I posted this piece back in March 2012 and felt it needed to be re-posted. The reasons being I needed to update it and second we have a lot of new folks coming to the forum. I encourage all of you if you have a piece you would like to re-post do so. Please include any new updated info.
The updates:
> The system is 23 months old and has worked through -5F degree temps and during dry
spells typically in September.
> My brother and I have cleaned out the well of silt and added a roof to the well to keep leaves
and other debris from getting in it.
> With some suggestions from thatGuy, we are going to add a 55 gallon drum along the route of the
pipe, to aid in cleaning out silt via gravity, as it builds up through-out the year.
> We still do not have running water in the cabin yet. So one idea my brother and I have is to put a
black 55 gallon drum next to the house that the water feeds into. Then into the cabin to the water
manifold. Then a hose up top so the extra water can run off. This is very important in the winter
so the water is constantly moving and will not freeze.
For the past seven years we have been bringing cooking and washing water from home using 5 gallon potable water containers. For showers, filling toilet bowl tanks, watering the garden, we have used water from 55 gallon barrels around the cabins fed by rain water runoff from the roof. If we ran out of potable water in the middle of our stay, we just filled the jugs at the farmer?s house across the road. We thought this would work just fine until we drilled for a well.
Well this early summer the farmer across the road from our BOL told me that he found a wet spot up the hill from his house. His suggestion was for my brother and I to dig a little and see if the wet spot was a spring. If it was he would take his backhoe up the hill and dig a 4? x 4? hole which could then supply spring water to our cabin.
Well I started digging and about 6" down I found some old boards. I pried the boards up and what I found was an old well (See picture I). The well was about 5' deep and 4' wide - Lined with blue stone. The farmer wasn't surprised with my find and told me that the water supply to his house was from another well he found.
So this is what I did to use this find, about 300 yards from our cabin:
1) I walked off the distance between the well and the cabin. I determined it was about
1,200'.
2) Went into town to buy some PVC hose. That is when I found out it came in 400' long rolls
(See picture VIII), some 90 degree elbows, some barb connectors, hose clamps, and an outside
faucet. I already had a 4 x 4 wood post, a metal fence post and a 5 gallon bucket
3) So I first I laid out 400' of pipe. Then I plugged up the pipe at the down grade end. At the well
end I started to slowly pour water into the pipe using the 5 gallon bucket at the well end. I
filled the pipe until it became tedious. Then I sunk the 5 gallon bucket and stuck the end of the
hose into the bucket (See Picture I) ? Walked down to the plugged end of the pipe and pulled
out the plug. After several gurgles and belches water started to pour out
4) While the water was running free I ran out another 400' of pipe (See picture III). Once that was
done I inserted the barbed connector, 2 hose clamps and then stuck the two pipes together and
tightened the hose clamps. (See Picture IV)
5) I continued step 4 until we reached our cabin
According to my GPS our cabin is at 1,420'. I haven't checked out the altitude of the well but it is up the mountain from our cabin. If I had to guess it is at maybe 75' - 100' feet higher than our cabin so 1,495' -1,520'. The pipe runs about 600' down from the well to our dirt road. Then the pipe runs along the road in the gutter to a drainage pipe that goes under the dirt road. Then the pipe runs through the drainage pipe to our cabin. All told about 1,150' of PVC pipe.
6) At the cabin I pounded in a 4' metal fence post. Then drilled a 1" hole through a 4', 4x4 and
screwed the 4x4 to the fence post. Inserted the 90 degree barbed elbow and 2 hose clamps into
the pipe from the well into a 3' piece of PVC pipe followed with another 90 degree barbed
elbow (See Picture V).
7) Once that was accomplished I fastened the outdoor faucet (See Picture VI).
In order to install the 90 degree elbows and faucet I disconnected the pipe at one of the barbed connectors. Then I re-hooked everything back up. Voila! We had running water at our cabin.
Before the winter arrived I added a "Y" valve to the faucet and connected a hose to one of the outlets. The "Y" valve had on / off controls so that I could run both of the outlets simultaneously or separately. I then hooked up a garden hose to one of the outlets and ran that off to a dry creek bed. I then turned on that side of the valve and let it run 24/7.
I did this so we could draw water in the coldest months. In fact, in December temps hit zero and we always had water (See picture VII)! We fill 5 gallon buckets from the other outlet of the valve (See picture VI again).
I also added a one way screened valve at the well end (See picture II) so keep out pieces of leaves and algae from the line. In the summer I have to clean the screen monthly and in the winter about once every three months to keep the water running smoothly.
Last, we use the water for everything. None of us have gotten sick and in fact the water tastes GREAT right out of the pipe. I suspect I should have it tested but?.
I had it tested by Penn State University and they gave it a 
So there you go. Don?t hesitate asking any questions.
