# Looking at home with Cistern, need pros/cons



## rosehaven (Nov 5, 2004)

We are looking at a home built in the 60's with a cistern. Husband and I have no knowledge concerning cisterns, so any and all info would be of great help. Also looking to get a home inspection on the place if we make an offer too. Any info you can pass on would be a blessing.

God bless


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## gobug (Dec 10, 2003)

A cistern is just a water tank. Is it above ground? How big? Where is it? - I mean does it freeze hard in that area? The quality of the water is probably more important. Another thought is how the water gets into the cistern. Pressure tanks are a common modern solution to keeping the well pump from running every time the faucet is turned on. A cistern can be in conjunction with a pressure tank or act like a pressure tank, if it is uphill from the house. Sometimes, a cistern is used when the well doesn't produce a lot of water. This way, the pump will run for a long time as it fills the cistern. Then when you need water, you are not waiting for the well. 

It's a great idea to have the inspection done. Just make sure your offer has a provision to back out or modify the price based on the results. 

Good luck. It's so exciting to consider a new place, and nerve racking.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

using a cistern may take some getting used to. they often need to be cleaned. well, maybe once or twice a year or so. depends on the water supply i guess. if the cistern has any openings big enough for ANY animal to get through, you may find dead animals in the tank.

i am not trying to scare you away from the cistern idea but it takes some getting used to if you have never had one. thousands or millions of people use them all the time. they do require some upkeep. keep in mind that everytime you "service" your cistern, your water supply will be off. if you have to parge the walls with new concrete, it may be down for days.

just a note on safety...a cistern is a classic confined space. people die in them. my brother nearly did. he was using a kerosene heater to dry either paint or concrete inside it and climbed down to check on it. he nearly did not make it out. the carbon monoxide from the heater filled the space. as stupid as that sounds, it is not uncommon. several years ago some volunteer firefighters were helping an old lady to clean her cistern. they did the exact same thing. 3 of them died. one climbed in and succumbed to the fumes and the others did as well as they tried to retrieve him.


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## vicker (Jul 11, 2003)

Most important rule!
Don't confuse your cistern with your ceptic tank. :baby04:


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## Mamafila (Jan 29, 2003)

We have owned a cistern for over 10 years. 

When we bought our 8.9 acre homestead we had a drilled well that was only producing 1/2 gal. per minute. That was not enough for our family of 8 so we had a cistern installed under ground. It is a 1500 gal concrete cistern. We also had a pressure pump/ bladder tank installed in the pumphouse, I think it is 90 gal. Inside the cistern we had a coyote installed which, as I understand, turns the pump that is down in the well on when the water level in the cistern goes below half. The coyote also has an automatic shut-off if the well pump stops or the cistern runs dry. I think that is an important factor. Pumps in wells are very expensive!! We check our well water at the health district and that determines if we clean it or not. We've only cleaned it one time and used clorox. The one time that we cleaned it was after our test came back showing low levels of contamination. We had a dead mouse by the lid and that is when we cleaned it with clorox, refilled it and then ran the water through our pipes to the house and then retested. We at that point, put a removable sealer at the lid and the water has tested fine since then. 

We have since drilled a new well and although we have plenty of water we hooked the new well to the cistern to save on the wear and tear of the well pump. 

We have not found it hard to get use to using the cistern as we hauled water every week for several years to fill the cistern and supplement our first well. it was just enjoyable having water. As I mentioned we do have a concrete lid and so we have not had any problem with animals falling in.


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## fsmfarms (Apr 7, 2005)

When we build our cabin, we will be using an underground cistern - as does much of Colorado where water is more precious than gold. We've been assured we'll have no problems with it. (Yeah, Right) We have the option of getting an add'l smaller cistern type thingy and hauling our own water - cost is $3.00 per fill-up at a citiy pump, or we can pay a water company something like $50.00 a month to keep our cistern filled. Jury is still out on which way we'll be going.


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## Shepherd (Jan 23, 2005)

"We are looking at a home built in the 60's with a cistern. Husband and I have no knowledge concerning cisterns, so any and all info would be of great help. Also looking to get a home inspection on the place if we make an offer too. Any info you can pass on would be a blessing."

Are you and your DH able to ask the current owners questions about it? How it works, if they use the water, etc.? I've been wanting to design a cistern for our home for a couple years now... to me one would be a real blessing. My intent would be to collect rainwater and have a hand pump to get water from it. I'd even consider doing the same thing from our barn, for an additional water source.


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## fsmfarms (Apr 7, 2005)

Shepherd, you can Google the words "catchment system" and come up with all sorts of plans for catching rainwater/snowwater. It's used quite often here in Colo. and even tho we have little rain, it can be sufficient for everything but drinking.


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## gobug (Dec 10, 2003)

Rocky,
Ironically, it is illegal in CO. Perhaps in your neighborhood, it is common, but I have never seen a single system. If you build one, be discrete. I spoke with the Fremont county plumbing inspector (like electric, it is statewide). I asked about water catchment and he told me it was technically illegal, but they don't inspect for it. Greywater systems are also illegal, and more difficult to disguise. They will not allow the plumbing for the house to be set up for greywater routing. But water catchment can be added after the occupancy certificate inspection. He indicated that water catchment is illegal everywhere unless you own rights to the surface water - rare in CO. 

Kansas sued CO and won $500 million because too many domestic wells were allowed along the Arkansas River. On the Western slope, AZ and CA sued and farmers couldn't use the Colorado River for irrigation because someone else has rights downstream and the 7 year drought reduced flow to the point they were not getting their share.

Although my area says it gets 17 inches a year, I rarely get enough rain to catch. It seems most of the inches come in heavy spring snows. I bet your locale is the same. This means the system must be able to catch the entire runoff in a few events. This has an impact on the size of the cistern. It also means a good percentage of the inches evaporate before they run down the drain.


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## MELOC (Sep 26, 2005)

water hauling...there was a very "romantic" period of my community's history (1970's and 1980's) where my family supplied several houses with water from our spring. an old water tank was made into a pull-behind for a tractor. we would fill the tank up overnight and someone would take it in the morning. the water wagon made many many runs until my brother tapped into the stream and put in a water line serving several homes.

i was talking to my mom about her father's cistern and collecting rainwater. she said it is important to "wash" off the roof by diverting the rainwater that first falls. this removes the leaves and twigs and gravel or other junk before it runs into your cistern. my grandfather had a cistern with a collection system from the house and shed roof. the spouting ran into boxes that had a diverter valve away from the cistern. he would manually flip it when it rained.

since someone mentioned the laws regarding greywater and rain water collection, i will state what i feel. i feel government agencies do this to force everyone to pay for the infrastructure. i think that is rediculous.


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## Shepherd (Jan 23, 2005)

Rocky, thank you for the suggestion; I've been doing as you suggested.

Rosehaven, did you ever check with the sellers?


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## Don Armstrong (May 8, 2002)

I wouldn't have any other kind; but that's because I'm used to it and know how well it works. I'd have a BIG underground tank - say 10,000 gallons or so - run through a 2,000 gallon above-ground tank. Lots of strainers on the entries - as someone said, it's just sad if a frog or a possum dies in there. Ideally with a 500 gallon above-ground elevated tank to provide pressure even when the power goes out.

On top of that, I'd used ANOTHER system with windmill or solar-cell-powered pump to take water from an earth-dam (pond) for septic toilets, stock drinking-water, and garden.

Works well, if you've got the rain. Believe me, I know.


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## canfossi (Sep 18, 2005)

I have a cistern at my house, it's been working fine. If you do purchase the house make sure that you have the cistern cleaned if you use it for drinking water. Good luck! Chris


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## rosehaven (Nov 5, 2004)

but I will say a "BIG" THANKS TO ALL who posted their knowledge. You guys are the kind folks to help out. We are still looking for a place to homestead. 

God bless


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