From what I can see of the tank top in the pictures it looks a lot like the one we purchased from TankDepot. manhole extension from them too.

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=2335.msg94915#msg94915

THanks Don,

It occurs to me that I need to know the lid size  16" or 22" -- I think it's a 22" lid but now that I'm 250 miles away I can't say for certain

Quote from: OlJarhead on April 30, 2012, 04:25:16 PM
THanks Don,

It occurs to me that I need to know the lid size  16" or 22" -- I think it's a 22" lid but now that I'm 250 miles away I can't say for certain

I'm not sure, but I thought I saw a place across from Hamilton Farm Equipment in Okanogan (might even be them) that carried a lot of those "plastic" tanks.  They might have your extension ... it's not real close to you, but it sure isn't 250 miles away!  They were up the road from the lumber yard (south) on the east side of the river.

If you're heading that way ... you might check and see if the Cattlemans Cafe is still there (right next door to the lumberyard, in the old cattlemans auction building). Great food - decent prices.  At least the last time I was there

Quote from: JavaMan on April 30, 2012, 07:00:51 PM
I'm not sure, but I thought I saw a place across from Hamilton Farm Equipment in Okanogan (might even be them) that carried a lot of those "plastic" tanks.  They might have your extension ... it's not real close to you, but it sure isn't 250 miles away!  They were up the road from the lumber yard (south) on the east side of the river.

If you're heading that way ... you might check and see if the Cattlemans Cafe is still there (right next door to the lumberyard, in the old cattlemans auction building). Great food - decent prices.  At least the last time I was there

Thanks!  I'll check them out on my way back up.  Should be able to get a seal and other things from them I imagine.

I think if you go to Their Website you could get the phone and call to see if they had all the parts you need before you stop

Quote from: JavaMan on May 01, 2012, 02:18:47 PM
I think if you go to Their Website you could get the phone and call to see if they had all the parts you need before you stop

Sweet!

Spoke with one of their reps and they keep bulkhead fittings in stock so I can pick them up there.  He said I could use silicone sealer on the gasket as long I get the potable water safe type and I think I actually have the riser at the cabin (am not 100% sure but there was one that I'd forgotten about and I'm hoping I didn't toss it out).

He also said that if you use the water a lot then it won't freeze but if you leave it for long periods in the winter then it's a good idea to put some insulation under the lid in the riser -- also saw somewhere that you can mound up the dirt around it to help also.

So that's the plan

Quote from: OlJarhead on May 01, 2012, 02:48:55 PM
Sweet!

Spoke with one of their reps and they keep bulkhead fittings in stock so I can pick them up there.  He said I could use silicone sealer on the gasket as long I get the potable water safe type and I think I actually have the riser at the cabin (am not 100% sure but there was one that I'd forgotten about and I'm hoping I didn't toss it out).

He also said that if you use the water a lot then it won't freeze but if you leave it for long periods in the winter then it's a good idea to put some insulation under the lid in the riser -- also saw somewhere that you can mound up the dirt around it to help also.

So that's the plan

For all the help I get from this place, I am glad I was finally able to provide someone else with some info that has helped out!   

Glad to hear they were able to help you out.  I've always found them to be quite friendly and helpful.  I hope to rent an excavator from them later this summer.   I fear I may have to pay to have it delivered, tho ... I don't know if my 4.6L 8 could pull it up the hill to my place.

Quote from: JavaMan on May 02, 2012, 07:08:40 AM
For all the help I get from this place, I am glad I was finally able to provide someone else with some info that has helped out!   

Glad to hear they were able to help you out.  I've always found them to be quite friendly and helpful.  I hope to rent an excavator from them later this summer.   I fear I may have to pay to have it delivered, tho ... I don't know if my 4.6L 8 could pull it up the hill to my place.

Borrow a 5.7 from someone!  Cheaper then paying the cost to deliver (at least it was a TON when I looked around a couple years ago -- more then the cost of the rental).  Had my buddy do it instead.

Heck, pick a weekend, offer to pay gas and $200 and have Tom drag it up there and run it for ya   He's an excellent operator and a good guy.

Quote from: OlJarhead on May 02, 2012, 08:10:55 AM
Heck, pick a weekend, offer to pay gas and $200 and have Tom drag it up there and run it for ya   He's an excellent operator and a good guy.

This might be the option.  I think it's $75 each way for delivery... and I'm assuming that's only if they don't have to leave the county road.  Which they will, for about 7 miles.   Oh, wait ... I just looked, that's $75/hour.  And I figure it's probably 1.5 hours round trip, so about the same.  Not much cheaper.  Plus, that's only one trip!

It would probably cost that much just to get it delivered and picked up.

Hmmm ... now I'm going to have to do some thinking and budgeting so I can pick a weekend   

Quote from: JavaMan on May 02, 2012, 09:18:52 AM
This might be the option.  I think it's $75 each way for delivery... and I'm assuming that's only if they don't have to leave the county road.  Which they will, for about 7 miles.   Oh, wait ... I just looked, that's $75/hour.  And I figure it's probably 1.5 hours round trip, so about the same.  Not much cheaper.  Plus, that's only one trip!

It would probably cost that much just to get it delivered and picked up.

Hmmm ... now I'm going to have to do some thinking and budgeting so I can pick a weekend   

They quoted me $600 to deliver and bring back.....I had Tom do it!

Well, that is a pretty good savings.  I figure it'll cost me about $500 for the entire deal if I have Tom do it... which wouldn't be too bad.  I've got June 7th penciled in for the second trip up - which might make a good time to get my excavating done.

Guess I'll have to save a couple hours or so the first trip to mark what I want excavated next time    If I don't do it then, it will be waiting until August or Sept...

Thanks for the tip!

Got home today and figured out the angles I wanted to use for my ships ladder stairs.  Technically they won't actually be a 'ships ladder' because I beleive to be classified as such they'd have to be closer to 68-70 degrees whereas they are 58.5 degrees -- so hopefully a little easier to traverse.

Run is 60 inches and rise is just over 8 feet.  I plan to set the treads at 8" rise each which might be a tad shallow for such a steep stair but I'm thinking it should be ok???

Anyway, I'm loving the look so far!  They are HEAVY but I think that's a good thing though

OH CRAP!!!!!

Our 5 Apple Trees arrived today!  A little earlier then I hoped and with the warm weather we have down here I'm going to have to race up to the cabin tomorrow and plant them.

I'm going to fence each off with 5' farm fencing about 3 feet out from the tree and surrounding them in hopes that will keep the deer from eating them.  Haven't finished the barbed wire fence yet but will have to take my chances becuase I just don't have time to get it done   I'll do a little praying and hope that helps.

Then I have to get the dang water situation sorted so I can water the trees daily!  I should have enough water to do so for 10-14 days if I get the timer set right (again, pray) but luckily this is the rainy time of year up there so with luck the watering and the rain will be enough to get them going.

Then memorial weekend I can get the solar panel installed along with the float valve and controller for the well and perhaps even have it all working on a daily basis to keep the cistern full so the trees can be watered twice a week all summer.....hoping so anyway.

Quote from: OlJarhead on May 03, 2012, 09:44:18 PM
OH CRAP!!!!!

Our 5 Apple Trees arrived today!  A little earlier then I hoped and with the warm weather we have down here I'm going to have to race up to the cabin tomorrow and plant them.

I'm going to fence each off with 5' farm fencing about 3 feet out from the tree and surrounding them in hopes that will keep the deer from eating them.  Haven't finished the barbed wire fence yet but will have to take my chances because I just don't have time to get it done   I'll do a little praying and hope that helps.

We used 4' fencing around our 2 apple trees and it kept the deer out.  Might want at least three 6' posts to keep the fencing from getting pushed in towards the trees.  The problem we have had seems to be bears in the fall.   They go after the apples and crush the fence.  Not a problem until you have apples.

Sounds like you are making good progress with your water system.  We still don't have our cistern tank in the ground since we are in the rainy part of Washington and our hole didn't drain well enough.  Just got the the neighbor with the mini-excavator to dig our drain ditch deeper, so with luck our tank will be in the ground by Memorial Day.

We were up last weekend also, just a warning about the 5' fence on the apple trees we had this visitor.

It has taken two years to finally get a moose pic. Trail cams are like a treasure hunt, we can't hardly wait to check every time we go.
Like allways can't wait to see what your up two next.    Jeff

oh what a weekend!

As you know, I was working on my cistern set up the week prior but then something happened:  my trees arrived!

So off I went with grand plans!  I stopped in Okanagan and picked up the Cistern bulkheads and some fittings to go with them  (slip to thread) and a little knowledge and headed out to the cabin.

When I arrived I was armed with all sorts of things including a valve wrench (for a valve thats 4 feet down or more), a new spigot and fittings to attach it to the main water line stubbed up out of the ground but not previously used.

I was really in a panic becuase I knew the trees needed to be watered, soaked even, and planted ASAP!  So when I arrived at the cabin I double checked the planting book, cut out the trees (from their packaging) and stuck them in 5 gallons of water to soak overnight (I had to get half the bucket from the creek!).

I opened the main and managed to get SOME water out of the system but not nearly enough.  Things weren't going well.

I believed that I could get the cistern providing water if I just got the air out of it and went up to it to figure out what to do...things didn't look good and I realized I needed more parts!  SO I raced to Ace Hardware and picked up the missing ingredients and headed right back to the cabin.....

Once at the cabin I decided to try a few things first (namely run the pump and open the spigot and see if I could force the air out and get the siphon working again).  With that in mind I settled in for the weekend.

Once the trees were planted (my neighbor came and helped) I tried getting water to no avail so I began digging out the Frost Free Hydrant/spigot.  I felt that if I could dig it up and fix it then maybe I'd no longer have a leak or an air inlet and could perhaps solve the problem -- can you tell I have no idea what to do?  But I'm an old jarhead and digging holes I'm good at!  So I DUG and DUG and DUG!

Once I dug up the frost free I found it was not installed properly but it WAS working   I'll fix that later but for now it functions correctly so back to the cistern.  It was time to fix it.  But wait, how do you drill a 2 1/8" hole over a 1 1/4" hole?  Carefully (ba da dum).....I'll be here all week

Seriously!  That's HARD!  HAd to hold the drill stead so the hole saw bit didn't tear things up but I managed to get the bulkhead fitting holes drilled and the bulkhead fittings installed.


With these in I could reasonably assume that the tank could be made to NOT leak and the connections to the tank from the inlet and outlet lines could be installed without leaking too....a plus on both accounts.

I then had dinner (after 8PM) and settled down for the night...I'd been working for 12 hours and was smoked!

Sunday I got up with a plan.  First I would siphon water from a bucket into the outlet line (after I cut it off) and try to force air out.  This worked a little as indicated by the geysers of water that came out at the most inconvenient time!  But clearly air was escaping.  Next I installed the flex pvc to the cistern from the pipes and once it dried I ran the pump to allow even more water to go into the siphon/outlet line.

Finally I installed the piping inside the cistern and let it dry.  Once done the system was, in theory, properly installed.


Flex to the cistern is what the books and experts recommend.  Apparently the tanks can move/swell/flex a bit.


No obvious leaks...the system holds!

My neigh came along and checked altitude....hmmm.....two readings on his GPS put the cistern 100 to 120 feet above the well!  Is it possible?  I never thought it was that much higher and always guessed at 40 feet which do to the crappy pressure at the bottom made sense......but wait.

First test on the spigot down below and water show out of the thing at a rate I've never seen!!!!  WOW!  PRESSURE!......crap.  THe pressure tapers off after about 1-2 gallons and then dies off only to build up a little later but not back to the high pressure of the start....hmmmm.

Shut off the spigot and it shoots out like crazy.  Clearly I have a problem still.  It cannot hold any reasonable pressure for long -- much be an air leak somewhere.


Flow from the well is exceptional so I'm thrilled with that.  In fact, during a test I accidentally overfilled the cistern (as iin pouring out) while trying to let the water get forced out the outlet because of pumping in the inlet....hmmm.....damn air.

Anyway, so for now we're bucket watering the trees (my neighbor is helping while I'm gone) and I'll try some other ideas when I return.

On the topic of trees, I didn't get any pictures (sorry!).  I was spending too much time digging  to remember.

However what I did was wrap them in a roughly 6 foot diameter 5 foot tall farm fence hung on posts that were driving about 2 feet into the ground.  I then wrapped the trunks (didn't get them all done yet though) with 1/4" hardware clothe.

I also picked up a fence stretcher and various parts for making corners etc so I could get the barbed wire fence done around the orchard next trip.

I'm very excited about the trees and very glad my neighbor was willing to both help out with the project but also drop by every couple days and water them for me since I'm still having issues with my cistern water system.

I'm hoping and praying it's just air in the lines but if it isn't I'm going to get a trackhoe up there and I'll dig the entire 300 feet of pipe up and re-install if I have to! 

Quote from: OlJarhead on May 08, 2012, 08:13:01 AM
I'm hoping and praying it's just air in the lines but if it isn't I'm going to get a trackhoe up there and I'll dig the entire 300 feet of pipe up and re-install if I have to!

ouch!   Sounds like a LOT of work

Quote from: JavaMan on May 08, 2012, 08:52:44 AM
ouch!   Sounds like a LOT of work

A TON!  I dug up the Frost Free which was down about 4 feet (maybe 5) which means a BIG hole since my rather large rear end needed to be in the hole digging! LOL

Well, I think I might just have to try to plan a weekend with a trackhoe/backhoe to solve my water problem.  I've been talking with a friend who's almost convinced me (it isn't hard) that the problem is the installation.  You see, so much was done poorly that I have to surmise that the 300+ foot run to the main, frost free and spigot was also done poorly and as such needs to be dug up and corrected.

If only it wasn't so hard to rent a trackhoe and pull it up there!  I think the last time cost me almost $300 for the hoe, $200 for my buddy plus gas etc.....so $600 easily.

But then with all the digging I've done and have to yet do I'm thinking maybe it's time to just DO IT.

My wife says "just do it!"

So I'm starting to plan a track hoe trip now   Going to dig that sucker up!!!

Quote from: OlJarhead on May 08, 2012, 03:14:51 PM
My wife says "just do it!"

So I'm starting to plan a track hoe trip now   Going to dig that sucker up!!!

Cool    When he's done, send him to my place to put in the road ...     HA!

Wanted to add a question for you ... where'd you get your steel roofing from? was it a good deal?

Quote from: JavaMan on May 08, 2012, 03:58:59 PM
Cool    When he's done, send him to my place to put in the road ...     HA!

Wanted to add a question for you ... where'd you get your steel roofing from? was it a good deal?

Tom would do it.

I got the roofing from the place in Tonasket (can't remember the name but can find out) and it was a much better deal then Home Depot!  So too for the windows, door and other supplies.

Erik

QuoteI got the roofing from the place in Tonasket

Was it Midway?

They seem to be very competitive in their pricing AND they deliver.