DIY Water Systems

by | Dec 11, 2020 | Environment, LifeSkills, Prepper | 179 comments

I have previously written[1] on how to make your own money[2] and electricity. But man does not live on wealth and power alone. There is another thirst that must be quenched. This article is about do-it-yourself water systems.

First you need a source of fresh water. Anything will do:

  • pond
  • river
  • stream
  • lake
  • spring
  • well
  • cistern
  • atmospheric precipitator[3]

A “spring” is a place where water naturally comes out of the earth. There are techniques for developing them.

There are two types of wells:[4]

  • Deep wells which are generally drilled.
  • Shallow wells which are generally dug.

Next you need a way to get the water to the faucet. This usually[5] means pumps. There are three types of water system pumps:

  • Submerged deep well
  • Dry shallow well
  • In-line pressure boost

A deep well pump is intended to be lowered into a drilled well and submerged. They can be hundreds of feet deep in the water. A shallow well pump isn’t designed to get wet. The mouth of an intake hose is lowered into the well. A pressure pump is mostly commonly used to pressurize a pressure tank.

These aren’t hard categories. A deep well pump can be used in a shallow well or a natural water source. Shallow well pumps and pressure pumps are very similar in design and can often be interchanged. For most of the systems with which I am familiar a single pump doubles as the well pump and the pressure pump.

The most mysterious part of a traditional water system is the pressure tank. A pressure tank consists of an airtight[6] shell with a rubber bladder inside. A pressure pump pumps water into the bladder, inflating it, and thereby compressing the air and increasing the pressure of the water. The air pressure in the tank is what drives water out as it is used.

A nifty device called a “pressure switch” is what turns the pressure pump on and off. When the water pressure drops below the switch’s low setpoint the pressure switch turns the pressure pump on. When the water pressure reaches the switch’s high setpoint the pressure switch turns the pressure pump off. Most pressure switches come pre-configured for a low setpoint of 30 pounds per square inch (psi) and a high setpoint of 50psi. The setpoints are adjustable.[7]

The point of a traditional pressure tank/pressure switch system is to not run the pressure pump the entire time that water is being used. Most of the time water flows because of air pressure in the pressure tank and the pressure pump is off. The pressure pump is turned on only when it’s necessary to refill and re-pressurize the tank.

Here’s a step-by-step description of a neighbor’s water system:

Shallow well about 10 feet deep.
This is a stock image, not my neighbor’s actual well.
The well end of the intake tubing (described below)
probably has a foot valve.
This is a one-way valve so water doesn’t back into the
well and has a mesh screen to prevent debris from
getting sucked into the pump.
A run of black tubing from the bottom of the well to the camp.
The tubing is buried below the frost line so it won’t freeze.
The hole adjacent to the camp where the buried tubing comes
out gets cold in the Winter.
Electrical heat tape prevents it from freezing.
A shallow well pump that doubles as the pressure pump.
The pump has a built-in pressure switch.
T-fittings are used to plumb in a pressure meter and the
pressure tank.
Pressure meter.
The water pressure is between 30psi and 50psi.
The pressure tank has a single connector like the meter.

 

The output of the pressure tank’s T-fitting is the input to the camp’s plumbing distribution system:

  • water heater
  • kitchen faucet
  • bathtub
  • bathroom faucet
  • outside faucet
  • washing machine

The pressure pump, pressure switch, pressure tank, and pressure meter can be purchased as a single assembly. On this assembly the water source is connected to the white-filled connector at the front of the pump, the pump’s T-fitting at the top is sealed, (This would be a good place for a pressure meter if one wasn’t already included.) and the plumbing distribution system is connected to the pressure tank’s T-fitting at the bottom.

Of course in these modern times advanced pump controls mean a pressure tank isn’t necessary. This is a modern tankless assembly that purports to do what the tank assembly does. I’ve never seen one in operation. The water source is connected to the connector at the front of the pump and the plumbing distribution system is connected to the top.

My neighbor’s water system is typical. My off-the-grid PV-powered cabin’s water system is not:

Drilled well 300 feet deep.
The water level is 12 feet down.
This is a picture of a wellhead I found on the Internet.
My cabin’s wellhead is inside the cabin.
A 24V DC submersible deep well pump.
The pump is 50 feet down.
50 feet of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
tubing from the pump to the top of the well head.
There are also power wires and a support rope.
I used flexible 1/2″ polyurethane tubing
for most of the connections.
This was before PEX
was common.
My well water is full of dissolved iron so I have to treat
it.
The well pump pumps water into a 55 gallon tank.
A 12V DC ozone machine bubbles ozone through the water.
This oxidizes the iron and turns it into rust
that settles on the bottom of the tank.
A foot valve at the bottom of the tank.
A five micron filter filters out the rust particles
so the pressure pump has clean water.
A 12V DC pressure pump sucks water out of the
tank,
through the filter, and into the pressure tank.
The pressure pump is controlled by a pressure switch.
Obligatory pressure meter.
My neighbor’s pressure tank is bigger than mine.
After the pressure tank is the plumbing distribution
system.
I have a shower and a sink.
Both outlets have a small on-demand propane water heater.

 

A word about connecting all these components together. In olden days plumbing was mostly copper pipe soldered (“sweated”) together. My cabin’s system is a mix of sweated copper pipe, 1/2 inch threaded copper and brass fittings, and 1/2 inch polyurethane hose. Modern plumbing is done with flexible PEX tubing which is low-cost and easy to work with.

If your water source is open to the environment then you probably won’t want to use the water untreated. You don’t know who or what’s been peeing in it. Ten inch cartridge filters, like the one I use to filter rust particles, are low-cost and convenient. For an open-environment water source I’d use a two-stage filter before the intake of the well pump. The first stage would be a 10 micron particle filter. The second stage would be an activated charcoal filter. The particle filter removes larger contaminants and will greatly increase the life of the more-expensive activated charcoal filter.

The gold standard for drinking water is a reverse osmosis filter that removes everything except the water. Reverse osmosis is so good that some filter assemblies have a way of adding minerals back into the water.

Footnotes:

[1] Admittedly it’s been awhile. I spend too much time reading Glibs articles and comments to write much. Don’t any of you work?

[2] My modest Bitcoin article was immediately superseded by trshmnstr’s superior three part series.

[3] If you have a working atmospheric precipitator for doG’s sake don’t call it a moisture vaporator in the patent application or you’ll find yourself enslaved to The Mouse.

[4] This is not the technical definition[8] of deep and shallow wells but it’s good enough to work with.

[5] If your water source is sufficiently elevated then gravity may supply all the pressure your water system needs. This almost never[9] happens.

[6] During installation the air in pressure tank must itself be pressurized. I use a bicycle pump to do this. A typical value is 2psi less than the pressure pump’s low setpoint.

[7] My low-flow water system uses 20psi and 30psi setpoints.

[8] If you insist. A “deep” well is one that has a water-impenetrable barrier over it. If you start on ledge rock, drill down 10 feet and strike water, you have a “deep” well. If you start on dirt, dig down 15 feet and strike water, you have a “shallow” well that’s deeper than the “deep” well.

[9] Another neighbor has a magnificent waterfall in his back yard. He set out a shallow well pump on the level of his camp and threw the mouth of the intake hose ten feet down into a depression at the bottom of the fall. The pump is sucking up water that a second ago had been at ground level. He could run a hose up the stream and get water pressure for free but he’s the type that doesn’t respond well to constructive criticism and has more guns[10] than I have so I don’t belabor the point.

[10] The camp of a third neighbor[11] has a deep well. He pumps water high up the hill to a 1000 gallon tank and lets gravity create the pressure. His water system has a pressure tank plumbed in. “Neighbor”, I said, “You have gravity pressure. Why is this tank here?” I got a mumbling response. I don’t think he’s clear on what a pressure tank does. He also has more guns than I have so again I don’t belabor the point.

[11] Yes. For someone who lives in an off-the-grid cabin in the woods I have a lot of neighbors with camps. We’re all great friends which is good because most of them have more guns than I have.

About The Author

Richard

Richard

179 Comments

  1. Brochettaward

    Son, we live in a world that has articles, and those articles have to have someone who comments First. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Uncivilservant? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for seconders, and you curse the Firsters. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know — that the seconder’s shame, while tragic, probably saved lives; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives.

  2. kinnath

    Our well was replaced 4 or 5 years ago. The bladder system was replaced with an one-demand pump system of some sort. I was never interested enough to learn the details. Other guys in the association are well nerds that keep track of that stuff.

  3. Gustave Lytton

    I’d add on that if you’re treating/filtering your water, check and adjust your pH if needed. Our well water is slightly acidic (clay soils) so not only doesn’t taste very good, it corrodes metal, particularly appliances, faster than city water. We replumbed the house with pex about 10 years ago.

  4. The Other Kevin

    We don’t have “city water” in our neighborhood. So we have a deep well, with a pump, filter, and softener in the basement. Those things had problems recently, and those problems tend to be expensive. Our water has lots of sediment and iron in it (looks like muddy river water when it comes out of the well). All that’s lacking is a generator.

  5. R C Dean

    Drilled well 300 feet deep.
    The water level is 12 feet down.

    Why go so deep? That seems like an unnecessary expense.

    When I owned property near Santa Fe (on top oof Glorieta Mesa), wells needed to be @ 800 feet deep. The price for drilling and installing a well that deep was . . . impressive, over $40K if memory serves.

    • Richard

      The drilling company didn’t think they’d hit water so they used all of the 300 feet of drill they brought. When the drill was pulled out you could hear water flowing down into the well. I think the water bearing layer is about 30 feet down and was initially plugged by the thick gray mud the drill pump pumped out.

      • Gustave Lytton

        When my wife bought our house, the drawdown/flow test was too low, so the sellers had the well drilled out another 100ft. Apparently there was a miscommunication and rather than resetting the pump, they put it back at the same approximate level. Probably passed the flow test just due to the volume of water ingressing below, but less than ideal to my mind.

        Discovered this about 15 years later when the pump failed and I was having it replaced. Needless to say, the new pump was piped down much closer to the bottom with allowance for sediment so now has about 110ft of water above instead of 10-30ft static (depending on season, usage, and my California neighbors).

    • Dr Mossy Lawn

      It also depends on the rate of replenishment from the soil in the area. with a 300′ well you know you can feed X gallons per Y time until the well is “empty”. Which is why the submersible pump is usually down near the bottom, not just 50′ down.

      So, a 300′ well with the water table 25′ down and a 6″ bore will hold ~400gallons.

      • Richard

        I put my pump only 50 feet down because I don’t use that much water and it’s easier to replace. My first two deep well pumps were expensive stainless steel units, both of which lasted a few days past the one year warranty. My current pump, pictured, is plastic and has been in the well for maybe 20 years now.

    • The Bearded Hobbit

      Our rental property is in an area of rapid growth and the water table has dropped over the years. When our second well was drilled the driller pulled off almost the instant that the bit hit water. Within a few years the level dropped such that we needed well #3. I had that driller go down an extra 100ft. In addition to the extra storage (about 1 gallon per foot of casing, if I recall) it has given us a buffer against the fluctuating water table.

    • Ted S.

      Your comment made me think of this.

  6. The Late P Brooks

    Those pressure tanks look awfully small. Mine is much bigger. A tankless system seems as if it would have erratic pressure/flow.

    • Richard

      The picture of my neighbor’s pressure tank has bad perspective. It’s 85 gallons:

      https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200321808_200321808

      My camp’s pressure tank is only six gallons.

      Supposedly a sophisticated control system can make a pump’s output smooth. I’ll believe it when I see it.

      • Dr Mossy Lawn

        I think the difference is the newer pumps are variable speed DC motors and the controller spools up and spools down the flow as demanded, where the old pumps were one speed AC motors, so you had to have the pressure tank buffer and the pump is sized to provide much more flow than the house normally demands, so it can always replenish the tank.

  7. The Late P Brooks

    wells needed to be @ 800 feet deep.

    Yikes. I thought mine (~370) was deep.

  8. EvilSheldon

    What i got from this article – you need more guns.

    Seriously, great stuff. Off-grid living is becoming more and more interesting lately…

    • Richard

      I’ve got a semiautomatic handgun, a revolver, and shotgun, and a rifle. Around here I’m considered unarmed.

      Thanks!

      • EvilSheldon

        On the one hand, you really can only use one gun at time.

        On the other hand, guns do break. It’s always good to have spares.

      • Nephilium

        On the one hand, you really can only use one gun at time.

        The movies have shown me it’s really easy to dual wield fully automatic guns!

      • rhywun

        And it’s more bad-ass when you hold them sideways.

  9. The Late P Brooks

    I would never have spent ten seconds thinking about buying this place if had not already had a well in place. As I look at properties in Idaho, I have decided I would consider buying a teardown with a well/septic/power before I’d buy bare land.

  10. Drake

    My pressure tank is considerably bigger than that.

    When we lose power, I know we have limited water until it’s restored.

  11. commodious spittoon

    But man does not live on wealth and power alone.

    Not even Hillary?

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      Even she requires the occasional soul or two.

    • Mojeaux

      See: Marie Antoinette

  12. trshmnstr the terrible

    For an open-environment water source I’d use a two-stage filter before the intake of the well pump.

    Ive always heard to never put a filter in front of the pump. Is it different for open-environment?

    • Richard

      Putting a filter in front of the pump increases the load on the pump because it has to suck harder. There’s a limit of about 20 feet that a pump can suck water up. Putting a filter in front of the pump adds virtual feet and may make the pump not work.

      OTOH if the water source is really dirty you may not want the water getting into the pump. My treatment tank water has very fine rust particles in it which would scour and kill the pressure pump head if they got inside.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    The picture of my neighbor’s pressure tank has bad perspective. It’s 85 gallons:

    Ah. That makes more sense.

  14. The Late P Brooks

    Speaking of tearer-downers

    I have no desire to live in Reed Point, but somebody will snap this up, I suspect.

    • Sean

      Site of a future SugarFree horror story?

    • Suthenboy

      160 for 7.5 acres?

      How about 15? I will give you 15, tops.

  15. Nephilium

    Remember how everyone is expecting 2021 to be better… about that…:

    The reinstated tax hike is set to kick in Jan. 1, according to the Colorado-based Brewers Association, which represents 8,300 small and independent craft breweries, and the Beer Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based national trade association for the industry. They are seeking an extension of the federal excise tax rate, and this week held a press conference with industry representatives who delivered a clear message: Maintaining the current tax rate is imperative for their industry’s survival.

    • Idle Hands

      these people don’t care they are criminals. They won’t stop until everyone’s out of business they have budget shortfalls to make up.

      • kbolino

        They can declare wide swaths of the private sector “non-essential” and put millions of people out of jobs and kill off thousands of businesses but every one of them is absolutely essential.

        And they say public-choice theory is irrational psuedoscience…

  16. Gender Traitor

    We’re on county water, but our street and a nearby major street both have “Springs” in their names, and you can hear water gurgling through the storm sewers days after there’s been any rain. I think we would be able to put in a well pretty easily. In fact, there’s a mystery spot in the back yard with trashbag-style plastic held down by some bricks. It’s either where a well was or where the bodies are buried.

    Thanks for the info!

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      In fact, there’s a mystery spot in the back yard with trashbag-style plastic held down by some bricks.

      You haven’t been curious and taken a peek?

  17. The Late P Brooks

    On the other hand, guns do break. It’s always good to have spares.

    “I just don’t want to get killed for lack of shooting back.”

  18. DEG

    I like the footnotes-for-footnotes.

    If your water source is sufficiently elevated then gravity may supply all the pressure your water system needs

    I visited some relatives in Ecuador. At a tourist site we went to, the bathrooms were at the base of a hill and the water feed pipe must have run downhill. I thought the water out of the faucet was going to take my skin off from the pressure.

    One thing I learned about deep and shallow wells: They have different treatment needs. One house I looked at had a shallow well which was pretty shallow. The sellers handed over lots of records about treating the well for bacterial infection, but had very soft water. Other places with deep wells had problems with hard water.

    Thanks for the write-up!

    • Richard

      Thanks!

      One time my well pump was broken and I was filling the treatment tank with five gallon pails of water from a nearby stream. Then there was a whopper of a thunderstorm and water was jetting off the ends of my gutters. I stripped down[1], caught the rainwater in the pails, and dumped them in the tank. A pail filled in the time it took me to get back to it.

      My well water isn’t particularly hard. The stream water was softer. The rain water was insane. I don’t think I got the soap rinsed off until after I replaced the pump.

      Footnotes:

      [1] After that I wondered what people would have said[2] if I’d been struck by lightning.

      [2] Probably, “This wouldn’t have happened if he had more guns.”

      • DEG

        [1] After that I wondered what people would have said[2] if I’d been struck by lightning.

        [2] Probably, “This wouldn’t have happened if he had more guns.”

        Yep. More guns is always the answer.

  19. The Late P Brooks

    Site of a future SugarFree horror story?

    The barn is full of Subarus. And corpses!

    • TARDis

      It’s too close to the interstate. No interested.

  20. Rebel Scum

    So you are in the tank for big water, floating above while the rest of us get hosed.

    • Richard

      LOL

  21. Semi-Spartan Dad

    Nice article. We have a well and a large pond. There’s a 15 or 20′ miniature waterfall coming off the pond that I considered installing some sort of hydroelectric generator but it’s really too far from the house to make transmission worth the cost.

    When we first moved in, there was a hand dug well next the well house that went down about 100′ and maybe 3′ across. The opening was covered with some thrown down sheet metal that was unsecured. The dirt was also starting to cave in around the concrete bib surrounding the hole.I’m sure there are reasons to leave an open 3′ wide, 100′ hole steps from your backdoor, but none that I was willing to consider. I had it filled in with a dumptruck load of dirt.

  22. Tundra

    Thanks, Richard!

    Is there ever a need to disinfect the system?

    • Richard

      One of the benefits of ozone’ing my water is that it kills off any bugs that may be in it, and the well water is so full of iron I’m not sure anything can live in it.

      Once exception is iron fixing bacteria which I see in small streams and seeps around here:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_bacteria

      I don’t see how iron fixing bacteria could get into the well, and if it did I don’t know if I could tell the difference just by looking at the raw well water.

    • Gustave Lytton

      If you have a lined and properly capped well, there generally shouldn’t be ingress of bacteria into the water. After doing work, like replacing the pump, the well guy will dump a bottle of bleach down before sealing up the top. Lab testing of water samples is easier, fast, and relatively cheap for monitoring. Bigger concern would be infiltration of the groundwater and wellwater from non-bacteria contamination.

      • Tundra

        Thanks to both of you. We used to shock the well at the cabin with chlorine once a year, but I was never sure it was necessary.

    • Fourscore

      The well driller will toss a gallon of bleach into the well and run the pump for 24 hours to clean up the equipment..

      • Fourscore

        Gustave beat me but you know where my well driller’s shop is, Tundra.

  23. kinnath

    I need more ammo.

    https://www.salon.com/2020/12/10/the-us-constitution-is-hopelessly-outdated-its-time-to-re-envision-it/

    The electoral crisis, the decline of trust in government, and gross income inequality in the United States may seem like separate issues. But they have a surprising, common origin: the US Constitution, or more accurately, its shortcomings. Indeed, the depth of multiple crises in our nation in 2020 — if not their existence entirely — are all rooted in our flawed Constitution and the judicial decisions that it has facilitated.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      “gimme gimme gimme. There’s nothing sacred, nothing honorable, and nothing that can shame me in my lust for power and stolen wealth”

      /salon

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        Trsh, very random question but do you suggest using sesame oil in pizza dough? I’ve got my dough mostly down and am fine-tuning the wood fired brick oven. I swear I remember a thread of someone saying use a 1:1 sesame:olive oil mix but can’t find it.

    • kbolino

      Yes, it’s the few vestiges where we still pay lip service the Constitution that stand in the way of the march of progress.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        This is where the secession talk really seems like a necessary conversation. How am I supposed to live in a country where that person is a thought leader being published in a national magazine (FWIW). Their culture is not only completely foreign to me, but it’s completely hostile to me. It preys on responsible people to curry favor with the irresponsible masses. I’m gonna be the responsible chump again, ain’t I?

      • Gadfly

        Thinking about it, secession, if achieved relatively painlessly, would probably be a huge boon to the states that left. Not only do they get to avoid the disasters attendant with the looming socialism, but they also get to shrug off all the debt and other obligations that are tied to the US government that are already putting it on a collision course with disaster.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Which is why it will never be allowed to happen peacefully.

      • Rebel Scum

        The last attempt was not peaceful even with the proposal to pay their share of the federal debt and purchase federal land/forts within the states.

      • robc

        No, with a peaceful secession, the leaving states would have to take their per capita share of the debt with them.

        And there would be intense negotiations over what is really a debt, since the US government has been counting it wrong for over 50 years, violating GAAP in as many ways as is possible.

      • R C Dean

        A big chunk of debt is future SocSec obligations. No way should states leaving be stuck with any that, since they won’t be getting SocSec benefits.

      • robc

        Exactly, that would be the major sticking point. Unless the leaving states got one of the lockboxes.

      • robc

        Speaking of lockboxes, aren’t the SS IOUs in a filing cabinet in WV? I would think they would be one of the leaving states.

      • Plisade

        Does this secession have a name yet, a la Brexit?

      • Tundra

        Until China moved into the failed states. That might get exciting.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        WOLVERINES!

      • rhywun

        Meh, they’re a commie rag that no one pays attention to any more. I wouldn’t take their blatherings seriously.

        Right…?

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      You buried the lede(s).

      The electoral crisis would not have occurred if the Presidential winner was based on the popular vote instead of the Electoral College — an institution born of slavery.

      The human impact of the pandemic would be less severe if health care, food, housing and income were deemed inalienable constitutional rights.

      Declining public trust in government, a political situation caused by candidates being more beholden to wealthy funders than voters, is due to the Supreme Court ruling that political money in elections is First Amendment–protected “free speech.”

      Corporate influence in federal politics, including disproportionate receipt of CARES Act funds by large corporations and rules that let corporations get away with not having to list toxic chemicals on food labels, would have been impossible if courts didn’t grant multiple constitutional rights over decades to corporate entities (“corporate personhood”).

      The social justice crisis of ongoing police brutality against people of color and mistreatment of immigrants on our border would not have happened if the “We the People” line in the constitution actually included all people.

      The Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett would have been less contentious if Supreme Court Justices weren’t constitutionally appointed for life and had not granted themselves the ultimate power of “judicial review” – to review any legislative or executive action.

      And the fires, floods, hurricanes and other increasing destructive impact of human-caused climate change would have been far less severe if our constitution affirmed basic rights to nature.

      It’s a list of fairy tales and utopian dreams. These are the useful idiots that Bezmenov spoke of.

      • Chipwooder

        Declining public trust in government, a political situation caused by candidates being more beholden to wealthy funders than voters, is due to the Supreme Court ruling that political money in elections is First Amendment–protected “free speech.”

        Whooooooooo…..now there’s a howler.

      • kinnath

        You buried the lede(s).

        No.

        I felt everyone deserved the thrill of visiting Salon discovering the depth of derp that exists there.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        Ah, you’re a sadist.

        It’s nice to meet my own kind once in a while.

      • Akira

        If the Left doesn’t like the Constitution, why do I hear constant complaints about Trump violating it? Maybe Trump just agrees with them about it being an outdated document.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        All they care about is power, they will be as hypocritical and mendacious as the day is long if it gets them one inch closer to power. They have swallowed Marx whole and in Marx’s world there is no other factors driving human behavior other than power.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I hadn’t thought about it that way. That explains why Russians were all about it. If I were a Russian peasant in the 19th century I might be a bit of a nihilist too.

      • robc

        Electoral college had nothing to do with slavery. It was a large state vs small state issue. And even that didnt have anything to do with the electoral college, just its form. I don’t think national popular vote was even on the table for consideration. At least one proposal involving one house being represented by geographic area. Alaska and Wyoming would have really been overrepresented in the EC with that.

      • kbolino

        There is a nexus of not understanding the electoral college, not understanding the three-fifths compromise, not understanding the 17th amendment, and not understanding how voting worked before the mid-1800s. Universal adult white male suffrage was a radical idea until about the 1830s, directly electing a person to national office would have been a logistical nightmare bordering on impossible, and small states had fewer slaves per (free) capita than large states.

      • robc

        I am guessing they didn’t pay attention in history class, and/or had them after 1990 where they covered other things.

        Also, has civics entirely gone away as a HS requirement? In my HS, there was freshman Civics for the regular track, and senior Government/Economics (1 semester of each) for the college track. I think we covered all of the civics requirements in a single semester. The economics semester was crap.

      • Scruffy Nerfherder

        It hasn’t gone away. based on my son’s experience, it’s turned into proggie propaganda hour.

      • R C Dean

        That’s where the teach NYT 1619 Project swill, the “Electoral College was to protect slavery” garbage, and every other lie about how this country is founded on racism and is irredeemably racist and should be torn apart.

      • kbolino

        I took AP U.S. History in 2004-2005 and we covered all of this in some detail. But that class was not required (no AP classes were), the teacher was an open-minded conservative (sadly, he died of cancer a couple years later), and the College Board hadn’t been skin-suited yet.

      • Semi-Spartan Dad

        the teacher was an open-minded conservative

        I had an awesome history teacher in the early aughts. Retired marine in his 60s who took up teaching. He focused on wars, combating tyranny, and liberty.

        He was fired soon after I graduated for beating the shit out of student. Some ghetto pos was messing with a girl, the teacher told him to leave the girl alone, and the student attack him. Teacher gave the student a self-defense beatdown in front of the class. Lost his job for that.

        He was immediately hired by my university and I actually retook his college-level history course for my gened requirement.

      • robc

        I had a teacher with a similar story — he didn’t get fired, but he got in a lot of trouble for breaking up a fight, getting punched, and throwing the guy through the trophy case glass.

        I didn’t have him for history, I had him for a soc/psych class. He was interesting. Before the military, he was a collegiate diver.

      • Suthenboy

        “These are the useful idiots that Bezmenov spoke of.”

        Less than a week ago I was told “It doesnt matter what you say. No amount of evidence, facts or logic will get me to change my position.”
        That is a quote, word for word from a left of left idiot. She has been that way for as long as I can remember. She said that in response to my asking her why she hates OMB and LA senator Kennedy. She never gave me a reason.

        My response: “Ah, so you admit that you cant be reasoned with.”

        Her: *pause, stutter, stammer, silence*

        Useful idiots indeed.

    • creech

      I believe we could all come up with several “fixes” we’d like to see in the Constitution. However, none of what those people are suggesting is in any way an expansion of individual liberty or justice.

    • Rebel Scum

      The electoral crisis would not have occurred if the Presidential winner was based on the popular vote instead of the Electoral College — an institution born of slavery.

      No, it is because the STATES, as separate/sovereign political entities elect the president of the united States.

      The human impact of the pandemic would be less severe if health care, food, housing and income were deemed inalienable constitutional rights.

      Good luck funding positive rights. I am sure it has never been tried before so there are no examples to study.

      • R C Dean

        Who said anything about funding them? They are inalienable rights – no one can stop you from living in their house, eating their food, or spending their money.

    • Drake

      Completely totally unrelated.

    • R C Dean

      But they have a surprising, common origin: the US Constitution, or more accurately, its shortcomings.

      Since the Constitution is almost universally ignored, I’m not sure how you an attribute any problems to it or its claimed “shortcomings”.

      • Akira

        It’s not much of a stretch for them to believe that the lingering wisps of Constitutionalism are responsible for all of our country’s ills.

        After all, they believe that Republicans are responsible for inner-city police violence. They believe that “laissez-faire capitalism” is responsible for the problems in the healthcare and banking sectors.

    • mrfamous

      Great. There is a process to do so, I suggest you guys get started.

    • LCDR_Fish

      Just ordered .45 and 5.56 from fenixammo today after getting their restock update.

      • BakedPenguin

        You probably already know this, but if you watch the Beauty and the Beta show, you can get discounts. Probably not much these days, but still.

      • LCDR_Fish

        I still had a 10% coupon in my email. That helped.

        Weirdly, unable to locate the account tied to my email – but at least the coupon was still accepted.

      • R C Dean

        Dammit! Didn’t check my email in time.

      • Drake

        I bought a 50rd box of shitty steel Russian made .40 for $20 yesterday. Felt like I got a deal. Also a box of 300 CCI .22lr.

      • kinnath

        No ammo, but I did get a shipping notice for the shotgun I order on Thanksgiving. Only two weeks to ship.

      • R C Dean

        Whadja get?

      • kinnath

        CZ USA 720. “youth” 20 gauge semi-auto. 24 inch barrel.

        Online reviews were “mixed’ regarding reliability. But it’s the first shotgun I’ve seen online at basically MSRP in about 6 months.

  24. TARDis

    Sitting at the bar of my favorite restaurant. No spacing. It was nice hanging out with you peeps. I feel a tickle b my throat.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      See you in Hell.

      • TARDis

        No way. I’m never going to Jersey.

      • Sean

        LOL

    • DEG

      Sitting at the bar of my favorite restaurant. No spacing.

      I like this.

      I’m sure you’ll be fine.

    • Gadfly

      I feel a tickle b my throat.

      Are you wearing a mask? I always get that feeling when I’m wearing a mask.

    • Ownbestenemy

      That ticke is the girl’s tongue next to him doing a covid test her own

      • DEG

        That’s some service. Never happens to me when I’m a bar. I guess I go to the wrong places.

      • TARDis

        I hated the fact that all the workers, including my favorite bartender, have to wander around with masks on.

      • DEG

        I hate that the bar staff at my favorite places have to wear masks.

        In the early days after the Clown Prince allowed indoor dining, if things were quiet and only trusted regulars were around, the staff would take their masks off and chat with the regulars. Now, thanks to the Clown Prince and municipalities cracking down, the masks stay on all the time.

  25. creech

    Well, it is the first year of Democrat rule for my county. And, guess what, a tax increase is set for 2021, after at least ten years of no increases under Republican control. The newspaper says their were no public comment during the virtual meeting to discuss the budget. Yeah—-maybe because the frigging paper doesn’t give advance notice that there will be a meeting to discuss the frigging budget! If the Libertarian Party wants to do anything of value, then start speaking out locally against the little nicks and slices government makes to our individual freedoms.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Can’t, too busy virtue signaling on the Twatters.

      • BakedPenguin

        I felt bad enough voting Johnson/Weld in 2016. After Jorgensen, the “LP” is utterly worthless.

      • Tundra

        The last two Free Man Beyond The Wall podcasts featured Eric July and Dave Smith. Things are afoot to torch the old guard and try to kickstart the movement again.

        Worth a listen.

      • kbolino

        I’m trying to understand what the point of the Libertarian Party even is anymore, except of course to find an alternate path to graft for its upper ranks. Whatever their platform may say, their public statements never diverge from the beltway consensus. I’m sure some would say that’s evidence of a “libertarian moment”, while we all get locked down, businesses get declared “non-essential” and shut down, mask wearing is mandated, and even the watered-down “viewpoint-neutral” interpretation of the First Amendment gets tossed aside.

      • Tundra

        The only point is a stage for an attempt at a culture shift. It may already be too late, but look how goddamn fast things changed this year.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I think a good number of libertarians have been born with the Commie Cough hysteria. Unfortunately there have been just as many state, if not more, worshipers born as well and the latter have a much bigger megaphone.

        The LP has screwed the pooch in two presidential elections, they had the opportunity to present a legitimately pro-liberty platform in elections where there was at least some room (more in for them to distinguish themselves from the duopoly. Granted , there was more space for a third way in 2016 than this year. I mean they wouldn’t have won but they might’ve least advanced the brand and maybe made into a debate.

        Shooting the mushy middle of both parties is not going to work. All candidates in every election ever at least tries presents themselves as the reasonable middle. That was Joe Biden’s entire pitch.

      • Tundra

        Agreed. You need to go after the people who are starting to see that fedgov is fucking them over.

      • robc

        Based on Liberty magazines reports in the 90s, “graft for its upper ranks” has been pretty standard for a long while. That was the complaint about the Browne campaigns, the fundraising efforts paid nice campaign salaries instead of buying advertisment and etc.

    • R C Dean

      How does speaking out locally against the little nicks and slices government makes to our individual freedoms bring in big-dollar donations?

  26. CatchTheCarp

    I knew a guy who had a weekend place out in the boonies and his well has been struck by lightning twice. Fried the pump both times.

    • Richard

      Did he try grounding his well?

      Oh wait…

      • CatchTheCarp

        Having always lived in a city I know next to nothing about wells. The only thing I saw above the ground was a concrete slab covering the hole.

    • BakedPenguin

      Good article, Richard.

      • Richard

        Thanks!

  27. R C Dean

    Oh, and good to another post from you, Richard. I’d love to have my own water well, but I am pretty sure I could never it approved by My Masters downtown. I think there’s a de facto (at least) moratorium on residential wells.

    Plus, I’m not sure how excited Mrs. Dean would be about the bill.

    • BakedPenguin

      Budget in diamond earrings or a trip to Maui.

  28. But Enough About My Pulsating, Geriatric Pecs

    Apropos of self-sufficient DIY systems, Toyota claims that they’ve produced a new solid-state battery which, amongst other things, will take 80% of a full charge within ten minutes, and which will give a new generation of EV vehicles a 500km range between charges:

    https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/12/thats-it-for-this-week.html

    Could someone who’s much smarter than me in electricity and/or battery chemistry tell me how this might be possible? Last time I checked, Ohm’s Law still applied in the real world, we’ve already almost fully exploited existing energy potentials between various atomic elements, and charging a (say) 50kWh-capacity battery in ten minutes implies almost a zero-ohm resistance for the battery, which sounds unrealistic to me unless Toyota’s also secretly been working on cracking the room-temperature superconductor problem, and has figured out how to “mix” said superconductor with the battery electrolyte. Otherwise, every fast-charge scenario I’ve ever heard of involves the battery getting rather hot, which reduces its lifespan. Usually a lot.

    One of the commenters in the above linked article replied:

    If I got a dollar for every battery breakthrough press release that didn’t pan out, I could buy an electric vehicle for it.

    There are 6 important metrics for every battery tech: energy density (energy per volume), specific energy (energy per weight), cycle life (how many times can it recharge), power density (how quickly can you get energy out from the battery), charging rate (how quickly can you get energy into the battery) and cost per kWh. Of slightly less importance is temperature sensitivity for charging and discharging, and complexity of the manufacturing process.

    Most of the battery “breakthroughs” you hear about claim notable improvements in one or two metrics. If you dig into the fine print, you find out the breakthrough compromises some other metric, rendering it unusable in real-world scenarios. As a matter of fact, most solid-state battery proof of concepts still use some liquid electrolyte, otherwise the battery won’t work at all.

    Given the massive amount of investment around the world to scale up traditional LiOn chemistry, the revealed preferences are clear: tens of billions of dollars are invested in a bet that solid-state batteries will never be competitive for real-world deployments.

    What he/she said, but mebbe there’s something more that I’m missing? Can anyone weigh in here?

    • Tundra

      It sounds like fusion. “We’re almost there!”

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        We figured fusion out in the 1950’s IIRC.

        #PedantsGonnaPedant

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Without the high temp superconductor, it’s impossible.

      With it, Toyota will beat Elon into submission.

      • But Enough About My Pulsating, Geriatric Pecs

        With it, Toyota should stop making cars and just make superconductors. That way lies wealth beyond the dreams of avarice (not to mention an utterly-transformed global civilization).

    • invisible finger

      “every fast-charge scenario I’ve ever heard of involves the battery getting rather hot, which reduces its lifespan. Usually a lot.”

      Can’t dispute that at all. I wonder if what they have in mind is some sort of “battery subscription” plan that keeps dealerships happy with regular battery replacement along with market segmentation to sell LiOn to the cheapskates or sold-state to the money-no-object group.

    • Sean

      It’s not going away. Ever. Plan accordingly.

      • Tundra

        This.

        The Cathedral is already spreading the word that having a vaccine won’t eliminate the need for masks.

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        Well, maybe if a particular set of swing state Governors face some electoral consequences the case rate may drop.

    • Idle Hands

      It’s going to go till they can’t afford it anymore.

    • rhywun

      Following the experiment, another Austrian politician, ÖVP General Axel Melchior, dismissed Schnedlitz’s claims, and accused him of being drunk.

      LOL

      It’s comforting that their political class is exactly as shameless as ours.

      • Drake

        Without repeating the experiment in public I assume.

  29. Mostly Peaceful JaimeRoberto

    I’m in California. What’s this water thing you guys are talking about?

    • Richard

      It’s a liquid sometimes used in mixed drinks but usually not required.

    • BakedPenguin

      Never drink it. Fish shit in it, you know.

    • Nephilium

      It’s where the fish live.

  30. SandMan

    Nice article Richard. When I was a kid (long time ago) growing up in rural LA we drank rain water that was collected of our roof via gutters. The water tank sat off the ground high enough to provide some water pressure, but not much. A separate water line provided bath and dishwashing water, which was pumped out of the lake near the house. My recollection was that was no purification and minimal filtration of the drinking water. Despite that the that the water tasted good, certainly much better than our neighbors with well water. But god only knows how much bird crap and DDT (from crop dusters spraying the cotton field nearby) we drank! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, I hope.

    • The Other Kevin

      How many limbs do you have? If it’s more than 4, that water might have been a problem.

      • R C Dean

        What do include as a “limb”?

      • SandMan

        Only 4, but 6 fingers on each hand.

    • Richard

      Thanks!

      My family has a cottage by a lake. The cottage association ran a lake-fed water system for 100 years which worked well with the understanding you shouldn’t drink the water. Then the State noticed and said the water *had* to potable. Luckily the owner of a well-drilling outfit lives nearby. He drilled some deep wells and plumbed them into the association’s distribution system.

      The problem was that, because the lake water wasn’t potable, the old cottages were all plumbed with copper pipe affixed with lead solder. This meant a lot of replacement plumbing had to be done, all to solve a nonexistent problem.

  31. TARDis

    This place is like a college. If you actually read the articles, eventually you should get a diploma, or at least a vocational certificate.

    Nice article, Richard. I learned something… which I am quickly forgetting via alcohol.

    Also,

    My neighbor’s pressure tank is bigger than mine.

    No worries. Just make do with what you have. Remember, by definition, 49.99% percent of everything is below the median.

    • Drake

      I learned something… which I am quickly forgetting via alcohol.

      Exactly like college!

    • Richard

      Thanks! I’m about to indulge commence some forgetting myself.

      I’m glad someone noticed the joke.

    • Walford

      This is my safe place. Change my mind.

      • Dr. Fronkensteen

        Fuck off, Tulpa.

      • R C Dean

        Search for “SugarFree” posts.

        Your mind will be changed, one way or another.

  32. limey

    I think I’ve successfully managed to reverse engineer a scaled down version of the power plant from one of those [REDACTED]. It’s nice but I really don’t know what to do with 45TJ/s or how to harness that with my setup. I’m a good five years away from even beginning to understand the propulsion system. I honestly don’t think even Einstein or Feynman could figure this out, but it would be nice if someone in the private sector beat DARPA to the punch on that one.

  33. Richard

    I’m about to return to the communications void that is my cabin. I’ll be back on-line Sunday. I’d like to thank my agent, my parents, SP, and all of you for such a wonderful reception!

    • limey

      I eagerly await more Glib technical articles. Bon voyage, Richard.

    • OBJ FRANKELSON

      What!? No HF radio setup?!

      • Tres Cool

        +1 AN/GRC-106

      • OBJ FRANKELSON

        I had one of those goddam things on my hand reciept. Couldn’t make the effing thing go away.

    • But Enough About My Pulsating, Geriatric Pecs

      . . . the communications void that is my cabin.

      I gotta get me some of that.

    • Tres Cool

      “. . . the communications void that is my cabin.”

      “but, but…what do you do all day?” -my 12 year-old

    • CPRM

      It’s interesting hearing of your off the grid style.

      My house uses a sandpoint, but is pretty close the first set-up when it reaches the pump.

  34. Walford

    My well hit water at 90 feet but we stopped at 210 because we built on reclaimed land full of trash. We have the full gammit of softener, reverse osmosis etc.
    Side note; a dental hygienist once asked me if I grew up with well water (which I did). I guess the lack of florida is noticable but at least the Russians can’t weaken this body.

    • But Enough About My Pulsating, Geriatric Pecs

      I dated a nursing student in Uni who had the opposite problem from well-water — she grew up in rural Alberta, and her family’s well produced copious quantities of flouride ion. Her teeth had what looked like brilliant white chalk patches on them. She told me it was flouride “staining,” and her dentist assured her that, should there ever be a nuclear war, her teeth would probably survive intact.

      • But Enough About My Pulsating, Geriatric Pecs

        **HEAVY SIGH**

        For “flouride,” substitute “fluoride.” Grumble.

      • Ted S.

        Better than Walford, who had a notable lack of Florida Man in his water.

      • Walford

        Hell, better than florida. These Fat Tires are having their way with me.

      • TARDis

        Better than drinking your own urine.

  35. hayeksplosives

    Thanks for the article, Richard!

    I love watching documentaries about how good the Romans became at manipulating water, for drinking, bathing, sanitation, rudimentary clocks, various novelties.

    This is in that vein but far more practical.

    I wonder what skills I can bring to a clan of other survivors of Humanity’s self destruction sequence that is running now?

    I can cook. I’ve never built an electric generator but i know the theory. I can sew. I can draw.

    Ok, I’m useless until we get electricity.

  36. Threedoor

    Mine is at 1200’. Hot water at a hair over 1000’. I said punch it out I never want to redrill. We got the house as a foreclosure because the builder/owner went cheep and only went to 1025’ and hung the pump on a 1” pipe which failed. It was a disaster of six years hauling water and the state lying tonis after changing the rules to drill without canvassing the owners to tell anyone they were going to change the rules. I should have bought a rig and punched the well myself to spite them.