If you haven’t seen Day 119- Emergency Water Supply and Pump, check out our original configuration based on the space and budget available. It turns out these were initiated 777 days apart!
Our original solution suffered from a building error, the top rack 4×4 was placed on the wrong grain orientation, causing a very visible sag. An effort was attempted to sister another 2×4 in, but there was no way to effectively jack up the deflection.
Fast forward a few months, and our backyard expansion was under way. We wanted to add 300 square feet of concrete to tidy up our trash can storage, and the water array needed to be moved, which meant demolition. Here you can see just the base is left.
2020 provided a lot of challenges, and this included finding a suitable water tank. Then it dawned on us: why pay a fortune for a tank, when we can buy a readily available 275 gallon tote? A little internet sleuthing told us the only new units in stock were 20 minutes away at Tractor Supply in Valley Center. The store had one in stock, and Eric ordered it online immediately. Here is the tank situated next to our pump and water filter.
Finding PVC parts to adapt this to our pump was a chore as well. The valve is 2 inch, and we needed to get this down to 3/4 inch. Once thing we noticed on our initial setup was the 3/4 inch check valve seemed to choke the water supply to the pump. The largest check valve locally was 1 1/4 inch, and an array of adapters and pipes was needed to make it all work.
Filling the new tank via garden hose while we were finalizing the hard plumbed situation. Again, the lid would accept a 2 inch pipe; but how to incorporate a fill and air bleed?
Everything fits nice and low key behind our new fence.
It was time to connect our fill line, and we made due with the materials we could round up.
Our fill solution works perfectly, even though these sanitary tees aren’t really meant for this task. Water is water, and vents are vents though. Another smattering of adapters and mixed materials, but we will take it. Not to mention that we eliminated a potential tip hazard and eyesore from the yard. Hopefully the Breaking Bad references will stop.