Backfilling Our $10,000 Off Grid Water System
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- Опубликовано: 14 окт 2024
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Part of what’s made this off grid water system challenging is that our soil is extremely rocky. Not just that, but we’re just two people, so we can’t possibly work fast enough so our trenches are constantly trying to cave in on us. This is a huge problem at the cistern because the cistern ideally needs to be bedded in sand, or at least backfill with rocks no larger than 3” in diameter, and we have boulders in our soil! A kind neighbor stopped by and offered to help us with his tractor. We took him up on the offer and he helped us bed our cisterns in sand. Now, the trench can fall in, and our cisterns should be protected! We’re so thankful for kind neighbors and look forward to paying it forward!
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CREDITS
/ evanschaeffer
You once said that you can look at a project and tell when the builders gave up. THIS IS THAT MOMENT!
Hey Kids my hat off to you for being an inspiration hopefully to young and old a like. Dare anyone to ever question your work and with your neighbor's I can assure you they are so pleased with what your doing that motivates them to be so helpful. You bring back memories to me they way we were at your age and even younger and I thought it would last forever. But God had other planes and I lost my Barbie Doll last year completely unexpected and I have been watching you two and all though I can say honestly your task have helped me I still miss Her and Her beautiful being inside and out. Your in my Prayers for you and your dreams and thank you for sharing some of them.
How very cool is that! Yay, Richard! You are a hero!
Thank you.
No worries mate!
Thank God for neighbors. Makes life a little easier
Kind neighbors are a godsend!!!
What a great neighbor! Glad you have a good supportive community around you to help out with this sort of project.
Jesse & Alyssa, you guys are great. Been following your videos almost since the beginning. But, you have poured more money, time, and energy into this project, than was necessary to complete the water system.
thank you for demonstrating why professionals are necessary and we builders have a lot more knowledge than many give us credit for.
The doit yourself craze in this country has gone a little too far. When I built my own house, I used garlinghouse plans, a real mason, and hired a real electrician to guide me every step of the way. He made decent side money for his knowledge,spent a couple hours with me on Saturday mornings and enjoyed himself while there I also asked the county for courtesy inspections,which saved me a bunch a money on window building codes...which had changed along the way! (Come final inspection ,I would have had to redo four windows and the cedar siding.)
Whenever and if ever, they actually build a house. As soon as she is pregnant , they will have a for sale sign up, to get away from all their future disasters. My neighbor dug his entire foundation and footers out, with a pick and shovel and wheelbarrow. He worked everyday, after work, until done.They talk about going to the air conditioning when it gets too hot. If my boss would only let me do that when it's too hot haha.
Digging it by hand...wow. . I discovered near the end of my 1 build that a decent used diesel skid loader could be had for less than 10 k. Individual accessories could be rented way cheaper than renting the whole machine using the quick attach mounting system. (small backhoe, post hole digger,grader blade or even a grapple blade. When the build was done, I encountered a layoff and sold the midsized Gehl for the same price I paid for it within three days of putting it on somebodies driveway with a for sale sign on it.
Of course Professionals are needed (we shoud discuss what a "Professional" is or should be, but anyway...) The problem is, what do you do when you can not afford to pay for Professionals?
what do yo do? how do you do it...
Ismael Tenenbaum obviously these people have money somewhere. Seems that they keep spending away. Besides, they got followers who are willing to help but they fail to take advice.
I know nothing about off-grid water systems, but there are two things that I am wondering about. If there is no air vent on the second tank how is it going to fill and drain properly. Where there be air trapped in it. Are you concerned that the small leak may become a larger one once you fill the tanks all the way up? There are only filled up a small fraction of the way. There will be a lot more pressure on that seal when they are full.
That straight connection between the two tanks is great - if they were standing on concrete. Putting this on top of a hill, and with natural settling, you'll be digging that up to put in a flexible connection within two years.
with the already existing leaks they will do in a few weeks. Some people have to learn the hard way....
It's awesome that you have friends and neighbors who are so willing to help out. I hope you repay them some day, not with cash, but with something much more meaningful. Keep up the good work.
Richard is a great neighbor!!
Thank you.
Hey Richard, do you know more about their plan to fix the leak, to fill the second tank without adding a vent and ensure a little bit of water circulation when the intake and the output are on the same side?
Surely you have discussed this with them?
I have been following you two since day 1. Without trying to insult you guys, you were so greenhorn at the start with THE most energy and determination of anyone. I think you should get the prize for coming the furriest for learning and NOT giving up and quit! Other people have done what you have, but, you are the ones I have watched and I see your subscriptions have been a steady rise to what it is today, so I am not alone. Congrats on all you have accomplished. I watch any and all of your videos just to see what kind of lengths you will go through to get what you need. Thankz
NEIGHBORS! What a wonderful invention. Congratulations on the days accomplishment.
loving the daily videos showing your progress, at this rate you'll be done by Fall. which Fall is anyone's guess but keep on keeping on
Scroll Out, nice.
Having good neighbors is a godsend. Love your channel and reading the arm chair quarterback comments is very entertaining.
Jesse ,Alyssa. Stick at it guys. I applaud your spirit and resolve. It's enjoyable to watch and heartening to see how supportive you are of each other and your endeavour. It's fantastic you have such kindly neighbours too. It further illustrates how wonderful people can be.
I don't know why people love to hate them. I really like this kind of videos, they are showing their day-by-day and they are funny. Way way better than other homesteading videos.
hey Jessy and Alisa I know you guys have a lot going on I just wanted to say thank you for posting almost everyday really enjoy in a sense being part of your journey! keep up the hard work and remember to take some time for your selves again thank you guys
You folks are awesome ! Keep sharing and keep being open and honest ! This will help many people, myself included
Great job ....keep up the good work and what a great community, neighbours helping neighbours....
Richard and Sophia thank you for helping them :)
You work so hard i'm proud of you, you deserve to have your wonderful home, you lovely kids, hope to send you another donation soon, God Bless
It's nice to have help.
I saw standing water between the cisterns. You still have a leak there?
Reminds me of a saying my dad had : Bye you books and you chew the covers!
My husband and I have been following your progress for some time. We are also living off-grid (solar) but our terrain and climate is a little different here in the desert.
thumbs up for good neighbors! I have a nice tractor, and i help when I can, especially in winter when we get feet of snow, and regular plows can't move it.
I thought the rigid PVC pipe connecting the 2 cisterns were still leaking from the last video?
yup they said it was good enough lol
don't worry about leak rigid pipe will break when tanks settle at different rates
he used rigid pvc pipe between the two tanks. the other black flex pipe in the pvc will be ok
Yay Tractor Fairy. Which we could all help. Thank you Richard.
Thank you Richard & Richard's wife!!!!!! :)
You are welcome.
One of my favorites. Good video production. It's the other end of primitive technology .
Great video! The Bugaboo ending was purrfect!
Richard,a worker doing what he's told to do !
thank you Richard..
:)
+Nighthawk92 I hope they paid you for your time and help, they're making money just by you helping them. Let alone the value of the help.
Cheers for being a good neighbour :)
but don't work yourself to death helping the helpless if they're not at least covering your costs(+an appearance fee lol)
Oh come on you guys, give them a break , ALL water systems leak, Jessie told us so. If water can get out, contamination can get in. As everyone else has already said, that rigid pipe connection , between the two tanks is elephant in the room, which you choose to ignore. Comedy gold, thanks for the laughs.
On a different note, looking at all the rounded rock which goes deep into the soil it's clear that this whole area was once a huge fast flowing river system from melting glacial ice. Do you know if this area your in was once part of the glacial Lake Missoula system that ultimately carved out the Washington Scab Lands.
I would have had the inlet/feed pipe going into the second cistern at the end farthest away from the first cistern and leave the outlet pipe on the first cistern where it is so that you're constantly "rotating" your water like stock on a supermarket shelf. I also would have put a flexible pipe between the two cisterns and also set the whole system up so that you could add more cisterns later at your leisure. I would also make sure both tanks had breathers and overflows.
Thanks Richard!
Welcome.
I'm glad to see you are filling in that hole. Being in that hole has been incredibly dangerous for you both, and I'm so relieved to see you haven't been hurt or killed in a trench collapse. Please brace your walls in any future excavations before entering the trench. Even a shallow (3-4 foot) trench can collapse; pinning or crushing the person with dozens of tons of force.
thank you Richard,
Welcome.
Thanks for sharing your dreams. God bless.
Not commenting on what has gone before, but that valve box is not sealed from below. Water pressure if the ground becomes damp (likely with new infill) will push sediment up from below filling up around your valve head bolt with no way to clean it out.
I really like that I never now what you two are going to do next. :)
Keep up the good work.
You don't have "rocky dirt" you have "dirty rocks"!
READ YOUR COMMENTS!!!! Lots of people trying to help you out! Aren't there a lot of land slides out there? You really don't want anything leaking. A bad enough leak and a good amount of rain will push that puppy down the hill. I'm planning out my water system and learning a lot from your comments so thanks for that :)
We are all just looking out for you guys
PLEASE SLOW DOWN!!!!!!!
I'm glad you started your day being shaded with the trees, hope this lasted for several hours. Jessie, your a hard worker but watching Alyssa tossing those mini boulders like was nothing was amazing to watch. Nice to see a couple that can work as hard as the other. Best of luck and looking forward to your next video.
After watching this water system come too. im reminded how lucky i am that all we needed to do was lay a concrete slab and whack a tank on run 3' pipe down the hill and boom we were done, still took a week tho :P
Very happy to see the sand backfill protection. You can always barter for operator and equipment use. Trade day for day with the mill. Ever consider some ducks to build garden soil? You can herd ducks..A hog panel chicken tractor / hot house let's you get garden started early..pick up tractor and fertilize. Ours would fly and return every time dad left the drive. You could use the existing ditch to build a water feature..ponds on levels. Throw valve..instant garden fertilizer. Duck eggs and meat are in demand.
You really could build some amazing rock walls!
I do not see an upper vent pipe between the two tanks. I assume you will be installing one to allow the two tanks to equalize their water levels.
love your progress. you two seem like awesome people.
I was waiting for a bug a boo appearance. I was not disappointed 😊
I can't wait to see the half ass build on his house as he has done on every other project around there.
Thank you friend . Good job
Rather than give you guys hell, let me tell you a story instead. We had a clogged toilet and couldn't figure out what was going on, why it would flush so slow, etc. After ripping the toilet up and doing some damage to the tile, we found that a little root had pushed it's way through the wax seal and down into the drain. From that one root we pulled handful after handful, filling a large garbage bag, with what looked like dredlocks. That little root had come in, made itself a home, and branched like crazy to get tons of water for the oak tree.
Turns out that roots find water by detecting a difference in temperature with their surroundings. It won't be too long before the trees find your cisterns and start wrapping roots around them. When they find that leak, they'll send that little scout root in, and after that it's game over.
That flex pipe between the two is a good idea as well. Geology is dynamic, not static. Take advantage of it still being sand and do yourself a favor. You'll sleep better.
At 5:00 the man says MAKING DO WITH WHAT WE HAVE. What a novel concept.
I had to have a laugh at the end with Bugger Boo walking away ignoring you, I get the same thing from my cat it's as if he's saying Bite me dad !!
I'm not a car person at all but bug a boo's meows are too cute
Future episode title "How to repair leaks on buried water system"
The Cistern Dance could be the next big thing! :)
With all the rocks you could build a rock house! We have lots of rocks on our land as well. I spent a whole summer picking up loose rock here on our place. "Rocky Acres " would be a great name for property.
"River Dance" mode on the sand in the middle of the cisterns, nice lol. When you threw that rock out of the ditch, I was thinking it was gonna hit the camera, knocking it over, and would of been part of a blooper reel. I would suggest a tamper to compact the sand a bit better than stomping. A DIY version is a simple one, but gotta find the metal parts. A 5 or 6 foot metal pipe, a square metal plate 12"x12" or 18"x18" should be good, and some angle metal brace piece to keep the plate from moving during the tamping process.
Kind people i still think that there should be a flex pipe between the two tanks😕 .But a kind man that is helping you.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍🏻
Ya'll live in a rock quarry! Call Fred and Barney with Bam Bam!
@ 8:15 that laser level beeping was soooo loud. great video as always and I love watching you guys.
Wow! Your block grows a ton (maybe tons) of rocks. My house is on limestone cap rock, but not much more sand. and your rocks are huge.
Take a piece of plywood and lift one side and use it has a slide and have him dump the sand on the slide....
Guys, much love to ya.
That being said. I've done major projects on my own and I know how daunting they can get. But please stop and listen to the wisdom being imparted below.
STOP and fix your leaks! Re-level your tanks!
You will regret it if you don't, trust me. It will eat at you daily knowing that is done improperly. And of coarse the time it will take to repair it when the inevitable happens will be exponentially greater then. Just STOP and reset. You will thank your selves later.
Good luck and be safe.
13:30 my back hurts just watching you shovel.
Great video! Go Alyssa! Hopefully you'll be done with the water system soon and it runs smooth. Tons advice below some good some bad, I did agree with the recommendation to fill with water first before you finish. I'm sure you guys have this handled. Hope to see the next video. I eagerly wait!
Surprised you didn't just buy a tractor, from what I've seen you just buy everything else! Keep goin guys I find these vids hilarious
Will you vent the far tank so the two tanks equalize? someone mentioned that you needed a vent on that tank. You are doing so great. neighbors are great!!! So proud of your progress. I loved watching your progress. Pat yourselves on the back!
I'm thinking that it might have been less work and expense to drill a well. My parents and grandparents had a couple of travel trailers on some land in Northern Michigan that we used for vacation/recreation purposes. This was in the early 1960s. They and several neighbors used a sledge hammer to pound a well point into the ground and hit water about 20' down. At first we used a pitcher pump but later dug a well pit below the frost line and installed a shallow well pump. I think they used galvanized pipe to run it to the travel trailers. The system worked great for many years. The water was shut off during the winter months as no one used the property then.
@1:19 is that pipe still leaking?
hey, Champ, they don't care.
@george, indeed apparently they do not ... and clearly they also don't read all the good comments, or simply choose to ignore them and think they know better... You know that recent episode about 'needing help and accepting help', well they do, but the things they need isn't a patreon-account... or maybe they do, because they might well need that money to retro fix their system... also, he seems like a 180pound guy or so, so stamping and compacting that ground on that fixed already leaky fixed connection will be 'a ok' ... drama waiting to happen, and all they have to blame is themselves... just wait and see them also 'forgetting' an airation on the second tank, and then filling it all up and wondering why their tanks only hold 2/3 of the capacity.
It's a small leak that may seal itself once under the pressure of the ground on top of it...
But it's not just going to stay there... Remember, they plan on installing a rain catchment system later and that means they will have to dig that all up again to access the pipes and hook it up...
So by then they'll know if the leak went away or whether they'll need to fix it but either way they're going to be digging it up again later... Covering it up now just protects it from falling rocks, etc. and the sand will be a lot easier to dig up than letting it fill it up with rocky soil again...
Dutch - exactly. I've read most of their blog. it's equally chaotic. these people are teaching neophytes that it's ok to cut corners on construction issues that can get them killed or destroy their property. that's scary.
I've watched their early videos. that five acre tract is mostly the side of that hill. there's a clearing on top. most of the timber is young, and not of any real lumber value. there's a single deer trail that crosses the clearing.
neighbors are too close to make the property of any capable of supporting enough wildlife of any food value. five acres will barely support a couple of goats or sheep and some chickens. no way it will support a cow and calf.
no way they will ever see off grid and self-sufficient.
The factoid statement about trapped air struck me as total bullshit. If you ever watched a siphon work, you will understand what I am talking about. Get the flow right and the air disappears
You could probably make a pretty awesome rock wall or rock chimney or something like that with all the rocks you have unearthed.
You guys have a lot of rocks, you should make some rockwalls somewhere. That would be cool!
"can't not" I love it!
Just think what an awesome rock garden you guys could do when you get to that point in your property development.
One thing you haven't mentioned (but I'm hoping you covered) is a vent/overflow for the second cistern. Since you are filling the one closest to the trench and have what looked like 2" PVC between the two tanks, you will have to have a vent in the tank away from your trench. Otherwise you will never be able to store water in the second tank much higher than the 2" pipe joining the two tanks.
I want a Tractor Fairy!! Complete with Unicorn
I'd rather have a dragon tractor fairy and 14 billion dollars.
Realizing that most of these comments are 'hind-sight', here's a thought to tuck away for use later. The WRENCH for the valve stand might like to have a collar with an inverted cone/flange to guide it onto the shut-off. You might even consider extending the collar a bit to cover the valve and hold back any sand that might find it's way into the 'standing' pipe. Make the handle almost to the top of the standing pipe and put t-handle at the top. Basically make an extension and leave it in the standing pipe. Hope this is helpful.
I've never seen a channel go from overwhelming positive, to "meh" to "I'm done" so quickly the comments are a pretty good indicator that viewers are not happy and they all think that burying (even partially) when the system is not proved is at best unwise.
Do you guys ever have nightmares about rocks? lol. We enjoy your videos. Don't let some people's negatively get you down.
I enjoy getting the New video notifications!
Dont think I'd sleep too well knowing that those tanks were leaking so much underground!
Don't know if you're aware of it but that do make hand operated plastic pipe cutters. They run around $30 on Ebay and will save you some sweat and make nice clean cuts.
I admire the can-do engineering. And to the keyboard warriors, some professional, why not just watch and enjoy. Surely Jessie has considered allowances for the decisions made. Loving the daily videos, but don't compromise making videos against your progress (despite enjoying both). Can't wait to see the building/ planning/ house assembly!
I was really glad to see at the end; I'm hoping else turns up missing, either. Has to laugh at the thought of calling a cat that's walking away; it's like telling raindrops "Go back up!"
May want to think about adding a 2to3" fill line through the top of the cisterns as well! Just a thought
WOW! Thanks, guys!!!!. Have you thought of using a Sawzall? You are both too awesome.
when tanks settle it will break solid pipe between them. i warned them in last video. have fun digging it out again lol
youtube post.
good 10% of the comments are saying just that, the pipe will break. They must have seen it, they just 'nah' it.
You know, I've been following this couple for a few weeks now and I have to say I'm getting worried. I feel like they're in over their heads with this water supply project. Are their lines and cisterns even below the frost line? To me, it doesn't look it. And not using Teflon tape on all those fittings? I don't know. Can any experts out their allay my concerns?
How does air get out of your rear tank? If you fill in the front tank and overflow/vent in the front tank how does air get out of the rear tank? You need a secend connection to the rear tank at the top to allow the air to move into the front tank and vent out as the tanks fill. Also, believe it or not, tank to tank connections should be flexible and water tight. A drip at a few inches will be a stream at full fill.
That sure is a well trained cat...
hi you guys have harvested so many rocks, are they usable? like in a future fireplace? or garden wall? or some one who wants them?
My word at the rocks! We have NONE of those here, just sandy soil.
Still no air release tube/vent for the rear tank? Good luck getting water into it I wonder if the pressure would be enough to blow the tops off.
water compaction is the best compaction .and it also washes sand under the tank and between the ribs. dealing with heavy water and sink holes sucks . especially with 4 feet of frost
a regular 4' level would go a long way for keeping and ensuring proper and sufficient pitch
Flex hose and some sealant would go a long way....But you covered it up...Have fun digging it back up to fix an even worse problem.
And with your compaction logic, That gets thrown out the window when you have water leaking causing erosion and other problems.