Haulin water. Not so bad

[beenthere]

........... in Tok AK, has their water line running right from the top of the well to the house above ground. ...........

My water line runs above ground from the well head into the house, and doesn't freeze. Valve shuts off 10' below the well head, and the water drains into the house pressure tank. Works fine and doesn't freeze - - at least down to -35° F.

(knock on wood  )

[SwampDonkey]

Sawdust will also hold the frost and ice for a long time. It was used in ice houses after all. It has been used spread out on the floor/ceiling of a barn or shed with air circulation from the eves. But it has to be kept dry, if the stuff heats you could be looking at a disaster in a building.

It was never stuffed in house walls around here, they just slapped on two layers of boards outside  followed by clapboards and plastered the inside walls, might find one sheet of newspaper in the outside walls to cut draft. ;D The family renovated 3 of these old farm houses and there was nothing in there. No wonder I was cold as a kid and the neighbor laughed when we wrapped the house in plastic in the fall and banked the house with spruce bows. And no stove fires at night. 

[Ironmower]

  How ya carry your water, 2 buckets on a pole and over the shoulders? Like They show on National Geographics? :P Or just muscle them? ??? 

Just Curious, Thanks

[red]

I like the hydraulic ram

[Jeff]

5 gallon pails. Its only 50 feet or so to the well.

[ErikC]

If you said anything about electrical power I missed it.

Was thinking about an article in Mother Earth News from some 20 years back where they made a hot water heater by fabricating a wood burning chamber beneath an old gas hot water heater.  It was a neat rig and, I understand, worked quite well but would have to be placed so that the helix in the gas flue could be removed ocasionally to clean the soot out of the flue. 

I'm imagining all kinds of kluges to get the water from the well to the cabin.

Good luck and enjoy.

We heated hot water this way for showers at mom and dad's. As kids we lit the fire after school, and it was ready by later that evening. worked fine, for an outside shower.

[Qweaver]

We have been happy with our rain water system here in W.Va.  The tanks had about 6" of ice around the tank walls but we never lost water.  We did run down to a 500 gallon level during one long period of temps in the teens but we made it to the next snows and thaws that filled us back up.  Now that we are sure that we are satisfied with the system, we are going to put in a 1500 gal under ground cistern and use the above ground tanks to catch and prefilter the rainwater.   A colder climate would make this system harder to maintain.   It would be much simpler to just hook up to city water but we just don't want to.  I grew up in a house with a well 30 yards from the house and we never had a problem with that.
Quinton