off the grid water

[HDWRENCH]

Its crazy how much water gets used . But your close by I have a 2500 gallon tank sitting around that is for sale , Adding another tank is an option as well .. Run the pump even on that limited amount .. but if the well is that low of a producer I do not think you can use math to figure it out .

It may do that for a short time but I think you might find it will run dry as well and have to : recharge: also .

My lease in Cisco has a 20 GPM pump well was not used for 3-5 years . We paid for a new pump , and ran it non stop to flush it out after the bleach deal etc.. I had done this a few times and after about a hour it'sout of water . Now that is not uncommon from what the well guy told me in that area . 1200 gallons is pretty good. In less than 15 minutes I have water again .. I have some slupher smell so now adding large twin filters to stop this . And the well seems to recharge faster each time I run it out


Now in a low producing well how long is the recharge time ??

[Jbird8791]

Here’s a calculator.

https://www.watercache.com/resources/rainwater-collection-calculator

[hunt247]

$60k would build a big nice shop with another way to catch rain water. You see lots of this in the San Angelo area.

[stickbowcoop]

I wasn't referring to modern society, I was more along the lines, of climb off the horse, take a cramp, get a drink from your canteen and mosey on down the road.

I figured that, I was just saying how hard I thought it would be to do now.

[Patton]

I showed a home for sale earlier this year that only used rainwater. Had 4 3000gallon tanks that the gutters ran to. About 6 ft off the ground each gutter had a plastic/mesh coffee filter to catch shingle grains etc. The entire property was shaded in manicured cedars and oak. The owners landscape team brough in bags of leaves every few months that they spread around and used as a weed/grass barrier. They even have a coy pond and waterfall type feature that runs on rainwater. The home had approx. a 1500 SF foot print and only the elderly owners lived there or used water.

[kingranch]

It works.. several new home builds here in dripping area have 15k catch systems and just a few inches of rain and they are full
Just have to make sure u have some kind of good screen and filter system

[xman59]

Ya exactly, if you are on a RWH system then there is no way to shower or take care of yourself, you are guaranteed to stink! Also, just drill a well! There is an endless supply of water underground! 👍

There are many areas of Texas where underground water is not available, AND there is no rural water line. In these areas your only choices are to haul water to use for your house, not live there, or to use RWH. These people are not “hippies”, nor do they stink. They are very conservation minded and are able to live normal lives just like the rest of us.

your statements are confusing,, is it is or is it ain't?

[fullsizeaggie]

I would add another tank or 2 and run with it.

[Smart]

You would have been SOL in the 2010-2011 drought. It doesn't happen every year but I wouldn't want to be taking a bath in the local lake during it. I **** sure wouldn't be putting my family though it to save a buck.

[xman59]

No I am not a nutjob. Now that we got that out of the way.


We were looking at a house to buy this weekend and it turns out that the house uses 100% rainwater for everything. It does not have a well and it does not have water to the house. I looked at the rain water catch system and it was 2-8000 gallon tanks. They were both about 3/4 of the way full. I was pretty impressed because besides this weekend we haven't had any rain all summer. The more I thought about it and searched the internet I thought there is no way this will work. The internet says the average person uses 100 gallons per day. We have 4 people in the house. So we use 400 gallons per day. 400 times 30 days in an month is 12,000 gallons per month. I haven't been on a water meter in 20 years. So I don't have any clue if 12,000 gallons a month is right or not. So basically we would need enough rain to fill those tanks 3/4 of the way each month to be ok. I don't see that happening. I guess I could figure out the roof area and figure out how many inches of rain it would require to fill the tanks, but those tanks were about 12 feet high and 12 feet in diameter. I just can't see that happening.

Am I missing something here.

I think 100 gallons a day is way over the "need" per person,,,,,

consider what the biggest wastes of water are,, key on those areas to pay attention too,,

showers,,, most people use way more water than needed,, many gallons... turn the water force down or put a restrictive head on the shower...

continually running water just to brush your teeth,,, my wife does this,,, turn the faucet on and off with ease why keep it running?

go #1 outside as much as possible,,,, less flushing!

wash dishes in the sink,,, it worked for a long time before everyone had a water wasting dish washer,, I have never liked them, you gotta pre wash them before you wash them in the dish washer then sometimes rinse them off afterwards... what a stupid idea those things are.....

take advantage of rain to wash the truck!

we had a deer camp without water or electric,, we took 2 55 gallon plastic barrels and built a stand for them,, put screen on the top to keep trash out,, rain water pretty much kept them full year round,, but when we left camp any unused drinking water was poured into them,,, 8 of us could take
"room tempature showers" and never ran out of water over a long weekend,, we had faucets on the bottom but never opened them up, we just used what we needed get wet, turn it off soap up, rinse off...
we really learned how to conserve water when it was below 60!!!!!!
we also had a 5 gallon bucket for hand washing rigged the same way...

100 plus gallons a day is being very wasteful

[Samson]

I've been between 6k - 7k gallons per month for a family of 5 for the last couple of years. That does not include watering the yard. Does include 5 showers, a load of laundry and a load of dishes per day.

Sent from my TA-1004 using Tapatalk

[xman59]

I've been between 6k - 7k gallons per month for a family of 5 for the last couple of years. That does not include watering the yard. Does include 5 showers, a load of laundry and a load of dishes per day.

Sent from my TA-1004 using Tapatalk

at 6500 gallons it figures to 43.3 gallons per person per day,,,, not very wasteful !

[stinkbelly]

I've been between 6k - 7k gallons per month for a family of 5 for the last couple of years. That does not include watering the yard. Does include 5 showers, a load of laundry and a load of dishes per day.

Sent from my TA-1004 using Tapatalk

I like to see real numbers like this.

Does anyone else have numbers they will share?


As for one of the posts above, this isn't to save a dime. This house is WAY over priced. It is just a really neat setup, with land, and in a great location.

[dope hunter]

I just looked at our bill and my family of 5 (3 young girls) hasnt used more than 6k gallons during any billing cycle in the last year. I think there is a lot of waste in our amount of laundry...these girls, and my wife, change close 2 or 3 times a day, and it usually ends up in the laundry. Oh, and my wife runs a hair salon out our house as well.

I like to see real numbers like this.

Does anyone else have numbers they will share?


As for one of the posts above, this isn't to save a dime. This house is WAY over priced. It is just a really neat setup, with land, and in a great location.

Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk

[MadHatter]

your statements are confusing,, is it is or is it ain't?

Top part is sarcasm. Read the thread from the beginning.