PREP Living without running water

[ioujc]

My pump has been "dead" for 3 & 1/2months now, since we had the major floods here in the Mid-West. Since that time, I have been hauling water to use in the house, and for my animals. I decided not to put in a garden this year, as I just wasn't up to hauling THAT much water!
I have found that it takes 5-6 gallons of water per day to have enough to drink, have water for 4 dogs and 4 cats, and to stay half-way clean. In order to bathe, I heat 1 & 1/2 gallons ofwater in a "roaster" that is similar to a crock pot. It takes approximately 3 hours to heat the water warm enough to use for a shower. Here's how I do it. I heat the water in the roaster until it is very hot. I then use a small 4 cup measuring cup, and dilute 1/3 of the container with room temperature water. I pour this over my head and upper body, throughly saturating my hair. I then lather up with TEAR-LESS shampoo. This is VERY important as you will see later.... I use the shampoo to wash my upper body too. Then I rinse my hair using more diluted water from the roaster and the gallons of cold water I have beside the shower. I then pour water over "all" of me, and use a washcloth dunked in the warm water to scrub and get myself clean. Then, I use more diluted water to get all the soap off. It works OK.
I have maintained my job as a professional with no one the wiser (except for when I burned myself). The water I use to bathe with, is then re-used to flush the toilet. Standing over a 10 gallon bucket to rinse is one of the "joys" (NOT) of this lifestyle. If you pour about 1 & 1/2 gallons of water into the CENTER of the toilet bowl, from a height of abour 3 feet, the toilet will flush everytime.

Several problems were encountered....they are:
1.) I scalded my forehead and scalp; having 2nd degree burns, and a couple of half-dollar sized 3rd degree burns, over my entire forehead and a small portion of my scalp. This was on the 5th day I was using this method.

Problem: I was using "regular" shampoo, and got it in my eyes when I was rinsing my hair. Not thinking properly, because it hurt, I scooped water directly out of the roaster without diluting it, and poured it over my forehead to get the soap out of my eyes. THANK GOD I had PLENTY of cold water standing nearby! However the pain was AWESOME, and the skin started coming off in sheets as I poured cold water over it. There is no way to stop that kind of pain with JUST water. I finished my clean-up (VERY QUICKLY, I might add) and put a bag of rice, which I had in the freezer, on my forehead. By now, the skin was sloughing off badly, and the pain was not easing, so I went to the ER.
By the time I got there, I was shaking all over....shock, I guess. The docs required a full explaination of HOW this happened before they would treat me, I guess, to make sure of what kind of burn it was, and although this thought helped me remain rational, I still wanted to slug them!!
I don't know WHAT they put on my head, but the pain began to ease immediately. Then they gave me a shot and I felt MUCH better.
2.) I have had some difficulty getting water. The near by National Park has restricted water usage to "Campers Only," so I have been reduced to hitting up gas stations and convienience stores at the water hose! Should there ever be a "real" TEOTWAWKI emergency, I'm sure these would not be available either. I had two 50 gallon water barrels that were full when this started, but they were used up early on. Remeber.....you can NEVER store enough water!!
3.) It has NOT been possible to burn my trash as I usually do, as I have no water to extinguish a fire if I lost control of it. I have been buring my garbage.....oh yes, THAT is fun too. But I think this has been a good preparation for me of what MAY come to pass before I get to leave God's green Earth!
Just wanted to "share" some of my experience and what knowledge I have gained from this experience.
I will be buying a new pump, but they cost not only the price of the pump, storage tank, etc., but also the cost of hauling the pipe up and putting a new pump at the bottom of the well. Since this is a month or so still away, I have decided to purchase one of these in the meantime....then I will be ready when "it all comes tumbling down":
http://www.lehmans.com/shopping/prod...&keyword=pumps

Additional pointers....
Nice to have: Baby Wipes are nice for a quick clean up if you aren't too dirty.
Alcohol and cotton balls are LIFE SAVERS! Wiping your underarms with an alcohol soaked cotton ball will destroy any body odor, Plus, it tends to cool you off.

PLEASE note: There has NOT been enough water to wash dishes or clean house. I have washed dishes 2 times, and it used a good amount of water. Since then, I have switched to paper plates and plastic silverware. I would not typically do this, as they are a waste of natural resouces, but I can burn the paper plates in the wood stove this winter.....PLUS, my refrigerator also "died" atthe same time as my pump and I have been eating mostly"prep" foods, as they are not as messy, and are not as gooey and juicy as "regular fare, so the paper plates are not so dirty and don't attract bugs, etc. Plus, I store them in a sealed container outside, so if they DO attrack creepy crawlies. they are NOT inside the house.

 

[Laurane]

What a great first hand experience you can share......(glad it is you and not us though!)

You became very inventive with water usage - we have a deep well and if the electricity goes off, we are out of luck for pumping. Have a gravity septic which gives us peace of mind - better than the outhouse.

Hope your skin is healing - I can imagine what happened and how easy it is to make a mistake......that shampoo might be handy to have just for a time like that. That would be any baby shampoo?

Could you rig up one of those camping showers heated by the sun and stand in a tub and recycle the water? They are black and absorb heat and would be a luxury item, but worth the money and aggravation, but they would only work in summer.

As you say, you cannot store enough water.......

 

[ioujc]

Yes, Laurane, any baby shampoo will work. They still "smart" if they get in your eyes, but not like the regular shampoo.
Check out the link....it IS for deep well pumps. Mine is a hundred feet deep, which is not super deep, but deep enough for most hand pumps not to work at all. The one in the link works up to 170 feet, and gives you 2 gallons per stroke. It is the ONLY one I have found that will work that deep, other than a hydrulic ram, which costs BIG bucks! There is also this:
http://www.wisementrading.com/water/well_bucket.htm
which would work at any depth, but has the hassle of rope, sheer strength, and messy little return for all that work.
I have a camp shower, with the ability to heat in the sun, but I have to be ready and at work before the sun would be hot enough to heat the water. Since my house is none to clean at this time, I want to take a shower before work, and not at night before bed. You see, my dogs sleep on the bed too!! So.....I don't want to go to work smelling like a DOG! :

 

[Giblin]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I hauled water for 5 days during an electrical outage from an ice storm. It is not fun. Hope you heal quickly.
Gib

 

[Cardinal]

I have a solar shower (white heavy duty plastic bag) that I got at Walmart, with a hose attachment that screws on and has a battery operated shower head on the end. Ten bucks. You can either hang your water to heat via the sun, or heat up a couple gallons and add cool water to it like you do, but it is easier to use than your hand method.
I have used it many times. I may pick up another one. Anyway, you can soap up and rinse off lots easier and with no burns. Just a FYI.

 

[Christian for Israel]

a couple of thoughts. first, how deep is the water in your well? second, what is the diameter of your well pipe? i ask because, while your pump may be dead, it still may be possible to get water from the well. a bucket doesn't have to be large diameter to work...if you have a 3" well you can build a bucket out of a long (4 feet or so) piece of 2-1/2" PVC pipe. if it's a 4" well you can use a 3" piece. to build it you simply plug the bottom of the pipe (bucket), cut a hole in the plug and place a leather or thick rubber flap over the hole, inside the pipe. secure the flap on one side with a screw and attach a rope to the top of the pipe. to use, lower the pipe into the well and allow it to fill with water through the hole in the bottom. when it is full simply lift it out...the flap will be pressed down over the hole and stop the water from flowing out.

if the water is too far down or the pipe bucket is too heavy try building a frame over the well and attaching a wheel with hand crank to help get it up.

 

[Cardinal]

OH, you replied before I posted. OK, but why not just pour your hot water into your camp shower along with enough cool to get the right temp, and use it?
Also, is your hair short or long?

 

[rafter]

We've hauled water ever since we have lived in Colorado in '93. One area we lived in didn't have water. Here where we live has sulfur water (hot springs). We either haul it in a 200 gal. tank, or have a guy haul in 2000 gal. at one time. It gets dumped into a cistern and then pumped into the house.

When you haul water you learn to use it sparingly..you don't let it run while doing dishes, or brushing your teeth.

When I see people saying they use 40,000 gal. a month I cringe. We use less than 1800 a month, and that is doing laundry.

 

[Christian for Israel]

to provide you with pressurized water you can build a gravity feed system. you said you had a couple of 50 gallon barrels? if you set one barrel above your house, either by building a tower out of 4x4 posts, securing it to a large tree or even placing it on a platform on the roof (be sure the roof can handle the weight first) you can plumb it into the house. it's up to you whether you want to plumb it into your existing water pipe or simply attach a hose to the barrel to bring the water down and in through a window, but either way you'll have water on tap for your needs.

set the second barrel on the ground and fill it with water. buy a low lift hand pump and pump the water from the lower barrel to the upper one. paint the upper barrel flat black to help it absorb heat from the sun and you'll have water for showering and everything else.

 

[Nuthatch]

You might also buy a new garden sprayer with the pressurized pump to use to hose yourself down. You can mix the water in there and then use as much/as little as you like.

Are you still able to gather rain water?

Re: trash---Have you considered bagging it tight in smaller bags and simply taking it with you in the car and throwing it away at gas stations regularly? Recycle everything you can (I am sure you do) first. But if you go to the gas station once or twice a week, or to a grocery store (they have trash bins out front too) you can get rid of a lot that way.

 

[Hfcomms]

You can buy a galvanized well bucket as CFI was describing from Lehmans at a very cheap price. I purchased one last year for a back up.

 

[Worrier King]

5-6 gallons seems like a lot. For myself I find 3 gallons per day more than sufficient with one gallon being in a solar shower and/or a garden sprayer.

Are you wasting much water on getting cleaned up only to get dirty again in a short time? In that case you waste a lot of water. That's also where the wet-naps come in handy, a pack of them can save gallons and gallons of water while maintaining hygiene.

Are the dogs spilling much water? If so you need a more spill-proof water bowl like a cut down 5 gallon pail (depending on dog size).

One of these works great for laundry as long as you have the time to do a few loads and hang them. http://www.laundry-alternative.com/washing.htm

Sounds like your doing great though, we have to go thru this when we are at our cottage-in- progress.

Hopefully this thread will increase your efficiency and you can cut down on a gallon or 2 per day

 

[Maranatha]

When you use the Wonder Wash, do you have to wring the clothes by hand? I was thinking this would be good for my Mom, but she would be unable to wring the clothes. Anyone have one of these????

MARANATHA

 

[Ender]

Wow.

I am spoiled- thanks for the lesson.

 

[Dobbin]

We have a well. This spring being dry, we were already into the "sucking air" syndrome which is usually a problem SOMETIMES in August. So I called the well man and he identified a problem in that our deep well pump doesn't fair well when the water level drops near the pump inlet. So a grand later and a new well pump (anyone want a deal on a 1/2 horsepower deep well pump less than 5 years old?) and now we have decent water down to the point where you can hear the air getting pulled in.

BUT - and this is the education part - I learned that our well "static pressure" is about 15 feet below the surface. This means that in a TSHTF scenario, I could use a standard "pitcher pump" wellhead to at least get water for drinking. Of course as soon as I start to "pull" on the well, the level drops. But it seems to recover fast. For a gallon or two at a time, the shallow pump will work just fine.

Besides that pump makes a dandy lawn ornament. Well, maybe not with human perversity being the way it is. No need to advertise the easy way to contaminate our well.

Best,
Joe

 

[Mushroom]

I have a wonderwash and yes, you do have to wring the clothes by hand. You also have to rinse them by hand and wring again. I bought a hand wringer to do my laundry when I can't use my washer. I will probably use the wonderwash for undies and sox.


You might look into a rainwater catchment system for use around the house. A really good filter for drinking water or just haul enough for drinking. We live in town and are not able to put down a well so we have a tank behind the house and another behind the greenhouse to catch water. We have solar water pumps to bring the water inside. The pumps will bring the water through 3 string filters and it will go into my gravity ceramic filter for drinking. We will have almost 2000 gallons of water in an emergency.

Mushroom

 

[Maranatha]

Thanks, Mushroom. I may order a Wonder Wash for myself but will not order one for my Mom. She would not be able to wring the clothes out. She has a perfectly good washer and dryer in the basement but we have forbidden her to go downstairs by herself (our fear of her falling). We've been looking for an alternative and I had high hopes that this was it. I will be able to use a mop bucket wringer to wring the clothes, but she wouldn't be able to manage that. Ah, the worries for an elderly parent living far away. sigh

MARANATHA

 

[Terriannie]

Being without water is one of the main concerns in living off the grid and your experience with no water is a good lesson for all of us to learn from and also appreciate the luxury of turning on a faucet.

I have in the past made homemade Baby Wipes which work very well for simple hygiene. If TSHTF scenario does comes about, companies making wipes will no longer exist so a large supply of paper towels will be needed. Here's a site that has various recipes. Note: I found these wipes do NOT last for an extended time without molding even when I used fresh distilled water.

http://www.justpeace.org/babywipes.htm

 

[Windy Ridge]

For running water a 55 gallon plastic barrel with a 12 volt bilge pump inside, some plastic hose running to a tiny RV faucet (they make one with an electric switch) by the sink and a small deep cycle battery works well. Fill a couple of plastic water jugs about 3/4 full of room temperature water and then add enough boiling water to completely fill them. Check that they are the right temperature and make sure that they are the ONLY water near you next time you bathe. I have been using rainwater from the roof for the past 9 years and have managed to wash dishes, myself, flush the toilet, have a small garden and houseplants all of this time despite a drought and winters in which my outdoor water tanks tend to freeze solid.

Windy Ridge

 

[Milk-maid]

IOUJC,

We used one of those black camper showers for many years at our cabin BOL. If there was no summer sun to heat the plastic bag, (in winter, etc.)We'd warm a large pot of water on the wood stove and add some cold water to bring it to the temp we liked. We then filled the shower with the water by using a funnel. Then hung it and took a nice refreshing shower. We'd save water by doing the navy thing; Wet down, turn it off, soap up, turn it back on and rinse. There was many times we had a lot of water left over. Since we had no running water at the cabin and had to haul it, we were frugal with water.

MM

 

[WVtreehanger]

Perhaps a solution to the warm water in the morning thing: I've found that I can heat water with a solar shower (but much faster with a solar sizzler) to the point it is very hot. For cooking purposes hot water in the following morning, I put that heated water into a thermos or two. It's still very hot after 15 hours or so. Would it be possible to put your solar heated water into a picnic drink cooler and use the cooler's insulation properties to keep water warm instead of cool? Perhaps wrap the cooler/drink dispenser with a blanket or, better yet, reflectrix to retain even more heat? Might be worth a try. Regarding wringing clothes when using a Wonderwash, I put the clothes in a mesh bag and get my daughter to volunteer to whirl the bag around and around so centrifugal force causes a good portion of the water to exit through the mesh bag (do this near your garden so you can do some watering at the same time). You still have to hand wring a bit, just not as much. Appreciate the report, IOUJC, it is real world stuff.

 

[ioujc]

WOW!! Thanks for the response and all the good ideas!
My problem is....I'm EMBARASSED to take the 55 gallon barrels in to fill. It's bad enough to go fill about 20 gallon jugs, but at least people don't think you are TOTALLY weird! Plus, those barrels are HEAVY when youfill them with water!! They weigh like 400 pounds each! And just TRY to get them out of the back of the truck without tearing your back up!! Actually, I have 6 plastic food grade barrels, and 2 metal food grade barrels, so, I am not lacking in barrels! But it was last summer, when I was getting water for storage, that the signs appeared at the National Park "Water for Campers Only," so I FEEL like they are talking to ME!! Probably not, but that's what it feels like.
Cardinal, I have shoulder length hair. I plan to have it cut next week though.

I have some questions myself.
Cardinal: WHERE did you find the battery powered shower head? Was it part of the solar shower you bought? Or did you buy that
seperately?

Mushroom My question about the rain water is this....the roof is shingle. Wouldit be safe to use that water for drinking, after it runs down over the shingles?? I have rain gutters that I could put up, but have hesitated to do so considering all the meth users around here have taken to stealing anything metal that isn't welded in place. But if it is safe to use "shingle water," I could at least put gutters on the back of the house where no one would see them.
I have used a tarp and my clothes line to "harvest" water previously, arranging it so the rainwater runs into the barrels, but my clothes line fell over early this spring (in the flood) and I haven't gotten around to putting it back up yet.

Windy Ridge: Yes, that is an excellent idea! I plan to try that later.....AFTER I get my pump in, oh what the heck....I guess there really ISN'T a BETTER time to try it is there!!??

Joe: you said:

anyone want a deal on a 1/2 horsepower deep well pump less than 5 years old?

How deep will it pump from? How much does it weigh? How much do you want for it??

Worrier King:

5-6 gallons seems like a lot

Well, 2 of my dogs are actually small horses....or they act like it!! One is a Great Pyrenees, and the other is a Dobie, Collie, Shepard mix. The water for the cats outside, also waters the family of 5 raccoons and the occasional deer. But, yes, the dogs manage to knock the water over at least once a week. Using two seperate bowls...one for the big dogs and one for the little dogs (a Pom-erainian and a Shitzu) won't work, because for SOME UNKNOWN reason....the big dogs will drink from the little dogs bowl until it is all gone!?? THEN they drink their own! I also will probably be able to save some using the solar shower and mixingmy water before hand like several here have suggested. I guess I will start that tomorrow.....:

THANKS everybody!!

 

[ioujc]

HELLO WVtreehanger!!! Hope you are doing well. I think of you often.
Blessings my friend.

 

[rafter]

We have also hooked up a 12volt rv pump to our cistern (when we have lived off grid) and pumped it into our house so you do have water at the faucet. Cost of a pump is about $30. Even with running a dish washer, showers, and a washing machine, we go through 2 pumps a year. Cheap for convenience. We have also put spickets on barrels and put a old rv pump on them with a hose to pump water into our greenhouse.
Hauling water isn't anything to be embarrassed about. Of course depending on where you are on where you can find a place to fill up. Here we have 2 places in town (one at each end) that the water company provides. You put in quarters and if fills up your tank. Everyone here has 200 gal tanks to 500 gal tanks in their pickups or trailers. It takes only a couple minutes to fill up a 200 gal tank. Water comes out of a 4 inch hose and lets just say you better have it in your tank good or you will get a bath...lots of pressure.

For a lot of us...its just a way of life.

 

[WildDaisy]

I have a solar shower (white heavy duty plastic bag) that I got at Walmart, with a hose attachment that screws on and has a battery operated shower head on the end. Ten bucks. You can either hang your water to heat via the sun, or heat up a couple gallons and add cool water to it like you do, but it is easier to use than your hand method.
I have used it many times. I may pick up another one. Anyway, you can soap up and rinse off lots easier and with no burns. Just a FYI.

Cheap investment can save you alot of pain.

 

[nharrold]

Yes, Laurane, any baby shampoo will work. They still "smart" if they get in your eyes, but not like the regular shampoo.
Check out the link....it IS for deep well pumps. Mine is a hundred feet deep, which is not super deep, but deep enough for most hand pumps not to work at all. The one in the link works up to 170 feet, and gives you 2 gallons per stroke. It is the ONLY one I have found that will work that deep, other than a hydrulic ram, which costs BIG bucks! There is also this:
http://www.wisementrading.com/water/well_bucket.htm
which would work at any depth, but has the hassle of rope, sheer strength, and messy little return for all that work.
I have a camp shower, with the ability to heat in the sun, but I have to be ready and at work before the sun would be hot enough to heat the water. Since my house is none to clean at this time, I want to take a shower before work, and not at night before bed. You see, my dogs sleep on the bed too!! So.....I don't want to go to work smelling like a DOG! :

Your first link doesn't work; brings up this: "We're sorry, but we've recently upgraded our site and the page you are looking for has been moved. Click here to get to our home page. If you have followed a link on our site to get to this page, please let us know, it may mean an error that our Webmaster can fix! Click here to leave a message for us. We apologize for the inconvenience!"

 

[buttie]

+1 on the RV pump you can leave it "on" all the time and will turn itself off when the system reaches the cut off pressure. A small battery charger on a marine deep cycle will keep it charged.

Also get some 5 gal water jugs. They are easy to handle, easy to fill and have a nice spout on them. I have 2 that I hauled the awesome spring water from the ranch home in before our house was completed.

 

[ioujc]

nharold...it still works finr for me, but here are two links to similar set-ups.

http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?itemID=97&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1,2,681,878,881
http://www.wisementrading.com/water/well_bucket.htm

 

[Cardinal]

Cardinal, I have shoulder length hair. I plan to have it cut next week though.

I have some questions myself.
Cardinal: WHERE did you find the battery powered shower head? Was it part of the solar shower you bought? Or did you buy that
seperately?

Ok, I only asked about the hair issue cause mine is down past my waist, and I can wash all of me plus hair easily with my shower.
The battery operated hose was separate, and takes four D cell batteries, but it allows you to leave the bag on the floor, and just push a button to make the shower work. It was something I got from the camping section at Walmart.
Not having to use gravity and lift that heavy bag makes a big difference.

 

[rafter]

+1 on the RV pump you can leave it "on" all the time and will turn itself off when the system reaches the cut off pressure. A small battery charger on a marine deep cycle will keep it charged.

Also get some 5 gal water jugs. They are easy to handle, easy to fill and have a nice spout on them. I have 2 that I hauled the awesome spring water from the ranch home in before our house was completed.

We used one of those 1 foot square small solar panels to keep our battery charged.

 

[Milk-maid]

It's not safe to drink water after it is harvested from a shingle roof. Only from a metal roof unless you are using the water for your garden. We investigated this thoroughly for our other house. There are too many chemical residues from the roof in the water. Many times there is jet fuel residue and other things. I can't think of the site anymore, but there was a way to have the first water disposed of and then after the metal roof has been cleared of the mess, the remaining water is safe to use after being cleaned and filtered. I'll see if I can find the website if you want it. Let me know.


MM

 

[WVtreehanger]

Hi back at ya IOUJC! I have one of the camping battery powered pump shower things as well. Got mine at Walmart for about $20 or so a few years back but have seen them at Super Kmart as well. Yep, it connects very well to a five gallon black solar hot water heater I bought years before. Not the pressure you're used to compared to city water but does the job. Actually it is about the same system used with my Zodi propane powered hot water shower system (retails for about $100 when I bought mine for Christmas at Walmart year before last). The Zodi has about the same pressure (duh, uses the same pump!) but has the option through a bit of tinkering to simply connect it to city water for pressure and not even use battery power. The Zodi system is essentially an on-demand hot water heater powered by a single camping propane cylinder. I wasn't greatly impressed with the heat of the initial water coming out (the water coming in was really cold--it was winter time) until I learned I can simply recycle my heated water in a 5 gallon bucket (actually more water than I really need for a shower but you can use that hot water for washing dishes instead of a shower)--the heated water is heated again (and again and again if you want successively hotter water). The included bag my Zodi is packed in is intentionally black as you use it to solar heat your water first if you want. Regarding "shingle water," I see no reason why it can't at least be used for toilet flushing thus freeing up treated water for other purposes or reducing the amount of water needed for transport. Of course, if you want a poor man's solar water heater, 100 feet of dark colored water hose left in the sun will provide about 5 gallons of heated water. You'd have to get the water into the hose (perhaps roof water diverted into a barrel after ten minutes of rain to get rid of all the roof nasties from the roof before collection) then drain it in the evening into something that will retain the heat until morning. I would consider that water nonpotable since I don't have control over the temp but it should be OK for showering. Looks like you are making due regardless and have been innovative in your solutions so far. Tapping into the hive mind can only be more productive.

 

[Cardinal]

WVtree, thanks for the report on the propane shower. I had considered getting one, and now that I know the one I have is just as good, I won't go for the more $ model.

 

[ioujc]

MilkMaid.....That's what I thought....DARN it! I do have panels of galvanized metal.....would that work?? I plan on putting on a metal roof, but that is in the future.

WVtreehanger:

Tapping into the hive mind can only be more productive.

YUP!! I knew I would get ideas here!

Rafter:

Hauling water isn't anything to be embarrassed about.

You're right, we just don't have any places like that....I try to go to different stations so no one will get upset with me. I supposse if I went to a city park in the "big" town that I work in, no one would mind at all. They have water outlets, and kids leave them on all the time....

I eventually want to wrap a copper coil around the wood stove's stove pipe and feed it into one of the metal barrels, then I will have as much hot water as I want this winter. I even have the copper pipe....now I just need the WATER!!
I guess I will get one of those small pumps, I already have a Marine battery, just have to add the acid to it, and get a small solar panel. I was just hoping the solar panels would DROP way down in price......it's going to happen fairly soon, in my opinion.....

 

[Caplock50]

Heck, as for saving your back and getting the barrels of water off the truck...that's easy. Just set several empty barrels next to the truck and syphon the water from the barrels on the truck to the ones on the ground. And while its syphoning, relax and rest. You'll need it for moving the now filled barrels to where they need to be.

 

[ioujc]

CAPPY!!! Why didn't I think of that!!?? Some of you are SO SMART.....you SCARE me!!
:

 

[Caplock50]

With my back in the shape it's in, that's the way I'd *have* to do it if it was me. That's why I was able to think of it.


*If* I can ever decide on where to do it, I'm going to build a crane here for unloading such heavy stuff from my truck. Done got it all figured out...except how to make it swivel smoothly around its base.

Oh, and if you can have the barrels on the ground where they need to be when you syphon the water into them, well that much of the job will have already been done. And to keep from getting soaked or chocking on the water; use a piece of clear plastic hose. That's what I use to syphon gas out of my gas tank. I can see the gas coming and can move my mouth before it gets to it. You'll need a piece that's almost three times the length of the barrel, too.

Very glad I could be of some help.

God bless.

 

[blackfeather]

You can use a Berkey Water system to filter almost
any type of water into drinking water.

It will give you about two gallons of drinking
water every eight hours. Does not use any
electric and is simple to use.

I have one and it does the job excellent.
It's drawbacks are cost about $200. bucks to buy it
and the filters they give you with it are good but
you should buy the new type black filters.

The black filters will take out colors and give the
water a better taste.
Look into it, it will give you more options.

blackfeather,

 

[Siskiyoumom]

A great way to wring out laundry is to use a commerical grade mop bucket with the levered squeezer to wring out mops. Some times you can find them at sales of business that are going out of business or at Goodwill/Salvation Army stores. You may need to do a thorough scrubbing of a recycled unit.

Also, get to know the local campground host and explain that you need water and they maybe kind and let you use it.

Also, local churches may also be of help in getting you water. Or the local food bank. Just a few suggestions. Sis

 

[rafter]

You can just throw the clothes in your washing machine and put it on the spin cycle.