To kind of sort of continue with a previous thread of mine: How would you cut a fuel oil tank in half? | Firewood Hoarders Club And a long hot summer, I'm now able to catch up on, and finish a lot of projects I had started but didn't complete. One of them being the Spring Box cover. I did prime and paint the thing, but it had to sit because I knew there was no way I would be able to get it up the hill to where it needed to be during the heat of the summer. Then as one project led to another it finally came time to have at it. That's pushing and pulling, sometimes both pushing and pulling at the same time to get it up the hill. That's about 25 to 40 feet above the house altitude wise. I made an since dismantled some axles to put wheels on to transport the thing. Bicycle tires for the back and lawn mower tires for the front. And rope to hold them in place. In the picture below you'll see the setup, but that is after the fact. I had hauled the tank up the hill and what your looking at is the original Spring Box cover. Rusted through in multiple places. While the axles I created held up, they were kind of bent by the time I was done. This was the first part of the hill I had to go up, and also where I broke a rib (what do you mean I can't use my bones for leverage? ) The incline got easier after that. This is a view from about 600 feet up the path looking back towards my place. This next picture is looking up towards the covers final resting spot. Though it's already in place, I figured it was worth the view. The logs on both sides I pulled off to the side so I could get through. Almost there! And finally! The spring box had been dead at least the 6 years that I have been here, and I have no doubt that it had been dead for an additional 6 years before that. It took a bit of digging to find where the spring actually was that was supposed to be feeding the spring box, but I did find it, cleared the pipe into the spring box and dang, it started filling even though there was a ton of debris in the box. Rocks, leaves, branches. Frogs, crickets, spiders, and craw fish. One craw fish I had seen was dang near 6 inches long. I went ahead and put the lid on with plans to clean out the box come spring. I'll be bringing a bucket to house any frogs and crawfish. (snacks) So the sping box was prematurely activated. I decided the make sure the line was clear down to my place. Well, it wasn't. I tried air pressure to clear the line. Didn't work. I tried water from the house going back up the line. didn't quite work. I even tried sucking it out manually, yes with my mouth! I finally just kept up with the house water and would measure how much I could get in the line. At first it was 10.5 gallons, then crept up to 11 gallons, then jumped to 15 gallons. Whatever it was causing the block was moving. So finally I just left the house water hooked up and walked the 800 or so feet back up the hill to the spring box. I propped up the lid to see if there was any activity. At first there were tiny air bubbles. Not a lot, but enough where I knew there was still movement. The bubbles started coming faster and were getting bigger so I knew this was it. In one final push, what looked like a turd came out of the end of the pipe, shooting across the tank and dissolving. I did laugh out loud. This next picture you can see some frogs, but also the framework I put under the cover. Yes, I know it's a bit long, but once I complete everything it will be fine, the spring box will be sealed off completely. The picture is shortly after I found the spring head and activated the spring box. I did take all of those pictures in reverse order, or my coming back from the spring head. Sorry there wasn't any going up. I had my hands full at the time. AND, the water has settled nicely. And yes, I did place a temporary filter on the feed line so I can actually use the water from the spring. Come spring, I will be thoroughly cleaning the spring box, adding a decent filter, and putting in a valve so that I can have it running to the house.
I forgot to mention, I used a rope and pulley to help with my pushing and pulling to get the cover to the spring box.
Wow - that was some hard work you put in to get that up there. Although I've never broken a bone, I've gotten some nice deep bruises using them as levers and bracing so can almost imagine breaking a rib while doing so. Nice ingenuity using bicycle wheels. You do have a way with words describing the cleanup of the spring box and clearing the pipe!
When you get it all cleaned out, will you use it as your main house source or just for the garden? Edit: would you have to keep it running all winter so it doesn't freeze?
In the end, I would like to use the spring as my main source of water for both the house and garden. It actually has some decent pressure coming off the mountain with the gravity feed and I think I'll make an adapter so I can check to see what the actual pressure is. I'll have to put in a T type ball valve where I can switch from one to the other with one valve inside the pump house. That should keep that part of things from freezing during the winter months. But my concern would be at the spring box since the outlet isn't below the frost line. Still the running water from the spring itself through the overflow on the spring box may be enough to keep that part from freezing. I think a lot depends on just how deep the line was buried as it comes down the mountain. There is a lot of rock to cut through. So if nothing else, I would have to use well water during the winter months, and spring water the rest of the time. I will also leave room for an inline filter, small bypass to keep the system running when not in use as well as freeze prevention, or anything else I might deem necessary as a just in case. As far as I can tell, the water itself is very clean as it comes from the spring, plus it has a better flavor than the well water. I will have the water tested once I get things set up properly though. I'll have the winter months to think this through and do some more research.
If I ever have to do this sort of thing again, I do believe I will use 4 bicycle tires instead of two. The lawn mower tires didn't care much for uneven terrain. The axle setup was basically an old steel rod attached to a notched 2x4 which extended out from the spring cover a couple of inches and was then attached to a 2 x 10 cut to length to fit under the cover. The rope over the cover, stretched and tied to keep the axle setup from moving worked rather well. I did basically the same thing for the front, but used 12 inch nails for the axle instead of a steel rod. I did have some serious bruising on my legs as well as up my right side with more appearing even a couple of days later. At first I figured I just bruised the rib, or maybe just cracked it. But now that the swelling has gone down, I'm sure it is broken. I can move it and feel it when I snap it back in place. (the break is several ribs directly below my armpit) So therapeutic levels of Naproxen, an anti inflammatory (Aleve) 800mg every 8 hours helps out with the pain. Otherwise sleep is very difficult, especially since I sleep on that side. It will all eventually heal so I'm not concerned. At least I completed what I set out to do. I just have to remember to use bigger bones for leverage!
As well as the pictures of what you accomplished, I also enjoyed the pictures of your property with the trees and leaves. It must be nice to know you have an independent source of water if you need it.
