My Lake Water System

[mnboatman]

My place in Northern Minnesota on an 11,000 acre lake. I got some quotes for a 300 foot, six inch diameter well drilled in the granite ledge rock for about $11,000. It was a few thousand more if they had to do hydrofracting to increase the flow.
I decided to build my own seasonal lake water system.
I built a box with 1.5" foam insulation and some extra LP smart siding I had left over.



My intake is a 2' diameter slotted plastic pipe with a sock shaped cloth filter to keep the lake critters out of it. I connected it to a foot valve and a two foot pipe. This is tied to a concrete block to hold it down.



This is connected to 50 feet of non collapsible plastic pipe.



My water treatment was purchased from a RVwater supply place. It has three filters and a UV light sanitizer. The filters are 5 micron sediment, 1 micron sediment, and a high flow carbon filter.




The pump is a ¾ jet pump with a pressure tank.
All this fits in my box:

To keep things from freezing in
May, September and October, I've rigged up a thermostat controlled 150 watt flood light. I set the thermostat at 45 – 50 degrees.


I run the treated water up to my camper through 225' of heavy duty ¾" garden hose.

[glenn kangiser]

Nice setup.  Thanks for taking the time to post it.

[Pine Cone]

Thanks for the post.  You have an interesting setup.

I had no idea you could buy thermostat-controlled outlets like the one you are using.  I will be able to cut my winter heating bills considerably next year.

Wish I had a big lake close by...  at least it rains a lot around here so rainwater storage works for most outside uses. 

[Squirl]

Wow that is a lot of great information.  Thanks for sharing.  It is exactly like the NSF guides for rainwater.  My research matches that this should filter out almost all harmful pathogens.  Have you had it tested or home tested it?

[MountainDon]

    Looks like a small fortune worth of Shark Bite fittings.  They sure are handy to use though.

[glenn kangiser]

Note that in India they use Pete (clear plastic) bottles filled with water and laid in the sun to us natural UV to kill pathogens.  They say it works.   I haven't tried it.

[ScottA]

Nice setup. Good thing you aren't on our lake, they'd charge you for the water. They sent out a letter a few years ago warning landowners around the lake that it was illegal to remove water from the lake without a permit.

[Alan Gage]

Note that in India they use Pete (clear plastic) bottles filled with water and laid in the sun to us natural UV to kill pathogens.  They say it works.   I haven't tried it.

Some hikers (and canoe trippers) do the same. If you look around online you can find guidelines for how long to leave it exposed in the sun. The clearer the plastic and smaller diameter bottle the better. Dirty water also slows the process.

Alan

[glenn kangiser]

Thanks Alan.  I hadn't seen guidelines on that yet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_water_disinfection

[mnboatman]

Nice setup. Good thing you aren't on our lake, they'd charge you for the water. They sent out a letter a few years ago warning landowners around the lake that it was illegal to remove water from the lake without a permit.

Lake water systems are common around here for seasonal cabins. My few hundred gallons a year is a drop in the bucket. All the excess flows north and ends up in Hudson Bay eventually.

[pmichelsen]

I will see if I have any pictures of our setup, we pull water from a creek. The line from the creek gravity feeds our 4200 gallon tank and then from there we pump it through filters and off to our cabins. Regardless your system looks good.

*edit: Here is a picture of our setup, not as neat as yours, but along the same idea...

[Yankeesouth]

I am looking at a similar set up from a stream.  Do you have your pum electrical on a separate breaker?  How much power to you have running to it?  Your pump looks like a combo unit.  What brand and how big is the pressure tank?  Is it hard wired or plugged into an outlet?

Sorry for all the questions but this is pretty much identical to the plan I was thinking of to get water to my cabin.  I just didn't have the stones to sink the money in only for it not to work!   I have a lot more in the line of questions if your willing to answer.  I can email or PM.   I am looking to not reinvent the wheel.