At the moment we are using a gas powered generator to fill the water tank from the well. We run the generator 1 1/2 hours approximately once a week during the growing season and 1 1/2 hours every two weeks during fallow months.

We plan to move to a solar powered well pump in the near future which will involve a couple of solar panels, a few batteries, and a regulator so that the pump will run and trickle fill the tank when it gets down to a specific water level.

Water Usage

We estimate our water usage at 20,000 gallons per year for our entire family (bathing, washing, toilet, drinking, cooking, animals). We do our laundry in town in big efficient washing machines and figure that consumes about 4500 gallons a year. Another 6,000 gl went toward irrigation in 2004 making our total well water consumption 30,500 gallons for four people.

Statistics show that the average American uses 75 - 95 gl of water per day! That is 27,375 - 32,850 gallons per year. So our family of four is consuming approximately the national statistical allotment of water for one person!

House Pump

We use an DC powered RV pump in the Dome to pump our house water from the tank. It is a little noisy but runs successfully off of our existing solar system. We can run water in either the bathroom or the kitchen, but not both at the same time.

There is a propane powered instant hot water heater installed in the bathroom that gives us endless quantities of hot water on demand. It is very efficient. We've looked at solar water heating solutions but have not yet found one that we are convinced will supply enough hot water and a high enough temperature to suit our needs. Hot water is one of the conveniences of civilization that the ladies in the hosue are not willing to skimp on.

We've found a more powerful dual feed DC power pump that we hope to change over to in the near future. It will allow us to run water at multiple faucets at the same time and may also allow us to do finer adjustments to water temperature than is currently possible.