Two Letters Re: Water Works, by JSP

Hugh,

Reference “Water Works, by JSP”. Back in 1960’s Dad buried a 250-gallon steel fuel oil tank. The oil tank was buried in heavy clay soil. In the 1980’s Dad retired and since he no longer needed the fuel tank, he left the tank empty. After an unusual heavy rain fall, the oil tank had floated out of the ground about one foot. Since the author is burying plastic tanks, I feel it is very important to strap the tanks to a concrete base, if he wants to keep them buried. – R.L.

o o o

HJL,

In reference to JSP’s article on hot water heating in SHTF situations, I have a recommendation for a whole house hot water heater that has worked well for both myself and another off gridder that I recommended it to. We both have BOL’s that are over two hours from the nearest town and, needless to say, we do not have public power. I personally have a solar/generator/battery bank system, and it powers all my needs. We pump water from a stream to a cistern and then pressure pump it into a pressurized tank. We use an on demand Bosch Therm 330PN-LP (Liquid Propane) Tankless Water heater. It requires no electric power or batteries. We keep track of our propane consumption and with a gas stove, gas refrigerator, and the gas water heater, we use a one hundred pound LP cylinder about every 30-40 days under regular use (not trying to conserve power) for two people. We have found this tankless on demand water heater to be very efficient and we have used it now for three years. The price is reasonable as compared to the one recommended in the article (Navien), about $400. They also make a larger model for about $700 for larger families or more demand. I like the Bosch because it does not require electricity and because you can store tanks of LP gas indefinitely for a SHTF scenario. Hope this helps some of your readers looking for a reliable, efficient, and affordable method to heat water for your BOL or off grid home. – Mike Y.