Water Water Everywhere, somehow we still have some to drink
Every spring we have a big melt. Around here this means that about a foot of snow still left on the ground meets a two day downpour and all melts at once. Since we're on the side of a mountain with a heavy clay soil, the water table comes right up to the surface and sits there for a while.
We have a subsurface well-house. It goes about 5 feet ( Read more... )
We have a subsurface well-house. It goes about 5 feet ( Read more... )
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...but not all that conductive.
It won't always draw enough current to pop a breaker. Hence, GFCI's. (an AFCI wouldn't be the best device - you're looking to trip on ground faults, not arc faults)(the arc in the pump pressure switch might even be enough to give it false trips)
To make sure a GFCI works properly, it would be best to bond the ground wire at the well house, if it isn't already. If not, the high resistance of the ground back to the house's ground stake could be enough to prevent a trip.
Also, the ring stand on most pressure tanks has a few holes. If it doesn't, they're easy enough to add. Bolt that sucker down. If the floor is gravel and you can't do it that way, maybe you can bolt a bracket to the wall. Or, worst-case, just bolt on some weights.
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Glad I didn't try and reach into the water though, it was sufficiently dirty that it would have had quite enough current to injure me.
Bolting the tank down could be difficult, the well house is too small to really do work in there, I can't even get to the back of the tank. I might have to settle for bolting a bar across the top of the tank to the sides of the well house.
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Does the tank have a top bracket for a well pump? If so, that would be an excellent place to bolt a bracket.
Speaking of wells, I have to go try and fix the well at the cabin, today. The pump motor spins, and the piping holds a prime, but no water comes out. So either the pump impeller broke free of the shaft, or there's a blockage in the inlet line (stuck check valve or frozen line, most likely).
Trouble is, there's no easy way to isolate which it might be, given that the check valve is 12 feet under water, the line is buried, and the pump is not practical to service (the new thermoplastic ones are difficult, at best). Fun times!
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The tank doesn't have any brackets on it. I was just going to run a couple of bars across the top on two sides and call it good. Maybe with a couple crossbars so it would sit inside a square and not be prone to wiggle if this ever happens again.
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Wells are hard to maintain. My father's was enclosed under the porch, and he never had the water table issues, but all winter we had freezing issues, requiring long hours with careful blowtorches and a mini woodstove setup and I forget all else what. Every set up is unique, quirky, and only thoroughly understood and loved by the owner.
In a geeky way, I'll covet that 200' extension cord. :)
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I now have two 100' cold-weather 14 gauge extension cords (12 was too expensive, and the sump doesn't need *quite* that much juice) taped together with electrical tape for a secure, watertight joint. Hope the weather dries out enough for me to fix this right, soon.
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It's just the "interesting" ones that get the press.
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