Sample Thai House Project - installing a water system

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August 2004 - editor. A sample house building project in Pattaya, Thailand with respect to water sources. Hand digging a surface well and problem that result when it it not fitted properly with small stones. Installation of a filtration system.

One of the first orders of business in preparation of building is establishing a water source, since water is used extensively in construction. There are various water sources (see infowater) the one used in this house was the hand dug surface well.

5 minutes saved, the story of dirty water!

The well was dug in February, and although I don't have any pictures it was hand dug by an experienced well digger. This shot shows a well digger descending into a hand dug well. The well in our case is about 7 meters deep and uses 23 rings. (09-Apr-04)

The well rings which are inserted in the finished well come in various diameters, the ones used here are 1.2 meters.

After the well was in operation for a while, we started having problems with 'dirty' water. Here the original digger uses a pump to pump out the water at the bottom of the well. (13-Jun-04)

Later on the upper part of the well he cemented between the rings to prevent water from flowing in from the sides in the upper portion of the well.

Well, we continued to have problems with dirty water even after this. If you put the water in a glass, it would not clear, for there was a lot of sediment in the water. This picture shows the dirty water in the water tank. (06-Jul-04)

One of the finishing steps of a well is placing small stones around the outside of the well. What the well digger had neglected to mention is that he had put large chunks of blocks around the well instead of small stones. This shows the blocks after being dug out . (12-Jul-04)

By using the wrong material to finish of the well, large pockets of air and water form - which put pressure on the sides of the well. Here is the well after the blocks were dug out. The footing will have the rebar supports at 2.5 meter intervals.

Now we go about placing stone on the outside of the well rings.

After the water has been pumped out of the well, you can see a large hole in the bottom which needs to be patched. (24-Jan-04)

The well after having stones set around the rings and around the base.

The well after cementing around the base. (19-Aug-04).

Water is such a precious resource. How one short cut which saved the well digger 5 minutes of time could lead to such problems! Oh well, tit (this is Thailand). Now the water is clear as can be seen in this shot. (19-Aug-04)

Water Tank

Water tanks are good for a number of reasons. They allow the water to be accumulated and stored so that in periods of high usage you don't run out. The water will also have a chance to sit and any impurities can settle out prior to use.

Diamond is a good brand of tank. This 1600 liter stainless steel tank cost about 10,000 Baht. (19-Aug-04)

Another shot of the water tank. (02-Jul-04)

Filtration

The filtration system consists of three canisters each holding a different filtration agent; carbon, magnesium and an ionizer.

The stainless steel filtration canisters are bolted to a cement base. (09-Jul-04)

The canisters are housed in a lockable metal cage. (19-Aug-04)

A sample of the filtration agent, this being magnesium. Each tank is filled with one mineral filtering agent. (19-Aug-04)

Pumps

There are two pumps used, one to pump water out of the well, through the filtration system and into the tank, and one to pump water from the tank to the house. Both pumps are Fujika hiiflow GFS-255.

This is the pump which pumps out of the tank into the house. It is enclosed an a metal cage which is bolted to the ground. (30-Jul-04) The other pump is in the filtration cage and pumps water from the well to the tank.

Valve

There is an electric water valve used here (instead of a manual ball float one), which allows the water level to be set. This is one feature I really like, in that with the normal floater valve the pump must turn on after almost every use. With this type of valve the pump doesn't need to be used that often, which allows the water to settle and is easier on the pump itself.

The floats control the off/on position within the water tank. (19-Aug-04)

This electric value is mounted on the top of the water tank. The electric wire is run through the yellow pvc conduit. (06-Jul-04)

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This page was last updated October 2nd, 2009