Rolf wrote:
> Hi All.
> 
> I am looking for some preliminary direction for a winter hobby project. 
> My Father-In-Law has two wells on his property. One has a plentiful 
> supply of water, but the water is very very 'hard'. The other well has a 
> lower supply, but the quality is far better. It is easy to switch 
> between the two wells for the house's water supply. If the good well 
> runs dry he has to go through a complicated process to re-prime the 
> well's pump when the water level returns. This is especially complicated 
> in winter when it can be very cold. His current routine is to check the 
> well's level at least once a week. For his convenience, and my interest, 
> I plan to build a device that will measure the depth of water in the 
> well in such a way that it can be monitored from his PC, and do all the 
> bells-and-whistles thing including tracking the water level over time, etc.
> 
> I have researched ways to measure the water depth, and currently I am 
> considering implementing two of three candidate methods, but that is the 
> subject of a different thread.... my concern right now is for the data 
> transfer required.
> 
> The well is located about 10 meters from the house, and about 30 meters 
> from his office with his PC. The house is a log cabin with a concrete 
> foundation/basement. The well is 10 meters deep and 1 meter in inside 
> diameter. The well is capped with a concrete lid that has a square 
> concrete 'manhole cover' for inspection. There are photo's of the well 
> from the outside here: 
> http://www.flickr.com/photos/12903637@N08/1524116316/ and the inside of 
> the well here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12903637@N08/1524133462/
> 
> I was hoping to use some form of radio transmitter (prefereably a 
> transceiver) to transmit the data to a receiver in the house. The reason 
> for a transceiver is because the computer is only on about 1/4 of the 
> day, so I would want to store a number of readings while the PC is off, 
> and then upload them in bulk when the PC comes online (as well as then 
> uploading updates regularly every 15min or so). I was hoping to use a 
> cheapish pre-built module. Specifically, I was considering something 
> like Vitaly's or SparkFun's BlueTooth modules.
> 
> My question for this e-mail is as follows: What can I expect from a 
> Class 1 BlueTooth module in terms of reliable range where the module is 
> installed under the 3inch concrete lid outside in temperatures of close 
> to freezing with about 3 feet of snow piled on top (the inside of the 
> well never gets much below freezing regardless of the outside temperature)?
> 
> I am (and my father-in-law is) reluctant to have to drill a hole through 
> the lid, but, we agree that would be preferable to trying to de-ice a 
> 35kg man-hole cover in 20-below temperatures (Celcius or Fahrenheit) 
> when you are 60-something. If I need to install an antenna through the 
> lid it can be done though.
> 
> A further option, though less sexy, would be to use a wired mechanism. 
> Although this would mean not having to have batteries in the well unit 
> (there is no power source in the well), it would also require digging a 
> trench to the house, and opening up the vulnerability to inducing 
> lightning-strike damage to the PC, etc.... I would need to install a 
> conduit, have a much more significant 'impact' on the well itself, etc. 
> I was hoping to just be able to install a box on the inside of the well, 
> and for that to be enough.
> 
> Any advice, suggestions, etc. welcomed.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Rolf
> 

A nice submersible pump in the "good" well to cure the priming issues.
- been there/done that  :)
D

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