The Well . . .

The water well has suffered through several really bad freezes this year, each time a pipe or faucet breaks, each in a different location.  I have heat tape on the well plumbing near the tank but none out were the faucet is located.  So the faucet problem is somewhat expected, those breaks at or near the well is a different kettle of fish.  I chalk it up to general yard maintenance.

When I went out to fire up the well again there was yet another leak at the elbow I had glue back in place.  That elbow suffered from some substandard glue that separated.  First time at one end and the second time at the other end.  In those cases I simply reinstalled the elbow, not a big deal.  This time the elbow broke in the middle, both reglued joints survived.

As I was cutting out the elbow I was thinking about how to replace it, I discovered a short piece of pipe not far away, maybe a foot, had also shattered.  That piece of one inch pipe was rather thin walled, not really schedule forty material.  The elbow was schedule forty material but it failed too.  I had at one time replaced a slip joint in this short length of pipe with a union.  That was easy enough but alas the pipe on one end failed, not the union.

So I have now replaced the entire length of this short pipe, may 22 or so inches long, got rid of the union and all the joints in between and replaced it with first class schedule thick wall pipe.  I am giving the glue a while to set up and will fire up the well again.  But the union is gone, a slight restriction and possible future leak location is also gone.

I'll say for one thing the pump at the bottom of this shallow well, about 190 feet down, really pumps out some water.  A year ago, maybe two years ago, we had the well people tune it up.  They replaced the starting capacitors and the pressure switch.  It really pumps out the water now.  I had thought the pump at the bottom needed to be lowered but not so, just a tune was necessary.

As I have said before, irrigation systems are constant maintenance.  This one is no different.  But over the 12 years we have had this house we must have saved at least $10,000 in local water fees.  And if all else fails the shallow well can act as a reserve supply of water, albeit, much harder than city water.  But it is much cheaper than city water, we have well amortized the cost of the well so it is just the price of electricity to run the irrigation system, pennies per day at most.

So I keep a box of fittings, a can of glue and the tools to repair any leaks.  And we continue to have a nice green yard when other's yards are turning brown.

And the beat goes on . . .