Thursday, March 20, 2008

Man the Pumps!

We're taking on water, which in turn is causing us to have no water. No nice, clean running water out of the faucets that is. Plenty of dirty, grungy bug-infested water floating in the well pit though. About a foot and a half of it is submerging the pressure tank switch. It seems, electronic devices don't work very well when they're submerged. Go figure.

The old well pit houses old pressure tank number two and the current number three. Old number one is still in the basement complete with it's hand pump. Which I'd like to point out, oddly enough, if it were submerged would still work. Anyway, it's hard telling how long ago the well pit was built but what we do know, as of first thing this frosty morning, is that it has a few leaks between the concrete blocks.


We had patched the obvious cracks in the above ground part last fall. That may have helped keep the critters out, but it didn't do diddly squat for keeping out the ground water below. Short term solution is a small sump pump we fortunately had lying around. The real solution to this problem though will be to dig a six foot hole all the way around the outside of the pit and repair the cracks.


And even better news, the local plumber who rushed over and replaced the switch for us says pressure tank number three might be on it's last leg. And pressure tanks aren't cheap. But at least the new switch will allow me to take a shower.

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