# Deer Camp Water System



## Suchland4 (Feb 13, 2008)

Hey guys - I need some suggestions or ideas.

This may sound a little redneckish and that's fine - it kind of is! 

Not sure if any of you were or are in a similar situation but we have a hunting lodge in Southern Ohio. We currently have no water or sewage hookup. We are fairly close to a Natural Spring and have access to plenty of fresh water. As of now, we haul five, ten, and fifteen gallon buckets to the spring and bring it back to camp. We heat the water on the stove for dishes and our make-shift shower. We can hook up to the County water for $1,200. It's a bit more than we'd like to spend on a place we don't frequent that often. Anyone have any suggestions on how to get water into our house? THe house is on a stick foundation and the bottom is exposed to the elements.

One idea we've been throwing around is to get a tank on top of the hill next to the house. I found a 1,000 gallon Poly tank on craigslist for just $50. We can fill a few 55 gallon barrels on a truck and fill that tank. (It's take a few trips at first!) We would get a UV cover for it to help protect against algae and also add a safe amount of chlorine to it to also help prevent algae. I think a tank heater from TSC should help keep the water from freezing. We would run a 4" hose to the inlet to the house. We'd have a shut off valve at the tank. There would be a drain valve below this inlet to allow us to drain all the water from the lines before we leave camp. We'll put heat tape around the pipes. 

Does anyone see anything we might be missing? Our main concern is the lines freezing during use. Any way around that? Anyone have any better ideas?

Thanks so much for your help!


----------



## truck (Apr 12, 2004)

Sounds like we r trying to do the same thingMy plans r to catch rain water off the cabin in a large tank off the ground high enough to make the pluming work.When the weather starts getting real cold drain it till march then start over again.I think Jan and feb r the only months to worry about freezing.Also a small 12v pump will move enough water for our needs!


----------



## Suchland4 (Feb 13, 2008)

truck - Thanks for the reply!
I thought about a pump and if needed, we can hook one to it. HOPEFULLY, we can get the tank high enough up the hill next to our house to get enough force but if not, a $100 pump should suffice. I figured we'd drain it at the end of gun season since we really won't be back down until Spring Turkey season anyway. Just to be safe! I know most of the time, we don't have any real hard freezes until later in December. I guess I'm just worried about the few times in the future when it does freeze early. I guess we'll try it, and if it creates that many issues, we'll see if we can fix it or maybe just scratch that idea and be ready to go on County Water.
I might try to see if there will be a way to catch the rain water. How do you plan on keeping the water clear of bugs and small leaves, etc.?
Anyone else have any other options either similar to our current sytem or something entirely different?


----------



## fishintechnician (Jul 20, 2007)

they do this in the carribean all the time you will see large black tanks on top of the house on top because gravity will let it flow down and black draws heat and keeps it warm. the told me the government treats them but not sure what they use i think you guys have the right idea they make small inline heaters for the pipes the tank heater plus this would be all you need to keep from freezeing you could also try some kind of water recycle to keep water flowing through the pipes and back to the tank like a three way valve when you need water one would close and allow water to the camp then when shutoff it would close and let the water flow throught the pipe and back to the tank kind of like leaving your tap on in the winter but without wasting water just a thought hope it works out for you keep us posted


----------



## Suchland4 (Feb 13, 2008)

Thanks fishintech - another good idea. I'll look into that as well. If it's easy enough and effective, it should help!


----------



## truck (Apr 12, 2004)

Suchland4 said:


> truck -
> I might try to see if there will be a way to catch the rain water. How do you plan on keeping the water clear of bugs and small leaves, etc.?


The same way ppl do with cisterns,screensU r boiling water allready for cleaning so should not be a big deal.For the past yr we have just been using 2 55gal drums,holds more than enough water for a few weekends!


----------



## Suchland4 (Feb 13, 2008)

Oh yeah - A simple filter should take care of that! I was trying to make it difficult, I guess!

Using rain water would make things a lot easier on us, that's for sure!


----------



## truck (Apr 12, 2004)

Rain water is great for showers,is very soft


----------



## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

It sounds like you have electric at the place. I didn't read all of the post closely so I may have overlooked this but why can you not put in a cistern and simply run a line from it to the house and pump it with a jet pump? That would seem to me to be the easiest way. You can put a pressure tank in the house and have a filter in front of that to keep the water clean (somewhat clean). Then when you leave the place for winterizing just drain the tank and open a faucet at the lowest point, possibly under the house where the pump sits and let it drain the lines. The cabin we use in Canada is set up this way. The only thing that is different is that we are drawing the water from the lake and not from a cistern.

You can use a tank like you mentioned but just put it below the ground and you don't have to worry about it freezing. By cistern I mean that you would collect water from the roof of the house. The water volume from one side of the house can fill a cistern up in a short time. If you have a long dry spell while you are there you could always fill it as you mentioned, from the spring.


----------



## Suchland4 (Feb 13, 2008)

bkr - Thanks for the post!

Yes, we do have electric and essentially, this will be a cistern system. Instead of a pump, we would like to use gravity fed lines to cut down on cost and to minimize what "curious passer-bys" would want to take for their own use. If the gravity fed lines do not give us strong enough water pressure, we'll probably set up our system about the same as you did. 

Thanks for your help guys. This all sounds promising, so far. I guess we're on the right track with what we've got. If anyone else has suggestions or concerns, please let me know! Would hate to do all of this for nothing! I'll let you all know how it works if/when we ever make it happen!


----------



## chadwimc (Jun 27, 2007)

Don't use copper! The neighbors at my little slice of heaven, if they can't steal it, will shoot holes in it.

How far will the tank be from the water source? I use a drill powered pump (Harbor Freight)to fill a water tank from the "crick" at my place. I use the water for rinsing and spraying stuff off, since there are cows upstream...

It sounds like you need to develop your spring. Make it flow into a holding tank. From the holding tank to your cabin. Black poly water line is pretty cheap...


----------



## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

Several factors need to go in to deciding all of the details as to how you are going to do it. How much water volume will you need? How far are you from the spring? How large is your holding tank (cistern) going to be? If your tank is large enough to hold enough water for your weekly use then I would think simply collecting rainwater from the roof would be enough. If you run lines to a stream you are adding a considerable cost and work. You could make a cistern very inconspicuous if you drop the downspout tile under ground and nothing will be exposed for the curious passerby.

Also, I don't think you will be able to get a tank large enough or high enough above your cabin to provide a desirable pressure. I could be wrong. You may be satisfied with a low pressure but I don't know that you will be able to get above 10-15# without a large supply line and a sizable tank. But the advantage to that would be that you would not be dependent on electric for water supply.


----------



## Suchland4 (Feb 13, 2008)

The spring is miles away - we drive back and forth and it's a county monitored spring so no luck there. 
We're still up in the air on what to do. For a while, we think it's worth trying. Then the next time we talk about it, we just want to hook up to the county water lines at the road and not worry about it anymore. Water Pressure is a concern for me as well. We could get the tank about 20-30 feet up the hill. Not sure if that'll be enough. Who knows what we'll decide?!
Chad - thanks for the advice on the copper pipe! Wouldn't have thought of that but you're right - that'll disappear shortly after we install it!


----------



## Got One (May 26, 2006)

Suchland, I had put in a rainwater cistern system in my cabin and it works great. I put in a 1500 gal tank underground and use a small shallow well pump, which is in the cabin. It will run for pennies and maintain 20-45 psi. Just add drains while doing the plumbing which is all cpvc. Here is a pic of how I ran the downspouts into the tank. I use the cistern water for shower, toilet,sinks and dishwasher. I use 5 gal. bottle water dispenser for drinking and cooking. The pump was bought at tractor supply for around $250. I also have a inline filter between the tank and pump. Good luck!!


----------



## noboatdave (May 5, 2004)

At our cabin we have a 400 gallon poly tank under the floor. It is wrapped with insulation and hasn't frozen in 7 years. We use a 12 volt pump for pressure and an inline water heater. We have a 200 gallon refill tank we throw in a truck and fill with city water for a quarter.


----------



## bkr43050 (Apr 5, 2004)

That is pretty much what I had in mind in my suggestion! That is a great clean looking setup. So I can't see from the picture how you divert the overflow water. I assume you have a diverter somewhere? Or is that underground as well with a tile running away?

That is a great looking cabin by the way.


----------



## Got One (May 26, 2006)

The overflow is run underground thru a 4 inch pvc pipe about 100 ft to a hillside where it goes into a ravine.The 4" pvc pipe with the cap in between the downspout inlet and the cistern cap is for manual filling if the water conditions are bad. Never had to use it though.


----------

