My 11-yo well just quit

[dmccarty]

Rural living can be expensive. Ours had to be replaced a few years ago to the tune of $800. Definitely not a DIY job. Good luck.

City living is more expensive. The city takes a bite every month while in the country you get hit with a big water or septic bill every once in awhile.

Our city water bills were from $50-$125 a month. And that was many years ago. Since then the city has raised rates and put in tier pricing to save water usage. Raleigh did the same thing and now they are having to raise the water rates. Again. Why? Because people are using less water. DUH that was the plan. But less water usage mean less dollars and the revenue generated is not covering the costs to run the water system.

Our only water/sewer costs for the last five years of country living has been $350 to pump the septic tank and install a riser to one of the lids on the tank. And whatever the power costs to run the pump. Cheaper and better water and service than we had in the city. I would rather have iron in the water than Chlorine and the other chemical they are using to treat the water.

I do dread the day of having to replace our pump..... Partly for the money. Mainly for the hassle of not having water. :laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[gotrocks]

Jim, sorry to hear the news. Hope they get you pumping again soon.
Will be watching for "by the numbers" pictures.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my pump will last longer than my wife and I.
Thought it was gone a couple of weeks ago, but called my well man and he reminded me of two reset buttons on the bottom the the box.... Hotdog, click click, water running again.

 

[Jimbrown]

I will suggest that you look at GRUNDFOS SQFLEX pumps before making a choice.

These are the only pumps that drillers are now installing around here. The beauty of these pumps is that they will run on almost any kind of power AC/DC 30 to 300 volts. If power is down you can run them on almost any kind of generator or even batteries if you have to. Mine runs on 48v volt solar panels but can be run on a generator if the need arises.

 

[schmism]

The beauty of these pumps is that they will run on almost any kind of power AC/DC 30 to 300 volts.

per the documentation for the SQF series pumps, the motor itself is a DC motor.

on the other hand, the control unit which you have to have for it, has an inverter built into it and can take either DC or AC input. but it still outputs DC only to the motor.

 

[jinman]

The pictures I posted this morning will have to do. The well repairman was here about 15 minutes. He replaced the motor control box and the pump fired right up and runs perfectly, $202 total bill. YIPPEE! The sound of a flushing toilet is music to my ears.:thumbsup:

Oh yes. . .thanks to everyone for the good thoughts. It always helps to have good karma.

 

[Bird]

City living is more expensive.

I agree. My water alone last year cost an average of $45.79 a month but when you include the drainage fee, sewer, and garbage pickup (all on the same bill), it was over $100 a month.

 

[dcyrilc]

Morning Jim,

Sorry to hear about the well. One suggestion I might make if you are having things redone. If room allows enlarge the amount of tank capacity in the well house. Well pumps are good for only so many on/off cycles. They can run nearly indefinately, but cycling kills them. The greater the tank capacity, the fewer cycles the pump needs to make and the longer their life will typically be.

Talk to your well contractor and see what he thinks.

 

[MarkV]

Good news on the repair Jim. It is nice feeling when you dodge the bullet.

MarkV

 

[RobertN]

Good news on the well.

Ours has had issues before with wires rubbing on rock, and wearing thru. We also had a 2500 gallon tank put in, with a booster/demand pump.

Only problem now, is we would have no indication of the well itself failing, except for our tank running dry. Need to figure that out, because it would be nice to have that 2500 gallon reserve when the well pump goes...

As you mentioned, it is nice to be able to flush the toilet. You can get drinking water(bottled), can go take a shower at the neighbors or the gym. But you can only doo so much before the toilet has to flush

 

[jinman]

Well, I got so "pumped" after the well turned out so easy to fix that I jumped in my garage and put in my new belt-driven garage door opener. Wow! Is that thing ever quiet.:thumbsup: Two successful fixes in one day has me thinkin' I should buy a lottery ticket. Actually, I think it's 2-1/2 fixes. My Kubota G1800 lawn tractor had a dead dash panel the last time I used it. I have a starter button rigged so I don't need the ignition key to start it. It ran, but I don't think the battery was charging. I guess I had enough fuel in the tank that the fuel pump didn't even have to work. Well this morning I found the fusible link was toast. I replaced it and everything again works fine. I suppose I probably shorted something out while doing maintenance the last time. Anyhow, this has been a good day because while I was typing this post, my neighbor who I've done some boxblade work for recently stopped by and dropped off 5 gallons of diesel fuel. Maybe I should quit while I'm ahead and just chill out with a cool one and watch a baseball game. I don't want to take a chance on messing up a streak of good luck like this.