Gear we actually use

A horizontal leg tank, which means it needs a continuously supported flat pad — not blocks under the ends. Amazon has quoted one to two month lead times on this one, so it is not a purchase that solves a water problem this week.

Roughly one small hauling-trailer load. The moulded legs let it sit stable on a gravel pad without building a stand, which is why it turns up on parcels that are still at the weekend-visits stage.

3.0 GPM open flow, 55 PSI shutoff, with an internal bypass that stops it short-cycling when you are only running one tap. The default first pump on a tank-fed system for good reason.

Nearly double the flow of a standard RV pump, which also means nearly double the current draw — plan on heavier gauge DC wire and a larger inline fuse than the pump it replaces.

Drinking-water rated, and the 5/8 inch bore fills a cistern noticeably faster than the 1/2 inch version of the same hose. Keep it off the ground and dedicated to potable use.

The 20 gallons is shell volume, not usable water. On a typical 30/50 PSI switch the actual drawdown is closer to a quarter of that — and drawdown is what decides how often your pump cycles.

Red brass body, 1 inch NPT in and out. Note this is the valve body only — the float ball and rod are separate parts, which catches people out on the first order.

For cutting a new gasketed outlet in a poly tank wall. It is a low-head tank fitting — fine at the tank, not a substitute for a proper pressurised-line coupling downstream of the pump.

A mechanical float indicator that mounts through the tank top, so it needs headroom above the tank and only works on upright tanks. Worth it the first time you avoid guessing whether you can make it to the next delivery.

Sediment plus carbon in the 10 inch Big Blue size, so cartridge life is roughly half a 20 inch system on the same water. It removes neither arsenic nor bacteria — this is a taste, odour and grit filter.

Housing only, cartridge not included. The pressure-relief button on the cap is the feature that matters — it lets you change a filter without shutting down and bleeding the whole line.

Half a micron is much finer than a standard 5 micron block. Put it downstream of a sediment prefilter or silty hauled water will blind it off in weeks.

Inactivates bacteria and removes nothing dissolved. It needs clear, low-turbidity feed water and an annual lamp change to hold its rated dose — a UV lamp still glowing after two years is not still working.

Twelve-minute colorimetric field test that resolves down near the 10 ppb EPA limit, which is the number that matters for Arizona groundwater. It is a screening test — a positive means send a sample to a certified lab, not panic.

Reads total dissolved solids and nothing else. Useful for tracking whether a tank is picking something up over time; a low TDS number says nothing at all about arsenic, nitrate or coliform.

Presence or absence of coliform in as little as six hours. It tells you whether bacteria are there, not how many — so a positive result means disinfect and retest rather than try to quantify.

Broad panel for a first look at a new source. Arsenic is not one of the seventeen parameters, so in this county it needs pairing with a dedicated arsenic test rather than used alone.

The 100A BMS caps continuous discharge at roughly 1.28 kW per battery. That is the number that matters: a 3000W inverter needs at least three of these in parallel before it can actually deliver its rating.

100V PV input ceiling, 12/24V battery only — it will not run a 48V bank. Size the string for a cold January morning, not an August afternoon; panel voltage rises as temperature falls.

Despite the 40A rating, array size is capped at 520W on a 12V bank and 1040W on 24V. It uses common-negative grounding, which constrains how it can be wired alongside other equipment.

3000W out of a 12V bank is roughly 300A of DC current, which demands very short 4/0 cable runs and a serious fuse. This is the practical ceiling of a 12V architecture — past here, move to 24V or 48V.

Ships with a physical display head that needs a panel cutout. Choose this over the SmartShunt only if you want a gauge you can read without reaching for a phone — otherwise it is the same measurement.

No display head — readout is Bluetooth only. Check the rating before you buy: this is the 300A version, which is under-sized if a 3000W 12V inverter shares the same bus.

Genuine DC-rated breaking capacity, which an AC breaker repurposed for PV does not have. It is a DIN-rail device, so budget for an enclosure or a MidNite bus assembly to put it in.

Dies cover 2.5, 4 and 6 mm² (14-10 AWG) only. If your ground mount is far enough from the controller to need 8 AWG, this kit will not crimp it.

Twelve inch stakes, sized for marking grade and pad outline. Too short to serve as boundary markers on open desert — for corners you want something you can find again from fifty yards.

Inverted tip, so it sprays held upside down or in a marking wand. Orange reads better than pink against dry grass and caliche, which is most of what you will be marking on.

Fibreglass will not kink like steel and is non-conductive. It does stretch slightly under hard tension, so it is a layout tool — it does not settle a boundary argument.

The red beam is invisible in daylight, so every outdoor use depends on the included detector. Anyone expecting to eyeball a line across a pad at midday will be disappointed.

Braided rather than twisted, so it holds tension without unwinding and pulling out of line. That difference shows up over a long straight run, which is exactly what a pad edge or fence line is.

The smaller 8x8 face concentrates more force per blow than a 10x10, which is what you want compacting caliche backfill around a post or in a trench. It is not a substitute for a plate compactor on a pad.

Correct as a weed barrier under gravel. It is a woven fabric, and woven goods are not a drainage geotextile — do not substitute it under road base and expect separation to hold.

Temporary sediment control for freshly disturbed ground, stakes already attached. Put it in before the first monsoon cell finds your new cut, not after.

Sold by the pallet, which is the right quantity for a driveway cut or a graded slope and far too much for a small yard. Wattles slow water down; they do not stop it.

The extra half foot over a 6 ft post buys you more length below grade, which matters in loose desert soil carrying wind load. Driving these into caliche is a different job to driving them into dirt.

The extension is the point: it lets you reach into a mesquite or catclaw thicket without stepping into it. Anything over an inch and a half is a saw job, not a lopper job.

The large-tooth pattern is cut for green wood — coarse gullets that clog less in live growth. In seasoned dead mesquite it bites harder than is comfortable; that is the trade.

In caliche the pick end is the working end, and fibreglass survives the overstrike that splits a wood handle. Five pounds is enough head weight to matter without wrecking your shoulders by noon.

Nearly 60cc, which you want because mesquite is significantly harder on a saw than softwood of the same diameter. Expect to sharpen more often than the manual suggests — desert wood carries grit.

Leather, because catclaw goes straight through a synthetic glove. Note this particular listing is the X-Large — check the size selector on the page before ordering.

Rattlesnakes are a working hazard here, not a theoretical one — most bites land below the knee. Gaiters cover the lower leg only, so they do not replace a proper boot at the ankle. This listing is one size and colour; use the selector.

Ten feet of cable is the practical limit, so any real recovery needs an extension strap or tree-saver in line. Chosen because every established brand in this category was out of stock — check the listing before you rely on it.

The 31,518 lb figure is break strength, not a working load limit. This is a low-stretch recovery strap rather than a kinetic rope, and it must never be used for overhead lifting.

Useless as a remote monitor without a paid SPYPOINT data plan and LTE coverage at the parcel — check both before ordering. Where it works, it is the cheapest way to know what visited your property.

The half mile is sensor-to-receiver radio range in open line of sight; 300 ft is the detection width at the sensor. Terrain and structures cut the radio figure hard, so site it optimistically and test.

Self-contained solar with a 72 ft, 180 degree PIR range. The integrated panel means it needs a genuinely unshaded south-facing mount, which rules out the north wall you probably wanted it on.

Metal valve body, so it can be serviced and refilled rather than binned after one use. If you are running a chainsaw or a grinder on dry grass in June, this is not optional equipment.

Sized for four people over seven days, with a trauma pad and a wilderness first-aid guide. It does not include a tourniquet — the larger Guide and Mountaineer kits do, and out here that is worth the upgrade.

The console works standalone, but remote monitoring depends on having internet at the property. Useful if you want your own rainfall record rather than the Willcox airport figure eight miles away.