Water

See Also

Water Recycling

Water Infrastructure

Our water infrastructure consists of:

• Well

• Submersible Pump

• Long Hoses

• Float Switch Instructions

• Many (under 20) 55 gallon barrels

• Reverse Osmosis Filtration System

• Surface Pump (with Pressure Switch at 50psi and strainer)

System Summary

• The well draws water in from its surroundings.

• The submersible pump pushes water from the well through long hoses to a 55 gallon barrel.

• Once the water level reaches the height of the float switch, the float switch turns off the submersible pump to prevent overflow (once the water level drops below the float switch, the float switch turns on the submersible pump).

• The 55 gallon barrels are linked to each other so as to become a single large water reserve.

• The surface pump pushes water from the reserve through the long hoses to the residential areas.

• The residential area has a reverse osmosis filtration system that cleans some of the received water for drinking. The rest of the water is used for general purpose applications without such filtration.

• Notes When atmospheric temperatures drop below freezing, the water inside exposed infrastructure will freeze and expand. The freezing will block water from moving past that point; the expansion may cause serious damage to the water infrastructure.

The temperature-time functions of the air in both the general region and specific areas are a significant factor of where and if the water system will freeze. Also, how closely packed the volume of water is and their insulation are other major factors.

Hoses are vulnerable because the cross-sectional area of the water volume is low and the volume of water within a hose line is spaced apart hence cannot effectively transfer thermal energy throughout the line. Hoses are most vulnerable when flow is zero and progressively less vulnerable as flow rate increases (because water movement improves thermal transfer within the water and new water transfers thermal energy into the insulation). Hoses should be insulated (ex. buried into the ground).

Large reserves of water are resilient to freezing because their heat capacity and rate of thermal transfer are high, but given severe freezing temperatures, long durations, and little insulation, these reserves will freeze as well. Fortunately, when large reserves of water begin to freeze, the most exposed part of the reserve freezes first to become an insulating layer of ice between the air and the water. Hence it becomes progressively harder for the air to freeze the water volumes that are deeper within the reserve. Small enough reserves should be insulated (ex. partially or fully buried into the ground).

Active parts of the water infrastructure such as surface pumps are especially in need of insulation. The submersible pump is already well insulated by being inside the ground.

A further step past insulation to prevent freezing is to add a thermal energy machine with a temperature switch to turn it on or off at designated temperatures. A critical consideration here is to ensure that fires do not occur by fireproofing the heated area (ex. with stone around) in addition to the temperature switch.

An ergonomics and energy consideration regarding water use is to insulate and heat the water infrastructure more than just to prevent freezing. Excessively cold water is detrimental for comfortable use, hence it makes sense to keep the water at or close to optimal use temperatures as practically possible. Furthermore, more energy is required to heat a colder volume of water than a warmer one, hence it makes sense to keep water cold using passive insulation techniques rather than by active heating that required energy.

Overall, extremely high levels of passive insulation are desirable to prevent freezing, improve water use, and reduce energy requirements. In extreme conditions, thermal energy machines may be required throughout the water infrastructure.