I have a 3 tank set up very similar to yours. I only operate off one tank at a time to avoid losing all my water should a have a pipe break. If something should break, i would repair it and still have 2 tanks of water left. Enjoy your videos and good luck.
The dirt under the house, can not support the weight, the soil needs to be watered and protected from anyone or ''thing'' the will hurt her. Do you wanta to open the rabbit hole? This little hole, MUST die. The Bad guy is All of us, there is NOT a conspiracy, of anykind. We are boring, all of us, allowing yourself to be too old is CRIMES AGAINST US by US., the next 30 years will be the most dangerous and most Exciting ever. I thank GOD that he living in this ''stupid, / boring town, ok ''Correction' '''this stupid GHOST TOWN.
Pete Now is the best time to fix it as the ground is moist....We had a similar issue. Just like electrical wires need a strain relief...PVC does as well....So we use Pool/Spa hose and left some slack in it where it enters our well house...Sorry it happened it's because the ground is so dry from the drought and the ground moves....We live in East Central Texas
When you interconnected your tanks you used rigid connections which doesn't allow the tanks to move freely.The tanks expand under pressure and contract as they empty .In Australia where we use these tanks the manufacturer clearly states the use of flexible connection between tanks otherwise the connection will break due to this movement.You also buried the interconnecting pipes making everything rigid guaranteeing failure.I have four 22500 liter tanks and you can clearly see the tanks bulge as they fill and contract at the base by 15 to 20 mm when they empty.As you can see you rigid joints cannot take this type of movement.I also have all tanks isolated from each other with a manifold so I minimize my water lose if something goes wrong.As each tank empties I open a valve at the bottom allow a full tank to empty into the empty tank.My tanks are interconnected at the top with each tank over flowing into the next tank an the last tank over flows to drain ditch.Remove your rigid pipes at your base and use flexible hoses to interconnect your tanks 1 inch is enough with valves to isolate each tank do not cover with dirt .Connect all your tanks at the top with 90 or 100mm storm water pipe to collect rainwater which is more than enough for the over flow.
In cases like that some people in Brazil ussualy used a rubber hose inside the pvc pipe when it will be put underground. The pvc used to protect the hose. (Sorry about my terrible English 😅)
I hate that this happened to you Pete. You are the hardest working homesteader on RUclips and an inspection to me. Please don’t be discouraged as stuff happens to all of us. I have been following you since you moved to your farm. I have a small farm with a garden, greenhouse, and chickens. You have no idea how you have helped me over the years. I look forward to you finding your leak and have confidence you can fix it properly. God bless
I’m sorry for your loss of water Pete. I know you’ll figure it out and make the necessary changes. You have a lot of experienced and skilled subs that I’m sure will have some good suggestions. Keep the faith and stay strong.
Could you lightly pressurize the system with clean air to test each tank and specific fittings? I know this is a lot of air but it might be a useful way to investigate? Youd have to cap off the overflow and possibly other places but they are accessible and perhaps it would tell you "it's NOT leaking here" and give you some options? Rather than waiting for rain.
I ran my pex lines inside of PVC so for the main reason if I had a leak or break I could repair the pex without digging my yard back up and the pex also has room to move inside the pvc
That water may have gone under the slab. Dig where it is moist and find the leak. Break is after the point they all come together. I know its discouraging but its a learning curve for all subscribers.
Once you figure out where the leak is and repair it, leave the trench open with the system operating for a week or two before you backfill. That’ll give you an opportunity to look for leaks.
Oh my word... so sorry Pete, it's definitely a mystery... prayers up to find the issue. We've not had rain in almost 3 months... its been all around us, and none here. We've been watering wirh the well, and it's close to dry, so we've had to switch back to the municipal water for our animals. Weare averaging 103°~105° daily... last night at 8.30pm it was 102°... just crazy. Do you think it's the ground moving and rupturing the pipes, due to the drought? Keep the faith, and thank you for sharing, we have a much smaller system and no big set up like yours yet... however thats what we are aspiring to. Blessings 🌞
Wow, we are in East Texas as well so feeling your pain in this heat and drought. We have a similar plan so appreciate you sharing as this will definitely impact our design. Best wishes Brother
I'm a leak detector in Tampa Florida and I have had clients with similar problems and it turns out often times to be a bad foot valve on the well pump and the water drains back in to the aquifer. You mentioned the pump was old. If I understood your set-up correctly, you can fill your drums with well water and rain water and the lines are underground that fill the drums from the well, correct? If not, I'm sorry for misunderstanding.
Pete, we are at 57 days, no rain and temps 102 to 106. How the heck can 8K gallon of water evaporate? It's got to be under the ground. 52 years old and this is the worst drought we've had in my lifetime as a Texan. Rain is coming for you this weekend and hurricane season is close. Hang in there, we are praying for everyone in this Drought. Mike
Man I hate to hear that. Hope there isn't a hole in one of the tanks. I've got the tank and supplies but haven't got it set up yet. Seemed like everything was going well for you. You really might consider replacing the well pump though. That IS really old. Have the pump and stuff available then fill up the tanks any way. If the pump goes out you'll have what you need. Went to tractor supply the other day but there were no well pumps. Haven't checked around. The best of luck to you.
Sort of reminds me of going from a company truck driver, to a owner operator. Yeah breakdown after breakdown has happened to me. I finally decided to go back to a company. So I don't have ro worry about breakdowns, or freight,fuel. Anything that happens now, isn't my problem. After spending over 100,000 on repairs I couldn't do it anymore. Best of luck to you
I think that I won't interconnect all my tanks when I put in my system. For, watering the garden, I'll just be able to get by with gravity feed, so I can simplify things by keeping outflow separate and just hook up a hose bib to each one. For household use, I plan on using two separate small pumps so that I won't have to treat the toilet flush water as much and use lower quality input water. Instead of balancing by flowing through the suction line, I separate my input, and balance by overflow. More manual management, but for an off grid house, this sort of problem could be devastating.
It sounds like you should be able to isolate each of your four tanks so that you do not run compleatly out of water over one broken pipe or leak. It's hard to ignore that you found a wet spot in your building and just outside of your building that would be the obvious place to expose pipes till you found out where are the leak is. Since there was water on the floor at the high point of your system I would start looking right there.
It is always a huge bummer to lose water like that. It is common to lose a ton of water with seemingly little trace because 8000 gallons in one day is only 5.5 gallons per minute. That's a garden hose running at half flow. When its dry out that water soaks into the ground immediately.
Hey Pete, This really strikes a nerve as something similar happened to me. We recently (2 weeks ago) took a lightning strike and it took out our computer, security system, internet, network and 1/3 of our solar power. Its not that its that hard to fix, its the realization of what just one iceberg can do to an "unsinkable" ship. Adding solar, water storage, gardens and all the other stuff is great but you get use to having it and then when you suddenly lose it, that is hard to accept. Now I know you will figure it out and fix it and ultimately its the skills and abilities that we will depend on when SHTF but still it bothers me knowing there will be some things I can't fix or replace and they are so easily lost. BTW: When we drain our 35,000 gallon pool into a spot in the backyard, two days later you can not tell we did it. Thanks for the video and looking forward to seeing how it works out.
hi. does your place have a lightning rod, and ground for the pipes in the house? i'm asking because i do, and if you do, and it doesn't protect against lightning, i'm going to look for something to put in as extra protection. bummer about your stuff. i find that the hardest thing to replace isn't the equipment, but the data. best of luck to you!
So impressed with all of your projects Pete, thanks for sharing. This looks like a tough one but I'm confident you'll figure it out. Best of luck, looking forward to seeing a followup video.
So sorry to hear this Pete, I know you did everything the right way. I'm sure the rains will come, and a lesson on new underground piping is in the works. Chin up my friend, it will get better.👍💚
Pete, I think the water poured down under your garage foundation right where you can see the crack between the dirt and the concrete? Then the rest just absorbed into the ground? Good luck I hope you get an answer!
Hang in there brother. I emulated your system. I would have never tried this before on my own but you helped me gain the confidence and the willingness to fail in order to learn so I could continually make forward progress to self-sustainability. Praying for a speedy fix and some rain for you. Blessings on you and your home.
Wow! Sorry to hear about that! Major setback! Maybe best to keep those lines above ground or in gravel between the tanks and the pumping station? I'm certain you will figure out the best solution. Best wishes!
Man, that sucks, especially since I mentioned that we used flexible lines to connect tanks and the pumps. Here is what I would do. The tanks should have fitting that allow you to pull the water down to about 3/4" to 1/2" even with a bulkhead that is much higher than that. Above ground, connect the tanks with 2" food grade poly braid hose and insulate the hose. You could even take 8" Sewer pvc and cut it in half and use it as a protective cover for the hose. Just cover the hose with the Sewer pipe (it is cheap compared to schedule 40 8") and glue the pipe back together. You could even build containers around them like you did the pipes that came out of the ground and went into the building. Good luck.
Next door to you in Rusk TX I'm dealing with my shallow water well plumbing failure as well. Learning the hard way. I'm abandoning my shallow well and going to install rain water fed tanks instead. Hang in there Pete. GB
Hello Pete, I live out here in the high desert of Central Oregon where it often gets around 100 degrees and the ground cracks on occasion as well. The distance between our well and our house is approximately 350 feet and consists of PVC pipe. Most of the piping is 3 feet below the surface. Our house was built in 2006 and we have never had a leak. I'm wondering if you buried your pipe deep enough? Also, we have had the same pump and it's still going strong, so you should not have to worry about yours 🙂. I might check where you have any 45 or 90 degree angles in your underground pipe as I would think these locations would be your weakest points for ground contraction and expansion. Cheers!
So sorry you are dealing with this. Fortunate that at least you have a well. Hope you are able to save those trees… Good wishes from rainy Costa Rica…(where I live)
We live in East Texas also and we recently put in a new well pump it works excellent and we water our orchard let me know if you’d like his information!
Sorry to hear about the leak. I'm interested to find out what it was. If it's shifting soil, that's a little concerning as I have plans to bury a few things myself. I don't have a collection system yet, but have thought about using something to constantly monitor the level in the tanks that would alert me if it falls too quickly. Might want to check to make sure something didn't get in there and drink it all.
Maybe seal up all the connections under all tanks .. and get a 500 gallon tank put it next to the wall where water goes into the building have pumping system take water out inside the 500 gallon tank .. then have a pump system outside to draw water out of all 4 large tanks into the 500 gallon tank but drawn from on top of the large tanks
No it's all in how you look at it look at it as a blessing because right now you can still probably get all the parts and stuff that you need and you still have regular water to depend on. If this happened later on who knows could have cost you your life or your garden which would be your food which could still be your life. Just offering different perspective "thank God for unanswered prayers."
We feel for you Pete. South Texas has been very dry for us too. We are having pipes breaking from the ground cracks and ground movement because of this drought. Right now as I type, we have the plumbers jack hammering our foundation to fix a broken main water pipe to the house. We have no kitchen or laundry use. Thank GOD that one side of our home has separate plumbing from a add on ( another full master bedroom, hallway and two bathrooms ) because we would be hurting. Insurance paid to get the work started but won't cover the extra work to hammer out the concrete where the rest of the pipe is located!!! Times are hard but we do understand GOD is in control and we are doing the best we can while we wait on HIM to call us home. We can handle this, but we keep looking up for HIM. Our focus is to use our monies wisely for cooling and for food. Our electric bill was over six hundred dollars last month! We're holding on Pete. GOD bless you and your family Pete.
Guessing you have a siphon effect going on there. Some water line is lower than the tanks, and if the rain caused the tank level to rise enough to enter/fill a lower line, which then being lower elevation than the tanks, that might make it continue to siphon out water, lose it through open petcock/spigot, till it all drains out. Did you check/inspect the long buried line going away from the tanks?
Thank you, I'm doing good just had to take a break because of all the projects I have going on. I just put up a video Sunday and I hope to start posting regularly.
Sorry to hear that!!! But you have some time to research and correct it to make it more durable! Good luck!! It was nice getting a video I was starting to wonder if everything was ok with you
Have you thought you might have a sink hole underground somewhere? It may pay you to get someone with sonar out to check it out. That water had to go somewhere.
Last night we finally got rain and it was around one and a half inch. Haven't had rain since June 6th so i know your pain. When you have time a channel called Ryan Hall Ya'll puts out a very informant weather channel. Anyway good luck with the fix. I had our pump go out in the end of may the well guy said who ever installed it didn't know what they were doing.
I'm so sorry this happened to you! Sure is a tough one to figure...You're like Sherlock Holmes...very logical in trying to pinpoint the problem. Good luck! Please keep us updated!
I have used PVC Pipe for more than 50 years and have found that, over time, PVC Pipe shrinks in length ! This length shrinkage is both above and below ground ! While this is a small amount, over the 400' of pipe this adds up ! The 90 degree, side ways turn at the building, would hold that end of the pipe ! The shrinkage on both ends of the 400' of PVC Pipe would be just enough to pull the pipe apart, just enough ! Pipe lines should always have offset joggs in the pipe line path, to allow for the earth movement or the movement of the pipe ! As you dig up the length, looking for the pull apart break, cut the pipe and put in a side wise jogg and return ! This will compensate for any stress along the 400' of pipe ! Some where along this dig or survey of the pipeline, you may find the wet ground at the pull apart ! Another good place for the next Jogg out relief ! Offset Joggs in the pipe path, to slow any ground movement or PVC Pipe shrinkage, over the length of the pipe !
By chance do you have a running toilet or some other fixture that's cocked open and allowing all the water too to run out? Maybe your watering system at the chickens or at the trees or something. As with everyone else's suggestion to run your buried lines through another larger line I would suggest the 6-in agriculture irrigation pipe the black corrugated stuff and then run your underground something flexible. I really hate this happened to you 8,000 gallons of water is precious in this drought. Hopefully the solution will be a simple one.
Could you pay to have a few thousand gallons of water hauled in for the tanks and fix the leak now? Time to isolate each tank via plumbing changes? A shame to lose all four tanks with a single point of failure. Just asking questions.
Wow Pete that really blows... and it doesn't take much of a leak to run out 8k gallons in 24/48 hrs. Upgrading all your lines to PEX would be expensive, but probably your best bet. We had a ridiculous water bill one month... the water company's meter stores daily usage information. We went through 7k gallons of water on one individual day (we were on vacation) and between myself, the water company, and a plumber - all we could come up with was a running toilet. No idea how it started and then stopped again. We only have one outdoor faucet and it is in full view of a security camera. There was no evidence of any water under the house (crawlspace) or in the yard. Hard to believe a leaking flapper in the tank of a toilet could burn through 7k gallons of water in a day, but it must have. In your case I would have thought that much water would have made it a little swampy around the leak, but not sure how sandy your soil is. If it is pretty sandy, I guess it could drain fast enough. Good luck and looking forward to solving the mystery!
It could always be worse, you could count on rainwater for drinking and showers like we do here in the Ozarks. We got down to less than one inch of water before we finally got rain and boy were we praying.
PVC pipe was completely the wrong type of pipework for underground. ALL underground pipework should be ALKATHENE mains water underground water pipe, from a roll. Each pipe run should have been separate with NO junctions/connections underground. If you were determined to use just one run and have junctions connections, the connections would also have to be in a small inspection pit and readily accessible also. The separate connections/junctions for more than one pipe run would be right next to the tank/tanks in a small inspection pit. I laid underground water pipework in the UK 40 years ago, in a place that suffers massive temperature variations and ground shrinkage/expansion, never ever had a single leak and is good for another 50 years. I strongly recommend replacing ALL that PVC underground. Maybe alkathene pipe is expensive in the USA, it is relatively cheap here in the UK.
Is it possible in one way or another the water gets under the building's concrete slab. The concrete slab is probably poured on a bed of rocks and it could act like a drain field. Wild guess!
Sorry, Pete. Yup, that sucks. It can be fixed though, so tuff it out you'll figure it out, and then be able to show the rest of us the better way to go. The fellow below my comment recommends PEX, maybe that's a possible solution. Hang in there, we really like & appreciate your channel. : )
Pete you are usually upbeat and I can tell this is stressing you out big time. You are smart and will figure it out. I think the pvc piping behind your building is the issue. Good luck.
I have one main tank that as it fills, it also fills the other three tanks, I should have closed the other three but I was waiting for the tanks to fill up before closing the other three.....my fault!
i think could be a crack on the bottom or an animal made a hole underneath...so u need concrete base and maybe rubber connectors...i hope u find the problem...a lesson for all of us...things happen for a reason..
I am so sorry this happened to your rainwater collection system. I have watched your channel from your move-in up to today and admire your dedication to achieving independence from “the grid”. I have been watching the NOAA app and hoping you get some rain soon. I know you said you are in east Texas. Are you north east, south east, or mid east?
Interesting you use rainwater for washing and drinking while well water for everything else. To me it's exactly opposite. Rainwater is cleaner so we use it for drinking and laundry while the dirtier well water is used for everything else.
Hate to hear about this. You work so hard around your place. My mother in law in the Dallas area has to run a soakers hose around the foundation of her house during the dry season. Hope your able to fix the leak fairly easy. As for the chickens water I drop frozen water bottles in for my dogs and chickens , seems to help. Just that the dogs get the bottles out and chew. Lol
8,000 gallons of water is not a lot, except when its rain water that you have so judicially collected it. If your soil is sandy like i suspect it is in east Texas like mine here in north Louisiana. That amount of water will disappear in a few hours. I just lost 34,000 gallons @ 1000 per day in 34 days city water $184.00.
Your feed line to the house acted as a french drain and allowed the water to go transverse. That is why there is not much surface evidence of what happened.
I'm so sad for what happened with your desperately needed water. I'm sure it's no consolation, but your video is "real life" and your ups and downs--though terrible--show me that even someone who knows what they're doing, and although it appears you are better able to afford most of your improvements than I could, and I'm sure others, too--you still have your successes and challenges. I'm sure it's been very disappointing for you, but the fact that you are willing to share your ups is and downs gives less-skilled, and less knowledgeable people like me inspiration to take on the challenges and not lose hope when I screw up or when despite my best efforts I fail, not to beat myself up about it. You are showing us real life (unlike so-called diy tv reality shows). That's why you are so popular. I am so glad I took the time to watch a bunch of your videos. I am inspired. Thank you.
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Yor channel is one of the best ones on youtube.
Explaining everything in great detail and sharing success and failures. Thank you
Thank you, I really appreciate that 👍
I have a 3 tank set up very similar to yours. I only operate off one tank at a time to avoid losing all my water should a have a pipe break. If something should break, i would repair it and still have 2 tanks of water left. Enjoy your videos and good luck.
The dirt under the house, can not support the weight, the soil needs to be watered and protected from anyone or ''thing'' the will hurt her. Do you wanta to open the rabbit hole? This little hole, MUST die. The Bad guy is All of us, there is NOT a conspiracy, of anykind. We are boring, all of us, allowing yourself to be too old is CRIMES AGAINST US by US., the next 30 years will be the most dangerous and most Exciting ever. I thank GOD that he living in this ''stupid, / boring town, ok ''Correction' '''this stupid GHOST TOWN.
What a tough lesson to experience! As you upgrade to PEX, also upgrade those ball valves and consider getting the tanks on concrete pads. Good luck!
Pete Now is the best time to fix it as the ground is moist....We had a similar issue. Just like electrical wires need a strain relief...PVC does as well....So we use Pool/Spa hose and left some slack in it where it enters our well house...Sorry it happened it's because the ground is so dry from the drought and the ground moves....We live in East Central Texas
When you interconnected your tanks you used rigid connections which doesn't allow the tanks to move freely.The tanks expand under pressure and contract as they empty .In Australia where we use these tanks the manufacturer clearly states the use of flexible connection between tanks otherwise the connection will break due to this movement.You also buried the interconnecting pipes making everything rigid guaranteeing failure.I have four 22500 liter tanks and you can clearly see the tanks bulge as they fill and contract at the base by 15 to 20 mm when they empty.As you can see you rigid joints cannot take this type of movement.I also have all tanks isolated from each other with a manifold so I minimize my water lose if something goes wrong.As each tank empties I open a valve at the bottom allow a full tank to empty into the empty tank.My tanks are interconnected at the top with each tank over flowing into the next tank an the last tank over flows to drain ditch.Remove your rigid pipes at your base and use flexible hoses to interconnect your tanks 1 inch is enough with valves to isolate each tank do not cover with dirt .Connect all your tanks at the top with 90 or 100mm storm water pipe to collect rainwater which is more than enough for the over flow.
Very good advice from somebody who has experienced living with a similar water system.
In cases like that some people in Brazil ussualy used a rubber hose inside the pvc pipe when it will be put underground. The pvc used to protect the hose. (Sorry about my terrible English 😅)
I hate that this happened to you Pete. You are the hardest working homesteader on RUclips and an inspection to me. Please don’t be discouraged as stuff happens to all of us. I have been following you since you moved to your farm. I have a small farm with a garden, greenhouse, and chickens. You have no idea how you have helped me over the years. I look forward to you finding your leak and have confidence you can fix it properly.
God bless
Thank you, and God bless.
I’m sorry for your loss of water Pete. I know you’ll figure it out and make the necessary changes. You have a lot of experienced and skilled subs that I’m sure will have some good suggestions. Keep the faith and stay strong.
Could you lightly pressurize the system with clean air to test each tank and specific fittings? I know this is a lot of air but it might be a useful way to investigate? Youd have to cap off the overflow and possibly other places but they are accessible and perhaps it would tell you "it's NOT leaking here" and give you some options? Rather than waiting for rain.
I am in East Texas as. I have been studying on doing this same thing on a smaller scale. Thanks for showing us.
I ran my pex lines inside of PVC so for the main reason if I had a leak or break I could repair the pex without digging my yard back up and the pex also has room to move inside the pvc
yes, get rid of any pvc under the ground, also get a water management system that will send you alerts to your cellphone, very cheap and efficient.
That water may have gone under the slab. Dig where it is moist and find the leak. Break is after the point they all come together. I know its discouraging but its a learning curve for all subscribers.
Once you figure out where the leak is and repair it, leave the trench open with the system operating for a week or two before you backfill. That’ll give you an opportunity to look for leaks.
Oh my word... so sorry Pete, it's definitely a mystery... prayers up to find the issue.
We've not had rain in almost 3 months... its been all around us, and none here. We've been watering wirh the well, and it's close to dry, so we've had to switch back to the municipal water for our animals. Weare averaging 103°~105° daily... last night at 8.30pm it was 102°... just crazy.
Do you think it's the ground moving and rupturing the pipes, due to the drought?
Keep the faith, and thank you for sharing, we have a much smaller system and no big set up like yours yet... however thats what we are aspiring to.
Blessings 🌞
Wow, we are in East Texas as well so feeling your pain in this heat and drought. We have a similar plan so appreciate you sharing as this will definitely impact our design. Best wishes Brother
I'm a leak detector in Tampa Florida and I have had clients with similar problems and it turns out often times to be a bad foot valve on the well pump and the water drains back in to the aquifer. You mentioned the pump was old. If I understood your set-up correctly, you can fill your drums with well water and rain water and the lines are underground that fill the drums from the well, correct? If not, I'm sorry for misunderstanding.
Pete, we are at 57 days, no rain and temps 102 to 106. How the heck can 8K gallon of water evaporate? It's got to be under the ground. 52 years old and this is the worst drought we've had in my lifetime as a Texan. Rain is coming for you this weekend and hurricane season is close. Hang in there, we are praying for everyone in this Drought. Mike
Man I hate to hear that. Hope there isn't a hole in one of the tanks. I've got the tank and supplies but haven't got it set up yet. Seemed like everything was going well for you. You really might consider replacing the well pump though. That IS really old. Have the pump and stuff available then fill up the tanks any way. If the pump goes out you'll have what you need. Went to tractor supply the other day but there were no well pumps. Haven't checked around. The best of luck to you.
Sort of reminds me of going from a company truck driver, to a owner operator. Yeah breakdown after breakdown has happened to me. I finally decided to go back to a company. So I don't have ro worry about breakdowns, or freight,fuel. Anything that happens now, isn't my problem. After spending over 100,000 on repairs I couldn't do it anymore. Best of luck to you
I think that I won't interconnect all my tanks when I put in my system. For, watering the garden, I'll just be able to get by with gravity feed, so I can simplify things by keeping outflow separate and just hook up a hose bib to each one. For household use, I plan on using two separate small pumps so that I won't have to treat the toilet flush water as much and use lower quality input water. Instead of balancing by flowing through the suction line, I separate my input, and balance by overflow. More manual management, but for an off grid house, this sort of problem could be devastating.
It sounds like you should be able to isolate each of your four tanks so that you do not run compleatly out of water over one broken pipe or leak. It's hard to ignore that you found a wet spot in your building and just outside of your building that would be the obvious place to expose pipes till you found out where are the leak is. Since there was water on the floor at the high point of your system I would start looking right there.
It is always a huge bummer to lose water like that. It is common to lose a ton of water with seemingly little trace because 8000 gallons in one day is only 5.5 gallons per minute. That's a garden hose running at half flow. When its dry out that water soaks into the ground immediately.
Hey Pete, This really strikes a nerve as something similar happened to me. We recently (2 weeks ago) took a lightning strike and it took out our computer, security system, internet, network and 1/3 of our solar power. Its not that its that hard to fix, its the realization of what just one iceberg can do to an "unsinkable" ship. Adding solar, water storage, gardens and all the other stuff is great but you get use to having it and then when you suddenly lose it, that is hard to accept. Now I know you will figure it out and fix it and ultimately its the skills and abilities that we will depend on when SHTF but still it bothers me knowing there will be some things I can't fix or replace and they are so easily lost. BTW: When we drain our 35,000 gallon pool into a spot in the backyard, two days later you can not tell we did it. Thanks for the video and looking forward to seeing how it works out.
hi. does your place have a lightning rod, and ground for the pipes in the house? i'm asking because i do, and if you do, and it doesn't protect against lightning, i'm going to look for something to put in as extra protection.
bummer about your stuff. i find that the hardest thing to replace isn't the equipment, but the data.
best of luck to you!
Maybe with all the valves in the system you could isolate sections and pressure test them to narrow down where the leak/leaks are.
So impressed with all of your projects Pete, thanks for sharing. This looks like a tough one but I'm confident you'll figure it out. Best of luck, looking forward to seeing a followup video.
Ugh. Sorry to hear it, man. Of course it happens right at the peak of summer! I look forward to learning where the leak is, and seeing how you fix it.
So sorry to hear this Pete, I know you did everything the right way. I'm sure the rains will come, and a lesson on new underground piping is in the works. Chin up my friend, it will get better.👍💚
Sorry to hear this. Praying you will find the cause, and remedy!
Pete, I think the water poured down under your garage foundation right where you can see the crack between the dirt and the concrete? Then the rest just absorbed into the ground? Good luck I hope you get an answer!
Hang in there brother. I emulated your system. I would have never tried this before on my own but you helped me gain the confidence and the willingness to fail in order to learn so I could continually make forward progress to self-sustainability. Praying for a speedy fix and some rain for you. Blessings on you and your home.
Thank you
Wow! Sorry to hear about that! Major setback! Maybe best to keep those lines above ground or in gravel between the tanks and the pumping station? I'm certain you will figure out the best solution. Best wishes!
Awesome I found ya !!! It's been 4yrs since I've seen you channel . I'm happy to find it again .... I subscribed.
Awesome! Thank you!
Thank you for sharing it helps to teach others.
Man, that sucks, especially since I mentioned that we used flexible lines to connect tanks and the pumps. Here is what I would do. The tanks should have fitting that allow you to pull the water down to about 3/4" to 1/2" even with a bulkhead that is much higher than that. Above ground, connect the tanks with 2" food grade poly braid hose and insulate the hose. You could even take 8" Sewer pvc and cut it in half and use it as a protective cover for the hose. Just cover the hose with the Sewer pipe (it is cheap compared to schedule 40 8") and glue the pipe back together. You could even build containers around them like you did the pipes that came out of the ground and went into the building. Good luck.
Use high pressure flex pipe. Here we can buy it by the foot at tractor supply.
Yup, alkathene lasts forever underground.
Next door to you in Rusk TX I'm dealing with my shallow water well plumbing failure as well. Learning the hard way. I'm abandoning my shallow well and going to install rain water fed tanks instead. Hang in there Pete. GB
Hello Pete, I live out here in the high desert of Central Oregon where it often gets around 100 degrees and the ground cracks on occasion as well. The distance between our well and our house is approximately 350 feet and consists of PVC pipe. Most of the piping is 3 feet below the surface. Our house was built in 2006 and we have never had a leak. I'm wondering if you buried your pipe deep enough? Also, we have had the same pump and it's still going strong, so you should not have to worry about yours 🙂. I might check where you have any 45 or 90 degree angles in your underground pipe as I would think these locations would be your weakest points for ground contraction and expansion. Cheers!
So sorry you are dealing with this.
Fortunate that at least you have a well.
Hope you are able to save those trees…
Good wishes from rainy Costa Rica…(where I live)
We live in East Texas also and we recently put in a new well pump it works excellent and we water our orchard let me know if you’d like his information!
Thank you
Sorry to hear about the leak. I'm interested to find out what it was. If it's shifting soil, that's a little concerning as I have plans to bury a few things myself. I don't have a collection system yet, but have thought about using something to constantly monitor the level in the tanks that would alert me if it falls too quickly. Might want to check to make sure something didn't get in there and drink it all.
Thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to see your solution, keep going my friend!
Sad!! I’m looking toward to the updates/recovery/repair plans
I just did an update repair video here ruclips.net/video/I5PW0XZpoKc/видео.html
Maybe seal up all the connections under all tanks .. and get a 500 gallon tank put it next to the wall where water goes into the building have pumping system take water out inside the 500 gallon tank .. then have a pump system outside to draw water out of all 4 large tanks into the 500 gallon tank but drawn from on top of the large tanks
Kind of reminds me of the old reserve tank rule where you had to switch to switch you over when you ran out.
Pete you should separate the 4 tanks, take out the pipes from de ground, upgrade your well pump sounds good. Stay strong
Prepare quickly for the rains
No it's all in how you look at it look at it as a blessing because right now you can still probably get all the parts and stuff that you need and you still have regular water to depend on. If this happened later on who knows could have cost you your life or your garden which would be your food which could still be your life. Just offering different perspective "thank God for unanswered prayers."
We feel for you Pete. South Texas has been very dry for us too. We are having pipes breaking from the ground cracks and ground movement because of this drought. Right now as I type, we have the plumbers jack hammering our foundation to fix a broken main water pipe to the house. We have no kitchen or laundry use. Thank GOD that one side of our home has separate plumbing from a add on ( another full master bedroom, hallway and two bathrooms ) because we would be hurting. Insurance paid to get the work started but won't cover the extra work to hammer out the concrete where the rest of the pipe is located!!! Times are hard but we do understand GOD is in control and we are doing the best we can while we wait on HIM to call us home. We can handle this, but we keep looking up for HIM. Our focus is to use our monies wisely for cooling and for food. Our electric bill was over six hundred dollars last month! We're holding on Pete. GOD bless you and your family Pete.
Oh man this really sucks! I am so sorry!
Would love to know the results of your leak investigation. Please share!
Guessing you have a siphon effect going on there. Some water line is lower than the tanks, and if the rain caused the tank level to rise enough to enter/fill a lower line, which then being lower elevation than the tanks, that might make it continue to siphon out water, lose it through open petcock/spigot, till it all drains out. Did you check/inspect the long buried line going away from the tanks?
Hope you are doing well haven't seen you for a while my family likes your videos hope see more soon.
Thank you, I'm doing good just had to take a break because of all the projects I have going on. I just put up a video Sunday and I hope to start posting regularly.
Sorry to hear that!!! But you have some time to research and correct it to make it more durable! Good luck!! It was nice getting a video I was starting to wonder if everything was ok with you
Have you thought you might have a sink hole underground somewhere? It may pay you to get someone with sonar out to check it out. That water had to go somewhere.
Last night we finally got rain and it was around one and a half inch. Haven't had rain since June 6th so i know your pain. When you have time a channel called Ryan Hall Ya'll puts out a very informant weather channel. Anyway good luck with the fix. I had our pump go out in the end of may the well guy said who ever installed it didn't know what they were doing.
Dang...what a loss...sorry to hear that
I'm so sorry this happened to you! Sure is a tough one to figure...You're like Sherlock Holmes...very logical in trying to pinpoint the problem. Good luck! Please keep us updated!
Did it go under slab of building??
Back pressure from first flush maybe drove the system ???
I have used PVC Pipe for more than 50 years and have found that, over time, PVC Pipe shrinks in length !
This length shrinkage is both above and below ground ! While this is a small amount, over the 400' of pipe this adds up ! The 90 degree, side ways turn at the building, would hold that end of the pipe ! The shrinkage on both ends of the 400' of PVC Pipe would be just enough to pull the pipe apart, just enough ! Pipe lines should always have offset joggs in the pipe line path, to allow for the earth movement or the movement of the pipe ! As you dig up the length, looking for the pull apart break, cut the pipe and put in a side wise jogg and return ! This will compensate for any stress along the 400' of pipe ! Some where along this dig or survey of the pipeline, you may find the wet ground at the pull apart ! Another good place for the next Jogg out relief ! Offset Joggs in the pipe path, to slow any ground movement or PVC Pipe shrinkage, over the length of the pipe !
Must be a cracked T or 90 . Water chased the line and made a leach system. Just a thought. Like you I would think it would leave more sign . Good luck
By chance do you have a running toilet or some other fixture that's cocked open and allowing all the water too to run out? Maybe your watering system at the chickens or at the trees or something. As with everyone else's suggestion to run your buried lines through another larger line I would suggest the 6-in agriculture irrigation pipe the black corrugated stuff and then run your underground something flexible. I really hate this happened to you 8,000 gallons of water is precious in this drought. Hopefully the solution will be a simple one.
My system is not being used by the house. It's probably a cracked PVC pipe by the building.
Could you pay to have a few thousand gallons of water hauled in for the tanks and fix the leak now? Time to isolate each tank via plumbing changes? A shame to lose all four tanks with a single point of failure. Just asking questions.
Wow Pete that really blows... and it doesn't take much of a leak to run out 8k gallons in 24/48 hrs. Upgrading all your lines to PEX would be expensive, but probably your best bet.
We had a ridiculous water bill one month... the water company's meter stores daily usage information. We went through 7k gallons of water on one individual day (we were on vacation) and between myself, the water company, and a plumber - all we could come up with was a running toilet. No idea how it started and then stopped again. We only have one outdoor faucet and it is in full view of a security camera. There was no evidence of any water under the house (crawlspace) or in the yard. Hard to believe a leaking flapper in the tank of a toilet could burn through 7k gallons of water in a day, but it must have. In your case I would have thought that much water would have made it a little swampy around the leak, but not sure how sandy your soil is. If it is pretty sandy, I guess it could drain fast enough. Good luck and looking forward to solving the mystery!
It could always be worse, you could count on rainwater for drinking and showers like we do here in the Ozarks. We got down to less than one inch of water before we finally got rain and boy were we praying.
PVC pipe was completely the wrong type of pipework for underground. ALL underground pipework should be ALKATHENE mains water underground water pipe, from a roll. Each pipe run should have been separate with NO junctions/connections underground. If you were determined to use just one run and have junctions connections, the connections would also have to be in a small inspection pit and readily accessible also. The separate connections/junctions for more than one pipe run would be right next to the tank/tanks in a small inspection pit. I laid underground water pipework in the UK 40 years ago, in a place that suffers massive
temperature variations and ground shrinkage/expansion, never ever had a single leak and is good for another 50 years. I strongly recommend replacing ALL that PVC underground. Maybe alkathene pipe is expensive in the USA, it is relatively cheap here in the UK.
Is it possible in one way or another the water gets under the building's concrete slab. The concrete slab is probably poured on a bed of rocks and it could act like a drain field. Wild guess!
I'm sure a lot of it went under the slab.
Sorry, Pete. Yup, that sucks. It can be fixed though, so tuff it out you'll figure it out, and then be able to show the rest of us the better way to go. The fellow below my comment recommends PEX, maybe that's a possible solution. Hang in there, we really like & appreciate your channel. : )
Clay is a pain, bedding the pipes in sand or gravel will help with the soil shift.
Pete you are usually upbeat and I can tell this is stressing you out big time. You are smart and will figure it out. I think the pvc piping behind your building is the issue. Good luck.
11-20-2022: It seems that tanks are plumed in "series"; May want to plumb in "parallel" to avoid common leaks. And I know it's easier said than done!
I have one main tank that as it fills, it also fills the other three tanks, I should have closed the other three but I was waiting for the tanks to fill up before closing the other three.....my fault!
i think could be a crack on the bottom or an animal made a hole underneath...so u need concrete base and maybe rubber connectors...i hope u find the problem...a lesson for all of us...things happen for a reason..
So you think the leak is underground somewhere?
I am so sorry this happened to your rainwater collection system. I have watched your channel from your move-in up to today and admire your dedication to achieving independence from “the grid”. I have been watching the NOAA app and hoping you get some rain soon. I know you said you are in east Texas. Are you north east, south east, or mid east?
We might be getting some rain as I'm writing this. Let's hope it's not a 5 minute sprinkle.
Interesting you use rainwater for washing and drinking while well water for everything else. To me it's exactly opposite. Rainwater is cleaner so we use it for drinking and laundry while the dirtier well water is used for everything else.
Pretty upsetting alright. Hope you can sort it.
Las Vegas does not get electricity from there. It is Arizona and LA.
Hate to hear about this. You work so hard around your place. My mother in law in the Dallas area has to run a soakers hose around the foundation of her house during the dry season. Hope your able to fix the leak fairly easy. As for the chickens water I drop frozen water bottles in for my dogs and chickens , seems to help. Just that the dogs get the bottles out and chew. Lol
God's blessings over you
8,000 gallons of water is not a lot, except when its rain water that you have so judicially collected it. If your soil is sandy like i suspect it is in east Texas like mine here in north Louisiana. That amount of water will disappear in a few hours. I just lost 34,000 gallons @ 1000 per day in 34 days city water $184.00.
Hope you surprise shower or two really soon. Its been pretty dry in the Houston area lately.
Gosh.
So sorry!
Wish I could help!
🥺🤦♀️So sorry! Did you figure it out?
Thanks, here's the link to the fix video ruclips.net/video/I5PW0XZpoKc/видео.html
3 GPM in 48 hours will be 8600 gals
So, what was at fault? what happened, is there an update to this?
This Sunday I'll have an update and a fix to the problem.
Your feed line to the house acted as a french drain and allowed the water to go transverse. That is why there is not much surface evidence of what happened.
What was it?
Here's the repair video: ruclips.net/video/I5PW0XZpoKc/видео.html
Looks like it went under the building
I'm so sad for what happened with your desperately needed water. I'm sure it's no consolation, but your video is "real life" and your ups and downs--though terrible--show me that even someone who knows what they're doing, and although it appears you are better able to afford most of your improvements than I could, and I'm sure others, too--you still have your successes and challenges. I'm sure it's been very disappointing for you, but the fact that you are willing to share your ups is and downs gives less-skilled, and less knowledgeable people like me inspiration to take on the challenges and not lose hope when I screw up or when despite my best efforts I fail, not to beat myself up about it. You are showing us real life (unlike so-called diy tv reality shows). That's why you are so popular. I am so glad I took the time to watch a bunch of your videos. I am inspired. Thank you.
Dude, did somebody high jack your water? I know it sounds stupid but ….
WATER >>>>Hope it's not under the building foundation !
You don't have a pond ?
Man that sucks I guess you'll have to rely on the system like the rest of us saps.
Looks like I'm the sap here, I didn't think things through enough.
@@petebeasttexashomesteading eh you'll get it. learn from your mistakes that's all.
Dales Water Well service in Silsbee Tx
@The Glorious White Male Thanks for answering on behalf of Pete … you must know what he’s thinking 🤔
You always have setbacks like this. The more self-sufficient you try to be, the more God says depend on Me.
Sorry this happened.