Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
Dear TB2K members---we have an unusual problem, and I need your help.
We've been out of water since last Tuesday due to our well being down---and I've been blocked at every turn trying to get it fixed---which has me wondering if this is God's way of saying we're barking up the wrong tree in trying to fix it and He's trying to save us money and effort in doing so--but I can't seem to find the person with the right expertise to solve our dilemma.
Here's the backstory:
Last Tuesday, I had a long-time dream fulfilled, when I had some electricians come to put in a receptacle in my kitchen.
Whoever designed this kitchen in the 1960's didn't think about what the lady of the house would need--and this entire kitchen counter had NO receptacle--the nearest one was BEHIND the refrigerator--so the entire cabinet/counter space was dark and useless as far as using any kitchen appliances (coffee-maker, mixer, microwave) at all there.
So I finally bit the bullet and had one put in.
Looked and worked beautifully.
But that afternoon, as I was at work, my son called me--"Mom, I turned on the faucet--and no water came out!"
Now as I said, we are on a well.
Now it's always been a bit tricky "explaining" to guys new to working on the house that not ALL the electrical power for the well was in the 220-breaker that runs the pump itself.
It had been YEARS since I'd had to think or worry about it, but I remember our LAST well-pump man (who is dead now) had said that "somewhere" on our panel was a THIRD source of electricity that controlled the "Switch" that activated the pump--I suppose he meant the pressure-switch--but he wasn't clear on which breaker (used to be "fuse") it was.
I had wondered, however, when the electricians came to work on my kitchen, why the circuit they picked as the best to wire the new receptacle to, had so few things on it.
All it had was one plug in the kitchen (where our fridge was plugged in--just a regular plug), and one plug in the living room on the other side of the same wall (where we have a couple of lamps we hardly ever turn on plugged in).
This is the circuit they ran a new wire to, for my new kitchen switch.
And the same day, my pump stops working--just doesn't crank any more, and my son gradually drew water all day around the house until all the pressure was gone, as he discovered that afternoon.
The electricians swore up and down they had never disconnected (or seen) any 'stray' wire that could account for anything to do with our well.
We had them also check the well circuits in the basement where the tank is, both at the switch (which was in the "on" position, suggesting it was running at the time it stopped), and at the capacitor box, which both the electricians AND a well-pump man who came to look at it said had power going TO the well, but not coming BACK from it--which indicated either there was a broken wire coming FROM the well (or................a disconnected wire coming FROM it--going to the circuit box???) or that the pump itself was dead.
The well-man who usually works on our well now is such a curmudgeon he makes any curmudgeon here look positively bubbly with positivism----whenever I call him to come do service on my well (last time was several years ago) he goes through a litany of complaints of how he's too old to really be doing this any more, how he's been planning on retiring for several years now, how it's MUCH too far to come from Dahlonega to my town (he actually is coming from much closer than Dahlonega--I looked it up), how hard it is on him, etc., etc.--and why don't I just get on County water and forget the well? Makes me want to ask him why he works on wells for a living if he hates it so much. But after he's been allowed to bitch about it long enough to make his callers thoroughly and properly repentant for bothering him by calling on him--he agrees to come. He guided the electricians who installed my receptacle through a second test of all the well capacitor circuits and said--like the well-man who came out to my house said--that it was either the pump gone out or a wire disconnected (broken).
But the only way to find out if it IS a wire "disconnected" is to get the top of the well off and test it.
Which leads to the second problem.
I had a hand-pump--that I ordered from Lehman's---installed on that well-head in 1999.
Yes, prep for Y2K.
It's in the same 6-inch drilled hole that the well-line for the house comes up through.
And you can't get to the well-head without first removing the hand-pump.
Which is not only cast iron, standing about 4 feet high, but is attached to a length of stainless-steel piping that goes down inside the PCP pipe for the hand-pump down to the water--somewhere between 100 and 150 feet.
The well line itself is around 160' deep--also PCP pipe (installed in 1999, replacing the original galvanized iron pipe put in when the well was drilled in 1962).
So--just bring in a boom-truck (crane) and pull it, right?
Wrong.
First problem---despite my mom's protests that it was far too close, my Daddy over 60 years ago planted a water-oak tree---then about 20 feet from the well.
Now it's more like the trunk is 10 feet from the well--and the branches overhung the well, so that the well-man said we'd first have to get enough branches cut to give him a 30-foot clearance above the well for his crane.
Would require cutting two large branches--one about 8" diameter and the other 10"--coming off a more vertical upward-growing main branch.
FINALLY found a man who didn't want to charge me an arm and a leg just to cut off 2 branches--and we decided we really only needed to cut one of them (plus he got some other dead ones out of the way).
Didn't get that done till yesterday.
Have left out a LOT of the MANY calls I made, talking to well-pump companies, talking to tree-cutting companies, just to get THIS much done.
So--today came--the big day that the well-man would bring his boom-truck and pull up the pump and replace it.
It had been 3 days since our last HEAVY rain---which came on the same night the well stopped working.
It had rained over 3 inches ALL NIGHT LONG Tuesday night--but Thursday was sunny and we and the well-man had hopes that it was dry enough that he could get his 4-wheel drive boom-truck across our yard and up our hill to where the well was.
He nearly bogged down in the area where our septic system (Infiltrator chambers!) is---but made it past that (leaving deep ruts)--but then when he got to the top of the hill, and stopped to put the truck in reverse to back up to our well--
nothing doing.
Immediately began digging down to China.
My son and I and his helper, by some ingenuity in using plywood, cement blocks, old asphalt shingles (for traction) and wood/bricks, finally got his tires out of the holes they'd made enough for him to back the truck back down the hill and onto the side road beside our yard.
He said there was just no way until the ground dried out more.
It has rained EVERY FIVE DAYS since Christmas---and tonight is beginning another sock-it-in session where they're expecting 3-5 more inches of rain in our already-saturated ground.
At this rate, we won't dry out till May.
And all this has me wondering---"Lord, are you trying to tell me something?"
When I ask Him if He wants us to give us on our well-water, I sense a DEFINITE no, that that is NOT what He is intending.
So I keep going back to the "coincidence" of the well-pump just "happening" to stop working on the SAME day the electricians got in our electrical panel and put in my new receptacle---
and how, now, there is no "return signal" coming FROM the pump to the capacitor box.
I keep thinking, "Could it be the reason we keep getting blocked and stymied at every turn in trying to bring in a big truck and pull the pump--is that we don't need to pull the pump?" That our losing the pump on the very same DAY that the electricians worked on my box means they did "something"--obviously without even realizing it--that disconnected a vital connection for the pump to work?
That God maybe is trying to stop me from spending thousands of dollars and pulling up a perfectly good set of pumps (the hand-pump AND the electric pump) because it ISN'T the pump that is malfunctioning here???
In the meanwhile, the rain is pouring down.
Water, water, everywhere---and not a drop to drink.
(except what I'm pumping up with the hand-pump--which is clean and clear--but nothing LIKE just turning on a faucet).
Plus we can't use the washer, can't take showers/baths, can't use the toilets..............
So.
PRAYERS, please.
That God will either make it stop raining and dry things out enough for the well-pump man and his truck to get IN here....
OR
To lead me to the old-timey EXPERT on well pumps who remembers (maybe) how they "used to" wire them, and who can point out at once what must have gone wrong, electrically, and that all we need to do is look for this or reconnect that or check the other, and -- VOILA!
The sweet vibration of the well-water line to the tank as the pump springs into life again, and the lovely sound of the tank filling with water....................
Until then---
Back to my "Little House on the Prairie" life-style.
PLEASE PRAY for God to work this out for us or show us what to do--how to find the right person---WHATEVER we need to do.
Thank you.
We've been out of water since last Tuesday due to our well being down---and I've been blocked at every turn trying to get it fixed---which has me wondering if this is God's way of saying we're barking up the wrong tree in trying to fix it and He's trying to save us money and effort in doing so--but I can't seem to find the person with the right expertise to solve our dilemma.
Here's the backstory:
Last Tuesday, I had a long-time dream fulfilled, when I had some electricians come to put in a receptacle in my kitchen.
Whoever designed this kitchen in the 1960's didn't think about what the lady of the house would need--and this entire kitchen counter had NO receptacle--the nearest one was BEHIND the refrigerator--so the entire cabinet/counter space was dark and useless as far as using any kitchen appliances (coffee-maker, mixer, microwave) at all there.
So I finally bit the bullet and had one put in.
Looked and worked beautifully.
But that afternoon, as I was at work, my son called me--"Mom, I turned on the faucet--and no water came out!"
Now as I said, we are on a well.
Now it's always been a bit tricky "explaining" to guys new to working on the house that not ALL the electrical power for the well was in the 220-breaker that runs the pump itself.
It had been YEARS since I'd had to think or worry about it, but I remember our LAST well-pump man (who is dead now) had said that "somewhere" on our panel was a THIRD source of electricity that controlled the "Switch" that activated the pump--I suppose he meant the pressure-switch--but he wasn't clear on which breaker (used to be "fuse") it was.
I had wondered, however, when the electricians came to work on my kitchen, why the circuit they picked as the best to wire the new receptacle to, had so few things on it.
All it had was one plug in the kitchen (where our fridge was plugged in--just a regular plug), and one plug in the living room on the other side of the same wall (where we have a couple of lamps we hardly ever turn on plugged in).
This is the circuit they ran a new wire to, for my new kitchen switch.
And the same day, my pump stops working--just doesn't crank any more, and my son gradually drew water all day around the house until all the pressure was gone, as he discovered that afternoon.
The electricians swore up and down they had never disconnected (or seen) any 'stray' wire that could account for anything to do with our well.
We had them also check the well circuits in the basement where the tank is, both at the switch (which was in the "on" position, suggesting it was running at the time it stopped), and at the capacitor box, which both the electricians AND a well-pump man who came to look at it said had power going TO the well, but not coming BACK from it--which indicated either there was a broken wire coming FROM the well (or................a disconnected wire coming FROM it--going to the circuit box???) or that the pump itself was dead.
The well-man who usually works on our well now is such a curmudgeon he makes any curmudgeon here look positively bubbly with positivism----whenever I call him to come do service on my well (last time was several years ago) he goes through a litany of complaints of how he's too old to really be doing this any more, how he's been planning on retiring for several years now, how it's MUCH too far to come from Dahlonega to my town (he actually is coming from much closer than Dahlonega--I looked it up), how hard it is on him, etc., etc.--and why don't I just get on County water and forget the well? Makes me want to ask him why he works on wells for a living if he hates it so much. But after he's been allowed to bitch about it long enough to make his callers thoroughly and properly repentant for bothering him by calling on him--he agrees to come. He guided the electricians who installed my receptacle through a second test of all the well capacitor circuits and said--like the well-man who came out to my house said--that it was either the pump gone out or a wire disconnected (broken).
But the only way to find out if it IS a wire "disconnected" is to get the top of the well off and test it.
Which leads to the second problem.
I had a hand-pump--that I ordered from Lehman's---installed on that well-head in 1999.
Yes, prep for Y2K.
It's in the same 6-inch drilled hole that the well-line for the house comes up through.
And you can't get to the well-head without first removing the hand-pump.
Which is not only cast iron, standing about 4 feet high, but is attached to a length of stainless-steel piping that goes down inside the PCP pipe for the hand-pump down to the water--somewhere between 100 and 150 feet.
The well line itself is around 160' deep--also PCP pipe (installed in 1999, replacing the original galvanized iron pipe put in when the well was drilled in 1962).
So--just bring in a boom-truck (crane) and pull it, right?
Wrong.
First problem---despite my mom's protests that it was far too close, my Daddy over 60 years ago planted a water-oak tree---then about 20 feet from the well.
Now it's more like the trunk is 10 feet from the well--and the branches overhung the well, so that the well-man said we'd first have to get enough branches cut to give him a 30-foot clearance above the well for his crane.
Would require cutting two large branches--one about 8" diameter and the other 10"--coming off a more vertical upward-growing main branch.
FINALLY found a man who didn't want to charge me an arm and a leg just to cut off 2 branches--and we decided we really only needed to cut one of them (plus he got some other dead ones out of the way).
Didn't get that done till yesterday.
Have left out a LOT of the MANY calls I made, talking to well-pump companies, talking to tree-cutting companies, just to get THIS much done.
So--today came--the big day that the well-man would bring his boom-truck and pull up the pump and replace it.
It had been 3 days since our last HEAVY rain---which came on the same night the well stopped working.
It had rained over 3 inches ALL NIGHT LONG Tuesday night--but Thursday was sunny and we and the well-man had hopes that it was dry enough that he could get his 4-wheel drive boom-truck across our yard and up our hill to where the well was.
He nearly bogged down in the area where our septic system (Infiltrator chambers!) is---but made it past that (leaving deep ruts)--but then when he got to the top of the hill, and stopped to put the truck in reverse to back up to our well--
nothing doing.
Immediately began digging down to China.
My son and I and his helper, by some ingenuity in using plywood, cement blocks, old asphalt shingles (for traction) and wood/bricks, finally got his tires out of the holes they'd made enough for him to back the truck back down the hill and onto the side road beside our yard.
He said there was just no way until the ground dried out more.
It has rained EVERY FIVE DAYS since Christmas---and tonight is beginning another sock-it-in session where they're expecting 3-5 more inches of rain in our already-saturated ground.
At this rate, we won't dry out till May.
And all this has me wondering---"Lord, are you trying to tell me something?"
When I ask Him if He wants us to give us on our well-water, I sense a DEFINITE no, that that is NOT what He is intending.
So I keep going back to the "coincidence" of the well-pump just "happening" to stop working on the SAME day the electricians got in our electrical panel and put in my new receptacle---
and how, now, there is no "return signal" coming FROM the pump to the capacitor box.
I keep thinking, "Could it be the reason we keep getting blocked and stymied at every turn in trying to bring in a big truck and pull the pump--is that we don't need to pull the pump?" That our losing the pump on the very same DAY that the electricians worked on my box means they did "something"--obviously without even realizing it--that disconnected a vital connection for the pump to work?
That God maybe is trying to stop me from spending thousands of dollars and pulling up a perfectly good set of pumps (the hand-pump AND the electric pump) because it ISN'T the pump that is malfunctioning here???
In the meanwhile, the rain is pouring down.
Water, water, everywhere---and not a drop to drink.
(except what I'm pumping up with the hand-pump--which is clean and clear--but nothing LIKE just turning on a faucet).
Plus we can't use the washer, can't take showers/baths, can't use the toilets..............
So.
PRAYERS, please.
That God will either make it stop raining and dry things out enough for the well-pump man and his truck to get IN here....
OR
To lead me to the old-timey EXPERT on well pumps who remembers (maybe) how they "used to" wire them, and who can point out at once what must have gone wrong, electrically, and that all we need to do is look for this or reconnect that or check the other, and -- VOILA!
The sweet vibration of the well-water line to the tank as the pump springs into life again, and the lovely sound of the tank filling with water....................
Until then---
Back to my "Little House on the Prairie" life-style.
PLEASE PRAY for God to work this out for us or show us what to do--how to find the right person---WHATEVER we need to do.
Thank you.
