Rainwater washing

[kenmoreforever]

I remember as a kid going to an Aunts house in the country and they had a veryyyyy old homeplace. There was this giant cast iron pool like bowl by the end of the house. My Grandmother told me that it was to catch rainwater for washday to save the well water in the summertime. anyone ever seen one of these? I swear it must weigh a ton and it is still there till this day some 30 years since I 1st laid eyes on it.

 

[xraytech]

yes, I remember those, my grandparents had on from my great great grandmothers home. It collected rain water from both garages and was used to water the vegetable garden.

Grandma never did the wash at home until Jan. 2003 when they finally got public water and her first automatic.
From 1969 until then it was to the laundromat weekly to wash, but line dry or in dryer at home, but she did do an occasional load in the Maytag wringer in the winter if she couldnt go out to do the wash.

 

[kenmoreforever]

xray, i used to work at a factory that up until around 2000 this old man i worked with had no electricity or running water. He said he had no need for such. I found him strange but yes he did live off the grid.

 

[xraytech]

At home we still have a well, I have no desire for public water if it ever comes avaliable.

and in our area there are still people with outhouses and no indoor plumbing.

There was an elderly man(late 70's-early 80's) in our area that was threatened to be put in jail if he didnt tap into the sewage system coming through. He lived with out electricty, had a well and a septic tank, no telephone either. I am not sure if he ever won or if he gave in, or if he was arrested.

 

[kenmoreforever]

Well i once was asked to deliver a washer to a man. when i got there, he had basically a 2 room shack with a pile of firewood and he was sitting in an unfurnished room in front of woodburning stove. We put washer in his garage. I hope it didnt freeze the pump and crack the plastic. seen that before.

 

[spiceman1957]

I remember those large barrel too,

My grandparents used two large barrels, not only to wash clothes with but to water their garden as well. I grew up on a farm that had a underground spring complete with a pump house. Every time it came a hard rain you would have to clean out the reservoir the next day as sand would get in it quickly fill up and would also make the water murky. The water that came out of this spring was very cold and if you ran a glassfull of this water and held it up to light, you would see all kind of particles..it's a wonder we never got kidney stones from this water. One thing I remember well is that my mom (or one of us boys) would have to clean out the screens on the hot/cold water on the washer hoses every time she did the laundry as this type water would clogged up the screens.I'm glad to see that rain barrels are coming back to my area as well.

 

[whirlcool]

A friend of ours out in the Texas Hill Country uses a underground spring for their water. A windmill pumps the water up to a limestone cistern that is elevated and contains about 900 gallons of water or so. The cistern is probably 90 years old. The top is open with a screen covering it so it can also catch rainwater.
In a small room underneath the cistern is a water filter about the size of a large automotive oil filter. It is clear so you can see if it needs changing or not. To my amazement, the filter remains perfectly clean for about 8 months or so. They only need to change it annually. This is the water supply for the entire house.
The only downside is that when we have drought conditions the water in the underground spring drops and you can end up having a low water supply. There have been times when the pickup for the underground water is out of water and all you have left is the cistern.
The cistern is located slightly uphill from the house, so you always have great gravity fed water pressure.

As a side note, another underground spring pops up on their property. It's like a small stream about 6 feet deep or so.
The water is perfectly clear, and should I say COLD! I've swam in it before and even on a 100F day, it's almost too cold to get into.

 

[kenmoreforever]

Whirlcool, we have 2 swimming holes here that were created by digging for gravel with cranes. The cranes somehow or another hit sinkholes or underground water and sank and are there to this day. One was featured in Louisiana Life Magazine as having Carribean blue water. It is called "The Blue Hole." The other place (about 25 miles away) is called "The Green Hole." It has green water. Both holes have very cold pockets of water in the summer. It's like they are constantly circulating water of fthe bottom. People claim to never have seen the bottoms of these places. Even scuba divers claim to not have been to the bottoms. Anyone here ever heard of such places in your areas?

 

[gizmo]

our water supply is all rainwater from our house and garage roof.
we have two 8500 gallon tanks, one downhill from the house where the rainwater is collected, and one uphill from the house which we pump to. The top tank is several metres higher than the house, so it gravity feeds back to the house.
we have two pumps, an electric one which we use when we have excess electricity (we have solar power so we have limited supply in winter and surplus in summer); and a petrol powered firefighting pump which we use to transfer water when the sun has been hiding.

chris

 

[whirlcool]

What part of Louisiana are those water filled holes located?

 

[kenmoreforever]

I guess you could more or less say central louisiana.

 

[bellalaundry]

I save the dehumidifier

water during the week in the summer and do my wash with it in the twin tub. Very soft water!

Guy