine push the stop tab to the spark plug. Also the engine manual that came with it shows the stop tab and tells you to stop the engine by pushing it to the spark plug. the date shows up as 1995

For what it is worth, it is a 5 kw generator with a Tecumseh engine.

Reply to
Ralph Mowery

Our "attic" is just a small 6'x24' room above our guest bath and laundry. It's below the insulation so it doesn't freeze in winter or cook in the summer. It has it's own 2x6 floor joists @ 16" OC that span about six feet. Weight wouldn't be much of issue. But, it's only about 4 feet high and the access hole is fairly small. I would probably have to install several smaller tanks instead of one larger one.

In any case, that's kind of a last resort option as it would involve running new pipes up to the attic. By the time I bought the tanks, modified the plumbing, and installed and plumbed drip pans in case a tank leaks, it's more trouble than it's worth.

Just one of those crazy ideas I was tossing around. :)

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband

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