Yesterday I gave you a hint of what was new at OUR PLACE - and the pic above is what I posted. Yep - a Well Cap! On Saturday morning Mr. wonderful got up early, as usual, proceeded to ready the coffee maker, went to fill the carafe, and - NO WATER! After exchanging a few pleasantries with no one in particular (I was still sound asleep, thankfully!), he did some mechanical testing and diagnosis.Either the well pump or the motor itself was no longer functioning. A few phone calls later, the estimate revealed well over $1,000 in potential pocketbook damage! By that time, I was up and at 'em, had started a pot of "black gold" brewing with some distilled water I had on hand, and I got to listen to some mutterings of "...tired of getting RAPED over something so easily fixed....I've seen how its done while working construction...never paid much attention...know it's not that difficult...pillage and plunder....will not be price-ravaged by those guys...am not over the barrel like they THINK I am...."!
First things first - removal of the blue well cover - EASY. Removal of the sanitary cover - not so easy. After GOOGLE and PhOnE a FrIenD, we discovered a home made tool was needed to turn a large screw that was invisible to the eye and about 4 ft. below the cover! Oh, big fun.
This home made tool worked well, but a return trip to the store was necessary - be sure to buy LEAD pipe the first time. Steel is not strong enough. Ever wonder what's down inside your well?? We wondered, and we STILL don't know! This is about the farthest we got to see!
Google and PhOnE a FriEnD reported that we needed to be prepared to hold a weight of about 80 lbs without dropping anything back inside that hole, and so, at least 2 persons are needed. We had THREE - Mr. Wonderful pulled the first section up out of the hole by himself, using a home made lever.
Then, as the 2 guys pulled, I reached up and grabbed the plastic pipes to walk them back into the woods - they have a natural bend, but you do not want them to snap! Mr. Wonderful determined how deep the well was by dropping a fishing line weighted by a steel bolt - it measured over 65 ft deep when we reeled up the line.
Here's the old pump and motor - our house is about 37 yrs old, and we have no idea if this is original to the house. It is entirely stainless steel. You can see the brown and mineral deposits from the hard water on the steel. The new pump and motor is stainless, with heavy duty plastic connecting the two units. The pump/motor do not weigh that much, but when it's filled with water, and the entire 60 ft pipe is filled with water, it weighs THAT MUCH!
After wiring in the new pump, the fellas decided to tie yellow marine rope onto the pump - it wasn't that heavy, but they didn't want to risk loosing anything once it got below the surface, as we still don't know how things look way down there!
After lowering the new pump, all that remained was securing the sanitary cover with a torque-down of the screw that was 4 ft below the surface using the handy dandy home made tool. With a replacement of the blue well cover, we have running water once again! Time spent on this project - 3 hours. Final Price Tag (Ka-ching Ka-ching!) - $339.53 and a dozen eggs for the FriEnD!And what did the Girls think of all the goings on? They didn't mind donating the eggs, but they weren't sticking THEIR NECK out to help anyone besides themselves -
.....after all, it's ALL ABOUT THEM!
Happy Monday!
7 comments:
Oh Lord, been there done that..usually it's just me and DH working on it. Lucky he helped his Dad when he was at home so he knows all about fixing a pump, I have had to walk the pipes out to the side yard several times..BUT not lately sure hope it doesn't happen anytime soon...lol..DH does also say a few choice words while working on it.
Glad you got water again and glad Mr Wonderful knew not to let those guys rob him. Also glad he had a Friend to help him.
Molly
wow, what a story! so glad you were able to get it fixed for a third of the price (but a lot of elbow crease for sure)! so thankful you had someone to help you and Mr. Wonderful out too to make the work a little bit easier for all :)
have a great day with running water :)
betty
Girl...thank God you two are so self suffient and not afraid of a challenge! Mr. Wonderful certainly lived up to his manly name over the weekend, didn't he?
Isn't having water blissful???
You two...there's always something going on there in Michigan, eh?
Hey Monica!
I'll have to say Mr. Wonderful knows how to get a job done! Congratulations on getting your well pump fixed!
I don't think my well thing looks like yours. We have a little white house sort of looks like a dog house on our well to keep it from freezing. Most people around here have something of that nature over theirs also. Makes me wonder how yours doesn't freeze????
Hugs,
Angela
Oh Man Monica! What a pain! But, thank goodness Mr. Wonderful was determined and got the job done!
We have a cabin in Atlanta (MI) and have had to deal with the same thing. Oh, what a frustration it was! But, something that has to be dealt with.
Growing up if a DIY family, we have the same attitude. You do what ya gotta do!
UGH! We have have our share of *well* issues over the years too, we've lived in our current house for 10 yrs. now and have NO idea how old the pump here is, I suppose we'll find out one of these days:)
WOW! I know what you mean about not having water AND about doing the job yourself MUCH cheaper! I'm so glad for you that you have a Mr. Wonderful AND friend that could do the job so quickly!!! Praising God for you! Linda
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