sir willymac! I wouldn't cut down those shade trees either if I were you. but what you have for solar now is smart to keep some essential power. You guys have your own water well?
Have you looked into a hand pump if the grid goes down?
We don't have any solar yet but we want to, the sun shines almost all the time here.
Yep, our own well. Good, sweet water about 90 feet down with a deep well pump. I do have a hand pump selected I had planned for the fall. A friend has one installed and his works well...after the installer finally recovered the pump intake valve that dropped down the casing pipe during installation.
haha! the installer dropped the intake valve down the pipe, how did he get that out?
that hand pump is a great idea and having your own well is a great idea.
The bronze intake valve fell a long way because the top of the the 10 foot section of PVC pipe was not screwed to the one above it. By trial and error, they raised lowered a 60 foot section of PVC time after time after time for two days until they finally got the bottom of it to match with the top of the fallen part and twist it until the threads matched so they could pull it up.
I bet the installer won't make that mistake again!
The one I'm looking at has a three foot handle mounted on a fulcrum to generate enough mechanical gain the I'll have pressure to pump water through the line from the wall to the house so the faucets will work. That's a big help in the convenience because toilets will flush, too.
Los of water is going to doom cities when the toilets won't flush. I wonder of most inhabitants ever think of that?
howdy sir willymac! sorry for the late reply, obviously I got behind today.
well sir..I doubt it many people have thought about the water situation that would happen if the grid went down, that would cause a nightmare of problems, health problems, drinking water shortage, lots of stuff.
Add that to the long list of reasons not to live in cities! We can manage without most things, most of the time, but NOT water!
sir willymac! howya doing on this fine Sunday? what goes on there on Sundays?
how far are you from a city? I'd hate to see the herds coming from a city looking for food and water if the grid goes down!
City of Columbia about 30 miles away. Far too close but we're at least semi rural. I don't look forward to having roaming zombies, either, but in most places you're gonna have "walk-by" threats sooner or later. At least I have a few neighbors who can help with the "citizen patrol" stuff. That's a difficult job to manage for just two people. 24/7 guard duty will do you in!
Nice small town near here: 1,500 people who drive pickups and don't dress up to go shopping. Lots of beards and Southern accents. I would pick any of them at random to back me up rather than a city slicker!
Lazy day usually on Sundays. The traditional "no work", quiet day for most. Take it easy after church, spend family time, depending on your age and interest.