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I live in a dry cabin. That means no running water. But I DO kind of have running water once I get it to the 55 gallon barrel in my kitchen. We haul water from town in 5 gallon jugs. I am tired of lugging the jugs up the steep steps up to my cabin. I think I am going to go ahead and invest in a pump, either one that can be plugged into a cig lighter or more desirable, one I can plug in in my cabin. I am picturing a pump with a hose on each side, one for sucking the water out of the jugs (or I can then get a tank for the back of my suv) and the other hose filling the kitchen barrel. Do any of you have experience with this? Suggestions? Advice? Our home hardware store probably has a couple of things in stock as we have a large population that lives in waterless cabins.
How much lift is involved? 20 feet is a lot different than 100 feet.
At the low end, there are pumps that fit on the end of a 120vt drill and have hose connections. RV pumps run on 12 volts and are an option. You have two conflicting needs though - most pumps need priming to operate or avoid burning up and Alaska is not friendly to liquid water from time to time.
Another way of moving your water and groceries might be by making a zip line going from the cabin to the place where you park your car. Using a couple of pulleys, make a traveler basket that rides on it, and then use an electric winch attached to a pull line. Harbor freight has inexpensive 12 volt winches. With an outfit like that, you could lift a couple hundred pounds with little effort.
It's going to be tricky finding a pump that won't collapse a 5 gallon jug and yet will move the water at a quick clip. I'm assumingthat you don't want to stand there for a long time while a small pump moves a small amount of water per minute.
Pumps have to be primed and by the time you got the pump primed and the line filled, it would be time to change to the next jug of water.
This is pretty simple. Do you have a generator? If even a small one, just get a sump pump at the hardware store and plug it in. No priming required. Of course, this pump is overkill for 5 gallons of water...if you can find a larger container and your truck will accomodate the weight, try to get a 55 gallon barrel or truck tank, and use that. You can fill it at the water source by bringing the pump with you (if needed), with a small genset. Then, back home, just place the pump into the barrel/tank and run a flexible hose to your barrel inside. BTW, a sump pump can be used in very shallow water, as the float arm can be lifted manually to start the pump and keep it running until all the water is out.
We haul water from the village well and (now) pump it into our 200 gallon storage tank in the loft.
In the beginning, we used 5 gallon jugs and the stairs really got old fast. Also, the 5 gallon jugs often froze on the 15 mile ride home in the winter so had to make room in the tiny cabin for them while they thawed out. It was a total pain.
Now, we haul water back in two food-safe 55-gallon drums ratchet-strapped in the back of our truck. We have a 12v water pump (similar to this one) between two potable water hoses, one pull from the drum and the other pushes up the wall through the window into the tank. The gpm is not high, it takes about an hour to pump out both barrels (100 gallons), but it is efficient and we can wire the leads to the truck's battery or our generator's DC port or one of our spare batteries depending on the situation. The total vertical lift is about 10 feet from the back of the truck, with about 12 feet of horizontal pull and push on either end... we found that the pump works best midway up the vertical lift, so that it's pulling half and pushing half. Eventually we'll plumb in the water inlet and wire a DC plug for the pump straight from the house batteries.
Even when it's -40 outside, the barrels have enough thermal mass not to freeze up if we start pumping soon after getting home, and the pump is fast enough that the water in the hose doesn't have a chance to freeze up either.
(ETA: Star -- you know our situation We got our house tank from Greer, and our 55-gallon drums from Sportsman's. We priced out the Greer truck tank and it was cheaper and easier to manhandle two drums instead. Check ArcticRV, Alaska Rubber or AIH for the pump, just make sure to tell them you want it for potable water transfer and not fuel or slurry)
Last edited by MissingAll4Seasons; 01-12-2014 at 05:32 PM..
Thanks. While I currently use 5 gallon jugs, I of course am aiming for a larger tank/s for the back of my vehicle as I previously mentioned. I bought a small pump and tried it out. I'm not real impressed. I think I will have to take the pump out to the suv and have it push the water instead of suck the water from up in the house. Also, this way I only have to prime a couple feet of hose instead of 50'.
I live in a dry cabin. That means no running water. But I DO kind of have running water once I get it to the 55 gallon barrel in my kitchen. We haul water from town in 5 gallon jugs. I am tired of lugging the jugs up the steep steps up to my cabin. I think I am going to go ahead and invest in a pump, either one that can be plugged into a cig lighter or more desirable, one I can plug in in my cabin. I am picturing a pump with a hose on each side, one for sucking the water out of the jugs (or I can then get a tank for the back of my suv) and the other hose filling the kitchen barrel. Do any of you have experience with this? Suggestions? Advice? Our home hardware store probably has a couple of things in stock as we have a large population that lives in waterless cabins.
I live in a dry cabin. That means no running water. But I DO kind of have running water once I get it to the 55 gallon barrel in my kitchen. We haul water from town in 5 gallon jugs. I am tired of lugging the jugs up the steep steps up to my cabin. I think I am going to go ahead and invest in a pump, either one that can be plugged into a cig lighter or more desirable, one I can plug in in my cabin. I am picturing a pump with a hose on each side, one for sucking the water out of the jugs (or I can then get a tank for the back of my suv) and the other hose filling the kitchen barrel. Do any of you have experience with this? Suggestions? Advice? Our home hardware store probably has a couple of things in stock as we have a large population that lives in waterless cabins.
please watch out, I have that quite a few states have changed the law on collecting rainwater or collecting water for any use at all.
make sure you read your state laws concerning the use of collected water.
please watch out, I have that quite a few states have changed the law on collecting rainwater or collecting water for any use at all.
make sure you read your state laws concerning the use of collected water.
This is Alaska, land of the permafrost. You can't drill wells and have septic systems on permafrost. We have bulk water stations in town (like a gas station but for water) because at least 20% of our population lives without running water. Heck many villages only recently got sewer treatment "plants". It's also the land of doing what ever you are big enough to do lol. We don' need no stinking building codes much less someone telling us we can't catch our own rainwater. Lol sorry, I know you were just trying to be helpful but that cracked me up.
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We got our house tank from Greer, and our 55-gallon drums from Sportsman's. We priced out the Greer truck tank and it was cheaper and easier to manhandle two drums instead. Check ArcticRV, Alaska Rubber or AIH for the pump, just make sure to tell them you want it for potable water transfer and not fuel or slurry)
