At Home In The Woods

[jinman]

Our squash plants are producing squash now. They apparently got pollinated.

Both lawnmowers are not working now. When I tried to start our Kubota riding mower, it clicked twice but did nothing more. After charging the battery, the behavior was still the same. The Kubota store said a starter would cost $420. The mower is probably 15 years old. The problem could be a solenoid or something else.

I guess I need to shop for a mower. I have heard that some of the new mowers will not mow in reverse gear because of safety features. I don't think I could live with that feature.

Obed, in the beginning, squash plants produce mostly male blooms. After the plant matures, it starts producing both male blooms and female blooms with the tiny squash behind them. That's the way squash do for every type I've ever planted.

On the mower, what type/model is it? Kubotas are notorious for having bad key starter switches (ignition switches). To make sure the starter is good, all you need is a short loop of wire to go between the big battery cable connection and the solenoid terminal. Touch both terminals while holding the wire in place. It will spark slightly and then turn over just fine if the starter is okay and the key switch is the problem. I did a whole thread in the Kubota lawn/garden forum about that problem and my fix of adding a start switch to my mower, a G1800.

 

[clemsonfor]

Our squash plants are producing squash now. They apparently got pollinated.

Both lawnmowers are not working now. When I tried to start our Kubota riding mower, it clicked twice but did nothing more. After charging the battery, the behavior was still the same. The Kubota store said a starter would cost $420. The mower is probably 15 years old. The problem could be a solenoid or something else.

I guess I need to shop for a mower. I have heard that some of the new mowers will not mow in reverse gear because of safety features. I don't think I could live with that feature.

Keep in mind thats probly a Kubota starter. Look on ebay i bet you can buy one for less than $150 in an aftermarket.

Also it sounds like a solonoid to me?? So unless its all in one you may be able to swap solonoids. you really need to find one of us that is colse to you and can run buy diagnose and show you how to perform simple repairs. you will save thousands in a few years. In return for some cold drinks (dont really like beer but a good coke or Mt dew work) or dinner cooked, or send the wife over to do some of my chores i hate, basically the stuff i see her doing!!! Oh if she cleans we always need the house cleaned. I would fix and buy the parts for you stuff in return for X (based upon parts price and labor time)number of house cleanings!!

 

[clemsonfor]

Obed, in the beginning, squash plants produce mostly male blooms. After the plant matures, it starts producing both male blooms and female blooms with the tiny squash behind them. That's the way squash do for every type I've ever planted.

On the mower, what type/model is it? Kubotas are notorious for having bad key starter switches (ignition switches). To make sure the starter is good, all you need is a short loop of wire to go between the big battery cable connection and the solenoid terminal. Touch both terminals while holding the wire in place. It will spark slightly and then turn over just fine if the starter is okay and the key switch is the problem. I did a whole thread in the Kubota lawn/garden forum about that problem and my fix of adding a start switch to my mower, a G1800.

Or the way i do it to eliminate the key and solonoid is to hook battery cables to a known good battery, like in a car. Then hook the positive to the + bolt on the starter itself, then hook the negative to the neg battery post or a good frame ground on mower. Watch out cause as soon as you do this it will try and start.

 

[Obed]

The riding mower problem turned out to be a bad cable connection at the battery. After my in-house small-engine repair girl figured that out and fixed it we mowed the lawn and property entrance. After I finished mowing the property entrance, I turned on the mower headlights and the mower immediately died and wouldn't restart. The next day my repair repair girl figured out the propblem was a bad fuse and got the mower running again.

 

[Obed]

The back porch is starting to look like a porch. The decking under the porch roof is almost all installed except for the outer board that goes around the posts on one side of the deck. The boards on the deck are just lying there. They are not installed. Other responsibilities and the 90+ degree temps we've been having have slowed the porch progress the past two or three weeks. It's tough to make myself work on the porch after work on these incredibly hot days. This weekend the forecast is for 100F temps.

 

[Obed]

Well Challenges/Question

Watering the garden has been a challenge. Our well has kept up with our normal household needs without any problems, even during this extremely dry period we are having. However, we have found that with 3 water sprinklers running simultaneously, we can only water the garden for about 20 minutes. If we leave the garden water running much longer, water will start trickling from the springlers instead of spraying. Inside the house, the water faucets will either not work or just pour out a minimal flow rate. When we turn off the water to the garden, the water faucets in the house will quickly and often immediately start working like normal.

We are now watering the garden using 3 sprinklers twice a day for 15 or 20 minutes each time. We use a kitchen timer to remind us to turn off the garden water.

This situation caught me by surprise because the well digger told us when he dug the well that we had a very good flow rate. I do not remember the flow rate number he told us. I had thought we could water the garden as much as we wanted but that doesn't appear to be the case.

I am curious what experiences you guys have had regarding using a well to water your garden, grass, animals, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Obed

 

[RadarTech]

Obed,
What kind of well pump do you have?Size and volume....
What is the pressure tank size?
What about the working pressure on the pump tank?
Where in relation to the pressure tank are the taps to the waterhoses?
I had a similar problem trying to t off 3 hoses from a single faucet..stupid me!

How deep is your well?
How far away from the house?
What size water line from the well to the house?
Does the line drop in size going to the faucets outside as compared to the in house fixtures?



I know all of this is likely on the thread somewhere but I'm using my iPhone to answer....

I'm sure others will have more questions.
This will be a good start....

RT

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Well Challenges/Question

Watering the garden has been a challenge. Our well has kept up with our normal household needs without any problems, even during this extremely dry period we are having. However, we have found that with 3 water sprinklers running simultaneously, we can only water the garden for about 20 minutes. If we leave the garden water running much longer, water will start trickling from the springlers instead of spraying. Inside the house, the water faucets will either not work or just pour out a minimal flow rate. When we turn off the water to the garden, the water faucets in the house will quickly and often immediately start working like normal.

We are now watering the garden using 3 sprinklers twice a day for 15 or 20 minutes each time. We use a kitchen timer to remind us to turn off the garden water.

This situation caught me by surprise because the well digger told us when he dug the well that we had a very good flow rate. I do not remember the flow rate number he told us. I had thought we could water the garden as much as we wanted but that doesn't appear to be the case.

I am curious what experiences you guys have had regarding using a well to water your garden, grass, animals, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Obed

Your pulling water faster then it can replenish by using that many sprinklers. You could switch to where you turn on each sprinkler one or two at a time and see if that works better. My well is 5' deep and during the dry summer I start pulling air if I run out 400 gallons. Shut down and it fills back up.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Well Challenges/Question

Watering the garden has been a challenge.
We are now watering the garden using 3 sprinklers twice a day for 15 or 20 minutes each time. We use a kitchen timer to remind us to turn off the garden water.

I am curious what experiences you guys have had regarding using a well to water your garden, grass, animals, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Obed

Obed
I have run into the same problem when running one sprinkler too long. I got around the problem with a hose faucet water timer from Lowes or Home Depot that is operated by a 9 volt battery. You can set it to come on at a certain time during the day and for a specified length of time. I can also push the manual use button and get it to go on for 30 minutes before it shuts off. The cost was reasonable, too long ago for me to remember exact cost. It eliminated the low water problem for me.
Rick

 

[Mike476]

Well Challenges/Question

This situation caught me by surprise because the well digger told us when he dug the well that we had a very good flow rate. I do not remember the flow rate number he told us. I had thought we could water the garden as much as we wanted but that doesn't appear to be the case.

I am curious what experiences you guys have had regarding using a well to water your garden, grass, animals, etc.

Thanks in advance,
Obed

Obed,

Living in an area that during extended periods of drought sees people doing laundry at laundromats rather than using their own wells, when we built 10 years ago we went with the "you should never have to consider the fact you're on a well", mostly because we have horses. Could have drilled a second well for the stables but decided against it. Depth, 385 feet, cased down 200 feet, high volume pump, 18 gals/min flow and 400 gals of water in the well. We run sprinklers all day in times such as the area is experiencing now, minimal rain. Talking with my wife there are people whose wells are 120-150 foot deep complaining of similar situations to what you're experiencing, thankfully it doesn't seem to happen every year, seems the cycle in this neck of the woods is every 3-5 years we've experienced winters with minimal snowfall and dryer than normal Springs.

Best of luck to you. Beautiful property you and your wife have there!