Pumping Dam Water
Well, after a few failed attempts we now have the tank at the top of the hill about 80% full. Over Christmas my brother bought 150 metres of pipe and connectors and, together with about 300 metres of pipe in various lengths that Dad found in our forest, Dan and Dad connected the dam to the tank. (The pipe was from the days when the previous owners pumped water from the creek and the forest is just an area of dense pine trees.) We had a petrol pump that was here when we came, but although we had a bit of success my brother came to the conclusion that it wasn't up to the job. When Paul came home from spending Christmas with his family, we bought a new Davey Firefighter 6.5 horse power pump & motor. This worked for about a half an hour and then we were having problems with the intake. We then bought a new intake valve and connector. This actually came off the end at one stage. We now know that the back dam is as deep as Paul's legs are long (I should have taken a photo of Paul looking for the intake valve). Yesterday we pumped up another rung. Finally, today Paul pumped two more rungs (wide rungs) into the tank before the pump ran out of petrol. So we decided to call it a day. I think there's about two months worth of water for the animals in the tank now.
Dad took this photo after the long job of mowing a path for the pipe from the tank at the top of the hill down to the dam.