Water, water. Or things we do to fill our tanks

It has been very dry here in Crookwell for some time now so on our second day back from Rathmines we were delighted to wake to rain. Good solid soaking wet stuff. Delighted because it was very close to necessary for K or his son-in-law get buckets of water out of the dam for the dogs and rams and also because the new water tank on the shearing shed was ready for use at last

Being  ever practical I was even more excited to be able to collect water off our caravan.

As you all know by now, our daughter and son-in-law are kindly allowing us to camp on their property. We are able to do this because we are relativity self contained in our set up.

We have a mini solar panel farm connected to our batteries. These and the gas bottles keep us going on all but the greyest days when we run the generator.

But water is truly the limiting factor. If you ask caravan owners how long they can stay off grid, the answer starts with power but always ends with water.  

So when it rained out came every bucket and tub strategically positioned under the key places where water runs off ... the back corner of the van, the two corners of the annex and along the shade cloth. We filled the caravan tanks with 160 litre of filtered rain water, we always pump through the filter, and still have 50 litres ready to pump in and another lot ready for clothes washing.


Just in case you have a picture in your minds of us sitting inside a warm caravan, sipping hot chocolate and delicately nibbling on choc chip hot cross buns...the only proper flavour in my opinion...let me paint you a picture. There's K in his swimmer shorts and a rain proof coat diving out into heavy rain every 10 minutes or so to transfer water from buckets to tubs and then pumping the whole lot into the van tank every 5 trips or so. Or me, when the rain slacked off shuffling buckets to get the best drip speed landing in the tubs.


We filled the caravan tanks with 160 litres of filtered rain water and still have 50 litres ready to pump in and another lot ready for clothes washing.
There is now the slightest hint of green on the paddocks. And there is water at the shearing shed too. A luxury we all enjoyed when the next lot of crutching was done on the weekend.

I had to include this shot of miss four year old stomping the wool down in the pack. She and her grandfather make good team. She directs. He does as he's told.

Cheers Sue
A Ferg on the Move

Off the grid. Water

On the farm we are set up in off grid mode. That is we rely on LPG gas for the fridge and cooking, solar and generator for electricity. We have this all pretty much under control and can run and charge up most of the normal appliances everyone uses.

Water on the other hand is an issue. The family are still renting in town and planning to build their house here in the not too distant future. At present there in only an old rainwater tank on the shearing shed and that is for the stock … and the luxurious flushing toilet that a previous owner put in!  The water in the dams is not so attractive for people use.

 

So water has to be carried in every couple of days from town and transferred into the caravan tanks for washing and showers.  We have 180 litres so if we have lightning fast showers and save the dishes up for one or two big washes a day we can go four days before we run out. We have two 25 litre water containers that travel in the back of the Ute and every trip into town has include water collection. 

Once upon a time transferring the water was done by the old fashioned method of syphoning. Pipe with a weight on it into the containers, containers up on the ute tray and other end of tube into the tank. Worked well.

But  Mr Fix It was not content with that. Besides sometimes the water quality in some of the places we stay can be a bit dubious and he wanted to be able to filter if necessary. So this is the current solution.

In the black box is a water pump, exactly the same as the ones that are in most caravans today. (This one has spent a bit of time in the eldest son’s van one trip when his pump gave up)  The case is hung on the water heater by a hook.

A pipe goes into the water container and the pump pushes the water into the tank.

K has made a fitting that goes over the inlets so we don’t have to stuff a pipe into the tanks anymore. 


Water can be pumped through our filter as well, but this is town supply so we are not filtering it.

The pump is powered by the caravan batteries connected by an Anderson plug.  50 litres takes only a few minutes. Even I can do it.

We go into extreme water saving mode when camped off grid and so I have a 5 litre bucket sitting under the bathroom waste water outlet. One quick shower is about a bucket full and we recycle that either to fill the toilet flush tank or to use in the twin tub for clothes washing. I have to remember to go out and empty the bucket but it’s worth it to save K lifting more heavy water containers than necessary.  The kitchen grey water is run out to water the black berries or a garden when we have one.

Today I did the clothes in the twin tub with shower water and a  few extra  litres from the caravan tanks for rinsing. This is when the twin tub really comes into its own.

This kind of camping is a bit more work, but very satisfying. There’s something special about being reasonably independent.

Cheers Sue

 

A Ferg on the Move.