…… NEED YOUR PRAYERS
- Thread starter Countrymouse
- Start date
ginnie6
Veteran Member
I"m so sorry! No water is not a fun thing to deal with. We have a well story too.. Years ago when they cleared the land in front of us that had two ponds on it, they drained the ponds and stopped up the natural springs. Guess where our water came from? our 23ft deep well that had wonderful water went dry. It was at a time when we were broke as could be and did not have $ to put a well in. But we found a way because we had to. The positive note is our well is now DEEP and we should never have a problem with it.
Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
Hmmmm—- VERY possible, as I noticed last night that the way they have the new receptacle in there it is UPSIDE DOWN sideways— you can still ‘read’ the “test” and “reset” but there’re upside down.
Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
ETA— we only have the two wires— this house was built before a 3rd “ground” wire was even mandatory, so even though there “are” old 3-hole plugs in the kitchen, there’s no ground wire there in the older plugs for it to connect to. Now on this NEW outlet they DID run a new wire, with a ground. What puzzles me is how they wired that in the box on the breaker with the OTHER two outlets’ wires (when they have NO ground)— and whatever extra ‘mystery’ circuit “may” be there providing power to the pressure switch.
Yes - be sure before going to pulling the pump. I know what a problem that can be, and I only have a fence that needs to be moved to do it, though the last time (when the submersible pump died), I had to trim overhanging branches as well.
As Summerthyme said, you probably know you can flush the toilets by hand, and with any washing machine I've owned, I can also fill the tub by hand. Good project for teenaged boys - hand pump and bring Mom 5 gallon buckets of water for the washing machine.
As Summerthyme said, you probably know you can flush the toilets by hand, and with any washing machine I've owned, I can also fill the tub by hand. Good project for teenaged boys - hand pump and bring Mom 5 gallon buckets of water for the washing machine.
Hmmm… given the new observation of the newly installed upside down receptacle and all the weirdness of the extra ground wire, I wonder if there’s a loose neutral somewhere? I’ve seen a baseboard heater that had that, breaker was fine, had voltage at the heater, it would even click when one turned up the thermostat, it just wouldn’t heat up. Took the cover off, and right where everything went into the heater behind that cover was the loose neutral. Put it back in place, flipped the breaker back on and it started working just fine.
patriotgal
Veteran Member
Praying. Just replaced a control box that a renter decided to put in on his own. Wasn't wired tight so it burnt up. DH was an electrician so we had a good meter to test connections. Still took us a good part of the day to find it since the renter made such a mess. There are no plumbers to be had here. They are all working on senior housing projects. All the good well guys have died. Being the old timers now really sucks sometimes.
Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
not recently. High winds about a week ago.
The fact that this happened on the same day these electricians came and got into my breaker box just tells me something went wrong with something they did.
Maryh
Veteran Member
I have almost the same set up as you with a steel hand pump on the well cover. I would almost bet tons that you have an electrical problem that no one sees right now. I remember hand pumping water and hauling it in when the neighborhood lost power. Not fun! A wagon makes it much easier. One time the furnace didn't work so i called the repairman and it turned out that I had accidently flipped the electric switch on the furnace itself. Never thought to even look at that. I must have hit it with the vacuum. Hope it's something simple like that for you! Prayers it is resolved soon!
Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
Problem is---if by "testing the circuits from above" you meant AT the well-head---
the presence of the hand-pump-----ON THE SAME WELL-HEAD---makes that impossible without pulling off the hand-pump and pulling up the however-long-it-is pipe with its stainless-steel rod inside that works the Lehman hand pump.
And we can't get anybody's TRUCK in there, to do that pulling off & up of the HAND-pump--due to my yard being a mud-hole from all the rain.
Here's the hand-pump I have on top of the well-head:
Versatile Pump Heads
Lehman's® deep-well pump heads are of the highest quality. The differences in pumps are the features they offer. Check features carefully to determine which pump-head is required for your application. 100% cast iron body built for hard use Pivot points ride on hardened, stainless steel pins...
www.lehmans.com
At least, thanks to the hand-pump, we have ANY water at ALL.............................
changed
Preferred pronouns: dude/bro
Atlanta is the worst place to get water service. The people that are in the water department are corrupt and incompetent. There are Atlanta residents that will get a $3000 bill and when they try to get it resolved they get no help from the city.
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changed
Preferred pronouns: dude/bro
A few years ago, I had a new septic system put in and my well coincidently stopped working the day they finished. I thought they did something. Well, it turns out they also do some plumbing so they went in the wellhouse and put a tire air guage on the pressure tank and it was bad. They replaced it and I paid them. About a month or so later I lost water again. A plumber friend in another state said it may be the pressure switch. I changed the switch myself and it worked!! I would have your well guy check those two things if he hasn't already done so.
changed
Preferred pronouns: dude/bro
Also, Argentine ants will move into your wellhouse for two reasons, its either too wet or too dry outside. When its too dry they move in to get near the condensation. A few years ago during a dry summer, my well stopped working. I called my well guy and he said Argentine ants. I was like, huh? They get into your wellhouse and crawl over your pressure switch and when the pump turns on they foul the contacts. I went out to the wellhouse and sure enough, argentine ants were crawling all over everything. I changed the pressure switch and bam, it worked. Now I don't like the idea of spraying insecticide near the well, but I did it cause I don't like changing pressure switches. We don't drink the well water anyway. We only use it for showering and dishes I guess.
CaryC
Has No Life - Lives on TB
A couple of notations: Don't know if it will help.
1) throw the main in the fuse box to off. Remove cover. Don't do anything except go through all the wire hookups and tighten them. Son bought a new dryer, and it didn't work. Plugged it into the same outlet. Nothing. Electrician came out replaced the motor checked a bunch of other stuff, and finally discovered that the ground wire, was loose. That was it. tightened it and everything worked. Dryer ran off of 220, and wasn't getting enough whatever to work. And no one had been in the box. Replace cover, throw main back on. Stand back. Just in case.
2) here in our community, state, nation, hemisphere it may be different, but....... The community water will only put the meter in. Running the line to your house is on you. You'll need someone to contract to do it with a ditchwitch, pipe, plumbing the whole 9 yards. And while you're at it, if you have one installed make sure they put in a manual open close value as the water enters the house. Our water bill is 25.00 a month rarely go over the allotment, which is mostly in summer and we use rainwater to supplement, and you can use your hand pump for watering your garden.
BTW our community water system uses chloramines to disinfect the water. Making it safe for people with kidney problems, like dialysis, to drink. That may or may not spike your conspiracy meter.
1) throw the main in the fuse box to off. Remove cover. Don't do anything except go through all the wire hookups and tighten them. Son bought a new dryer, and it didn't work. Plugged it into the same outlet. Nothing. Electrician came out replaced the motor checked a bunch of other stuff, and finally discovered that the ground wire, was loose. That was it. tightened it and everything worked. Dryer ran off of 220, and wasn't getting enough whatever to work. And no one had been in the box. Replace cover, throw main back on. Stand back. Just in case.
2) here in our community, state, nation, hemisphere it may be different, but....... The community water will only put the meter in. Running the line to your house is on you. You'll need someone to contract to do it with a ditchwitch, pipe, plumbing the whole 9 yards. And while you're at it, if you have one installed make sure they put in a manual open close value as the water enters the house. Our water bill is 25.00 a month rarely go over the allotment, which is mostly in summer and we use rainwater to supplement, and you can use your hand pump for watering your garden.
BTW our community water system uses chloramines to disinfect the water. Making it safe for people with kidney problems, like dialysis, to drink. That may or may not spike your conspiracy meter.
Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
And make sure the trench is well below the frost line and add access holes for those valves, just insulate the snot out of them for the occasional deep freeze. And if you are running pex run it inside natural gas pipe line. Pex is peanut based, natrual gas line is designed with a plastic that repels rodents from munching on things including gophers and moles.
Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
Our pump is 160 feet down in the well--submersible.
With the iron hand-pump at the top of the well-shaft (drilled, 6 inches), sharing the same hole.
To get the pump out they first have to remove the hand-pump, and to just get UNDER the hand-pump to where the well-pump wires are, they will have to draw up the entire length of the hand-pump piping.
So I am told.
Thus the need for a boom-truck.
Which we can't get "to" the well, because it's at the top of a hill, and our whole yard is a mushy slop-hole right now because of 5 inches of rain last week on February 26, and another 3 last night.
The tank, pressure switch, and capacitor for the pump are in the basement.
I did try someone's suggestion above of going thru the breaker box and turning off ALL breakers and then turning them all back on.
Didn't help, but at least we know that's been tried.
It keeps nagging at my brain that they said the pressure-switch was found stopped with the "points touching"--meaning in the "on" position.
If it lost power, why didn't they release?
With the iron hand-pump at the top of the well-shaft (drilled, 6 inches), sharing the same hole.
To get the pump out they first have to remove the hand-pump, and to just get UNDER the hand-pump to where the well-pump wires are, they will have to draw up the entire length of the hand-pump piping.
So I am told.
Thus the need for a boom-truck.
Which we can't get "to" the well, because it's at the top of a hill, and our whole yard is a mushy slop-hole right now because of 5 inches of rain last week on February 26, and another 3 last night.
The tank, pressure switch, and capacitor for the pump are in the basement.
I did try someone's suggestion above of going thru the breaker box and turning off ALL breakers and then turning them all back on.
Didn't help, but at least we know that's been tried.
It keeps nagging at my brain that they said the pressure-switch was found stopped with the "points touching"--meaning in the "on" position.
If it lost power, why didn't they release?
Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Umm is it possible to get a permanently installed boom so you can do things later again?
changed
Preferred pronouns: dude/bro
are they melted together?
Oooo. That “idiot” wiring (people who think they know what they are doing, but don’t) is what scares me so badly about messing with any wiring anywhere. I have heard enough stories about just plain stupid things people have done for whatever reason. And if you don’t know they did it, it can be a world of hurt.
I too think the electricians messed something up - mostly because I don’t believe in coincidence. However, those happen also so can’t be entirely ruled out. I would have someone come in and check all that prior to even dreaming of going on (spit) city water.
Your real problem is how to wait out the water (sadly ironical) until you can get someone in to check the well itself. But you can maybe find an electrician who can set this right prior. I’d want that checked anyway. Who knows what the electricians did. Possibly without even knowing. Ugh.
Meanwhile, make sure all smoke detectors are working and line up the well guy. I’m going electrical. Just too much malarkey for it to be something else (IMHO).
Prayers added!!
I too think the electricians messed something up - mostly because I don’t believe in coincidence. However, those happen also so can’t be entirely ruled out. I would have someone come in and check all that prior to even dreaming of going on (spit) city water.
Your real problem is how to wait out the water (sadly ironical) until you can get someone in to check the well itself. But you can maybe find an electrician who can set this right prior. I’d want that checked anyway. Who knows what the electricians did. Possibly without even knowing. Ugh.
Meanwhile, make sure all smoke detectors are working and line up the well guy. I’m going electrical. Just too much malarkey for it to be something else (IMHO).
Prayers added!!
WFK
Senior Something
I see the problem...Problem is---if by "testing the circuits from above" you meant AT the well-head---
the presence of the hand-pump-----ON THE SAME WELL-HEAD---makes that impossible without pulling off the hand-pump and pulling up the however-long-it-is pipe with its stainless-steel rod inside that works the Lehman hand pump.
And we can't get anybody's TRUCK in there, to do that pulling off & up of the HAND-pump--due to my yard being a mud-hole from all the rain.
Here's the hand-pump I have on top of the well-head:
View attachment 464518
Versatile Pump Heads
Lehman's® deep-well pump heads are of the highest quality. The differences in pumps are the features they offer. Check features carefully to determine which pump-head is required for your application. 100% cast iron body built for hard use Pivot points ride on hardened, stainless steel pins...www.lehmans.com
At least, thanks to the hand-pump, we have ANY water at ALL.............................
"at the well head" is not possible, but the wire(s) from the pump must come out somewhere.
From there go to the first point where they are hooked up to something. This will be the control box for the pump, probably: line, line and start. The line/ line will come from the pressure switch line/ line. and the breaker (shutoff) will be
between the pressure switch and the main panel. Each section has to be verified for continuity.
If they used a breaker in the main panel as Equipment Disconnect then the wiring should go main panel to pressure switch. (Maybe the electricians wired both lines to the same phase?) line line is 240VAC
I hope you don't have a 120-V pump! In that case my advice would be worthless.
Countrymouse
Country exile in the city
GOOD IDEA. I will bear it in mind.
Knoxville's Joker
Has No Life - Lives on TB
240 vs 120
on 120 you have a got black wire with 120 rms volts on it (180 peak to peak) and a ground.
Any out of spec voltage appliances receive get shunted over to the ground wire
on 240 single phase you have 2 hot wires red and black each with 120v on them, a neutral white and ground, the fun comes in when you have to run a 3 prong plug/outlet for a 4 wire cable
A miswired neutral (white) wire can cause things to all not work.
On your outlets there is a feed side and a load side. If the feed side is on the load side the downstream and current outlet will not work. All the new stuff is clearly marked on the back for DIY folks.
Bubble Head
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Praying you get a new GFI installed correctly by a journeyman electrician. More than likely the start of your problem. Second prayer for a real well person to show up. They have their well pulling rig on their one ton pick. They can check the pump without pulling it. If the have to pul it they can do your 160 feet and replace within two hours. Done all the time everyday in my AO.
Sherrynboo
Veteran Member
Hoping you have resolved the problem by now 