Rat thoughts

Friday afternoon the well guy came out again.  This time he actually did something, replacing the well pump starter capacitor.  Apparently it was not shutting off like it's supposed to, which was causing the pump to malfunction.  Hopefully it didn't damage the motor.

We also got a bill from the first visit, $90 just to come out, look at the thing and say he thought it was a frozen pipe.  Bleah.

At least we have water again.  Now I just have to deal with a sink full of dishes that haven't been washed in a week.  And a ton of  laundry.  And refill all the animal buckets.  And then I can take an actual shower and not just a sponge bath from a bucket.

I should have asked about installing a manual pump, just in case something ever goes wrong again.  I wouldn't mind working a hand pump if it means the difference between being able to flush the toilet and driving 15 minutes into town to use the bathroom at the gas station.

I was in the middle of doing my first load of laundry when the water stopped again.  At first I thought there was something wrong with the washing machine because it just sat there, making a funny noise.  Fortunately the water ran out just before it would have normally switched off, so I was able to trick the machine into continuing with the rinse cycle.  I have a bad habit of waiting until I'm out of clean clothes before doing the laundry.  If I hadn't done the whites first, or if the water had run out earlier, I'd be going commando tomorrow.

My roommate bought an extension cord and a incandescent shop light, which we lowered into the well.  We then sealed the manhole and I covered the manhole and top of the well with a sheet of R.5 insulating foam.  That should heat up the pipes and stuff quite nicely.

I sure wish this well had one of those old-fashioned hand pumps, then we could at least have water for flushing the toilets and doing dishes.

I went to wash some dishes this morning, and the water just came out at a trickle, then stopped.  I tried hot, nothing.  I tried cold, nothing.  I tried the bathroom, nada.  I tried the other half of the house, which has a separate water heater and piping.  Nothing.

I checked in the basements, but didn't see any leaks or obvious broken pipes.  The basements are heated anyway, so it's unlikely anything down there is frozen.  Checked the circuit breakers, and the board is green.  I power-cycled the water-pump circuit, just to be sure.

I popped the manhole on the well and peeked down inside.  It's really bright and glaring outside, and my eye has been bothering me again, so I couldn't see very clearly, but the pressure gauge on the supply line appeared to be at 0.  I couldn't see any leaky pipes, either.  I'm not about to go climbing down into a narrow, deep, dark hole by myself to make sure, though.

So either the well has frozen solid (fairly unlikely), it's dried up completely (also fairly unlikely) or the pump is on the fritz (possible).