The house, when we did our final walk through, had water. Like legitimate, warm, working water. The house, on the day we closed, did not have water, of any form or temperature. What happened next was the first of our real introductions into the mind of the man from whom we bought this property.
Initial inspections showed that there was possibly no electricity going to the pump house, so a call to PSE was first on the agenda.
Initial inspections showed that there was possibly no electricity going to the pump house, so a call to PSE was first on the agenda.
PSE calls back and says nope, the power is hooked up, it must be a problem on our end. We then get the phone number of Ted, the previous owner, who tells us that "vandals" stole the wiring for the pump, and that must be the problem. Clearly if there was vandalism, Ted did it himself.
Pete, Kate's dad, takes this as a opportunity to work on some of the less than correctly installed features of the well.
Pete, Kate's dad, takes this as a opportunity to work on some of the less than correctly installed features of the well.
Shutoff valve (red knob) installed by Well Meister Pete. PVC piping installed to new pressure tank location.
Pressure switch added to its proper location, next to the tank.
Evidently it is a bad plan to have the pressure switch and pressure tank 300 feet from each other (hint: this kills the expensive metal chunk in the ground... this becomes important later).
Pressure tank installed in its proper location, next to the well.
Luckily we had the number of the local well guy - the same one who drilled this well in 1971 - thoughtfully given to us by the neighbor. We call the well guy - hereinafter referred to as "the Texan" - and after a long, drawn out conversation with his wife, schedule a looksie for the next morning at 9:30 am.
Terry cancels all of his appointments for the next day and loiters around the property waiting for the Texan to arrive. At around 2 pm, with no sign of him and no response on his cell phone, Terry finally gets through to the wife, who has no idea where the Texan might be. At about 3pm, he is reached on his phone and he arrives a little over an hour later.
He does a quick assessment, says there is likely one of two problems, and for both of them we need to pull up the pump. Our choices are: pump is broken or wiring is broken. Neither is good, but both are fixable. We agree to have the pump crew out the next day (hopefully on time this go-round) to check out the pump.
The next morning the well truck arrives. It is the best the 1980s had to offer. Went well with our pump house and assembly.
Terry cancels all of his appointments for the next day and loiters around the property waiting for the Texan to arrive. At around 2 pm, with no sign of him and no response on his cell phone, Terry finally gets through to the wife, who has no idea where the Texan might be. At about 3pm, he is reached on his phone and he arrives a little over an hour later.
He does a quick assessment, says there is likely one of two problems, and for both of them we need to pull up the pump. Our choices are: pump is broken or wiring is broken. Neither is good, but both are fixable. We agree to have the pump crew out the next day (hopefully on time this go-round) to check out the pump.
The next morning the well truck arrives. It is the best the 1980s had to offer. Went well with our pump house and assembly.
Gage and his no-so-much English speaking friend (green hoodie) arrive to pull the dead gear out of the hole, anticipating an easy fix.
Removing the pump and piping from the well.
Dead pump. Note the pump is made of a pump (upper portion) and motor (lower portion). This will be important later. The well head is on the left.
As they pulled out the pump, the guys noted that the piping for the water was... less than sufficient. What should have been either rigid PVC or stainless tubing was actually a flimsy tubing that was easily bent. Decision #1 was to replace this tubing with stainless when the new pump was put in.
Pulling the piping from the well.
Piping should not kink this easily.
The new, significantly more expensive, 3/4 horsepower pump.
Decision #2: The previous pump was probably fried when Ted installed the pressure tank in the house instead of next to the well. We choose to put in a replacement pump. It was installed at noon. Pressure tests along the line show that the pressure tank is not reaching full PSI of 80 and is instead capping out at 70. Gage and friend attempt to call the Texan for the next four hours to establish probable cause. Texan advises that the pump might be the wrong horsepower, despite the pump being brand new. Gage and friend pull the pump, verify that it is correct, reinstall, and call the grumpy Texan again. This time the Texan advises that the motor specs and the pump specs might not match. The pump is pulled again. Gage and friend install a new, matching motor and reinstall down the hole. Problems persist as the pump should be able to reach 113 PSI. It still caps out at 70. Extensive diagnostics continue for several hours, including pulling the pump several more times to verify bits of information. The crew finally quits around 9:00 pm.
Verifying that pressure was not a problem at the well head.
At this point, we started looking for leaks along the line, and Terry broke out the divining rods. He located the water lines, but we didn't find any leaks. This was verified by the fact that pressures stayed steady at 70 PSI from the well head to the house.
Terry witching the water.
The resolution, as it stands right now, is to pull the pump out (for the sixth or so time) and send it to the manufacturer for study. It is advertised as being able to get to 113 PSI, but isn't operating to capacity, and even the Texan couldn't figure it out. We do have running water, albeit at 40/60 PSI instead of the 60/80 that we should have.
