Off Grid Water - How We Got Water from the Well to Our Home

Before moving to Portugal, people told us that the most important thing to look for in a rural property was a water source. Connecting to mains water can be very expensive, and especially because we were searching for a property off the beaten track, we needed to buy land that had either a well, water mine or spring. Luckily for us, our farm has both a well and water mine.

We wanted to live off grid, and with water we had no choice! Getting water flowing from the well to our property would be the first step in setting up our off grid home.

When we first arrived at our property we had no working kitchen and therefore no water running to the house. There was a plumbed in (rather grubby looking) bathroom but no plumbing connecting it to a water source. A chat with the previous owner confirmed that neither the well nor water mine were connected to the house. The previous pipework had been damaged in a fire many years before.

After a few weeks of fetching water for drinking, cooking, cleaning and showering in bottles from the local water fountain or 'fonte', we decided it was time to get some water flowing, at least to our temporary kitchen.

Full disclaimer, we are not plumbers! But this is how we did it...

Uncovering the old water well and Will lifting the lid off for the first time

First of all we uncovered the well, it was so overgrown with brambles that the well itself was out of sight. We lifted the top of the well and had a good look inside - it looked fairly clean given the amount of time it had been untouched for. We found some old pipework and a small covering where the pump would have been housed. There were two concrete tanks; a very large open one filled with green water and home to a little frog, and a smaller cylindrical one which had a lid on and was empty. We cleaned everything up and emptied the large water tank, after fighting with the ancient shut off valve. We assessed how the previous system must have worked and tried to determine what supplies we would need to pipe water to the house.

Will standing on top of the concrete water tank

We came up with the following shopping list:

• Submersible water pump (750W)

• Enough water piping to run from the well to the house (we bought 150m - 3 x 50m rolls)

• Connections for the water pipes (as we couldn't get a full 150m roll)

• 150m outdoor electrical cable (to install a plug for the well pump)

• 150m electrical conduit (to protect the cable)

• outdoor plug fitting

• 2 x shut off valves

• 4x taps and 4 x T junction fittings

• 2 x right angle corner pipe fittings (for connecting the well pump to the water tank)

• Waterproof cement (to repair cracks in the concrete water tank)

How it would work? The water pump would pump water through a pipe from the well out into the cylindrical water tank. An exit pipe at the bottom of the water tank would release water, on the opening of a shut off valve, into the pipework that would be gravity fed along a trench all the way to a tap installed at the house. We would also add in three other taps on posts along the way so that each field that the water system passes through would have access to water

With everything worked out, it was time to start digging the trench, which was no easy feat given the long distance, stony ground in parts and the summer heat, but we were determined!

At this stage we did not yet have electricity on the property, so we would be using a generator temporarily to power the pump. However, with the trench needing dug anyway for the water pipes, it seemed logical to install the cable and plug to power the pump in the future while we were at it. With the trench dug and all items sourced, we began installation. We lay the water pipe and electrical cable, which was placed inside protective conduit, in the trenches. We made sure all connections were screwed on securely. At one point in each field we hammered in a stake and cut the pipe, put a T-junction connection in place and screwed in another bit of piping vertically, secured it to the stake and fitted a tap onto the top.

Installing the pipe to the submersible water pump

At the well we installed the pump- it was a submersible one so we attached the piping to it as per the in box instructions and lowered it with a rope so we had control of the depth. We kept the pump power cable safe by securing it to a rod at the top of the well with a cable tie so there was no risk of it falling in. At the end of the pipe that was attached to the pump we placed a right angle corner connection and another bit of piping directing the water from the well into the cylindrical water tank. We then installed another small length of pipe at the bottom of the water tank which connected to the main pipework running to the house via a shut off valve.

All that was left to do was to plug the pump in and see how the system worked... and Bingo!

The water flowed from the well into the water tank, into the pipework in the trench, all the way to the tap at the house. With a gradual slope from the well to the house, the pressure was even better than expected, thanks to the power of gravity. We now have water!!!

A few things to note since installation:

• We were lucky enough to find a connection point for an entrance pipe to the bathroom. We added on an additional pipe and connected it here and by some miracle we now have a working bathroom!

• We now have electricity (powered by solar) and we are able to leave the well pump plugged in at the outdoor plug we installed at the time of laying the pipework.

• We do not have a pressure switch to keep the water tank topped up. Instead we simply switch the pump on by a switch at the house once per week.

• We are reasonably conservative with our water usage but so far we have had absolutely no issues with water shortages

• We plan to tackle the water mine and use this as our main irrigation source in the future

For two plumbing novices, we are pretty proud of what we have achieved!