Carrying heavy water

[dave]

The council have decided to cutoff mains water supply to our garden allotments. In place they have drilled several deep holes into the water table and put manual pumps atop each well-hole.

Problem now is getting water to the plants.

We have several large plastic containers we can hand-pump the water into but then need to get the containers to the allotment and be able to fill watering cans from those containers. (so base of container needs to be some 18" off the ground so tap will be above can)

Any ideas how best to transport the heavy containers?

Looking at something like this:-

are those things called that are basically a see-saw with a two-wheeled axle at the balance point? One of them might do it - if I can find one.

ps. Ok so it's not deuterium - but still damn heavy :-)

pps Social comment. Some of the eldery folk cannot even operate the (hefty) hand-pumps at all! One guy been there 35 years and having to chuck it in as can't water his plants. Aren't these suits in the council nice folk.

[Phil]

Google 'aqua-roll' - caravanners are funny folk.

[Tim Lamb]

In message , dave writes

Can't you site the containers where needed and use a pumped hose for filling? Solar powered pump with anti theft precautions?

Steal one from Homebase:-)

Hmm... St. Albans DC have apparently banned the storage of irrigation water on at least one of their allotments. Something to do with disease risk. Legionnaires? Perhaps someone has done a risk assessment and decided they are vulnerable to legal action.

regards

>

[Nightjar]

> What are those things called that are basically a see-saw with a

I threw a couple of these away year before last, because nobody wanted them.

worked well on a 210 litre drum full of stuff that was quite a lot heavier than water, although they were only expected to be used on concrete floors.

Colin Bignell

[Andy Burns]

I doubt these are available outside the 3rd world

[Tim Watts]

+1

Having been brought up on caravanning, those are the bees knees - and they still make them - seen them at the local caravan place.

5 gallons. Now if someone down the OP's way gerry-rigged a little wooden ramp out of wood, they could roll them up, 2' or so off the gound and let the water out into a watering can for use.

Out alloments which never had mains water, but are next to a stream (down a sharp 4' gulley which is dodgey to throw a bucket into due to slippage risks) have apparantly aquired a large raised tank and a hand pump - so in theory the younger folk and pump a bit more than they need and the eldery can just fill cans from a tap in the base from the "spare". The tanks are close to the beds.

[cynic]

Possibly due to the exorbitant cost of tap water these days, especially when metered. I'm considering digging a well in my garden to gather ground water and use a submersible pump with a hose for watering the veggies. Before someone comes up with a reason not to I don't know and simply don't care if some busybody has created a law about not using the water. Next door but one has an old well in his garden and the water is fine for this purpose, in fact until about fifty years ago it was considered fine for drinking and washing too.

[Ian Jackson]

etc) where the roller is exactly like that - hollow plastic, and filled with water? For example:

[Cod Roe]

As long as you keep it under 20 000 litres a day you should be alright as far the water act 2003 goes...

[Steve Firth]

You need a licence to extract water.

[jgharston]

Anybody in Sheffield want two unwanted postal trollies, like this:

've been trying to get rid of them for years.

JGH

[Owain]

Couldn't you fill them with telephones?

Owain

[Huge]

this:-

>>

Not if you want to abstract < 20 cubic metres (~4,400 gallons) a day, you don't.

[Another John]

Is it practical to connect a hose to the pump (not necessarily a garden hose: you can get 1.25" and 1.5" flat hoses), and thus fill your vessels "remotely".

I can see the problems, for the council, of water wastage on allotments, what with burst pipes, careless gardeners, nuisance ids etc. The idea of pumping what you need from an inert well seems a good one, to me.

John

[Onetap]

Isn't the obvious answer to raise the pump discharge to fill an elevated container and then connect a hose to the outlet from that. The flow rate will be pathetic, compared with a mains hose, but the feeble trickle will fill a butt/dustbin at the point of use over a few hours. Anything more costly (diesel pump, solar pump, wind pump, etc.,) will get stolen.

[Onetap]

Or take over responsibility for the metered water supply from the council. Water meter in a lockable access chamber.

Or irrigation ditches, lined with puddled clay; anyone growing rice yet? ;-)

[Onetap]

I hope you appreciate that this is now lodged in my brain and I can't stop myself thinking about it. If I were a lawyer I'd be charging you at =A3150 ph.

Mains water, paid for by the allotment holders, as above would probably be the cheapest way of getting a pumped supply. Anything else will require a pump and power source & pump; petrol engine (broken mower), car battery, inverter, wind-pump, etc.

Also have a look at jet pumps. These are used for boreholes but have an eductor jet pump in the borehole, the pump and motor being above ground. The pump & motor is cheaper (no need to fit down a borehole or be submersible ) and more accessible for maintenance. The high- pressure low-volume water flow from the pump induces a low-pressure high-volume flow from the bore hole.

You could probably find a 12V pump to use with this, but if the mains water pressure is adequate, you could use the high-pressure metered water supply to run an eductor jet pump in the bore hole. Probably need to carefully investigate back-siphonage prevention and/or not tell the water company.

[Onetap]

PS It might be worthwhile getting the borehole water tested to ensure it is fit for irrigation. Some isn't, usually due to lead contamination.

[Theo Markettos]

There are some incredibly basic diesel pumps used in the developing world, mostly made in India. Bomb proof, last forever, and don't take much fuel. They have a distinctive sound. They're so primitive I can't see them being stolen (apart from possibly for scrap value, but it'll be harder if you place them somewhere without vehicle access)

water feed to the right, output water to the bottom of the picture, coolant water output at the bottom right, jerrycan of fuel on a stick.

Theo

[Jules Richardson]

Those castors look reasonable - chop all the frame off and they'd make quite useful workshop trolleys I would have thought.

I wish I was still at the museum - they'd make a good basis for interactive display kiosks, too.

cheers

Jules