Monday, May 23, 2011

It's official, we've passed a milestone!

One problem we've had at Landlady's property from the beginning was getting water from the well to the cistern. The well has a 120-volt AC pump, and it pulled so much amperage that the electrical system couldn't run it for more than fifteen minutes or so without collapsing on its fainting couch and shutting right down. So every so often we had to connect the pump to a gasoline generator and fill the cistern that way. It was a bother. The electrical system could run the pressure pump, but not the well pump.

Almost two years ago, Claire spent a lot of money and M and I spent a lot of sweat upgrading the system. After that I learned that we didn't need the generator any more to fill the cistern. That was a big improvement, but I still left the pump unplugged most of the time because I was afraid to find out what would happen if somebody ran a lot of water after dark. But now there are as many as three people at a time weekending in Landlady's house, and one person full-time for about a month. They go through a lot of water. Also I think the drain-back valve at the well might be going bad, because the cistern was unexpectedly going dry and that was playing hell with the pressure pump. So with heart in throat I decided to see what would happen if I left everything plugged in 24/7 for a whole weekend.

What happened was...nothing bad. The system can keep up with the demand just fine! Happy!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank your engineer, but check out that check valve. The energy budget didn't allow for malfunctioning equipment, and it takes a heck of a lot of energy to re-fill a long standing pipe.

Is it possible that the cistern is going dry because more people are using more water? Check the check valve to find out.

When you start the well pump after it's been shut down a few hours, water should start flowing right away. If not, the check valve is leaking. It's clear at the bottom of the well, a real PITA to fix, but you need it to work.

-S

LJH said...

I'm so impressed that Landlady has a fainting couch! I love Victorian interiors.