headed to do this landscape at the habitat for humanity house
i always get there early
as i want to get everything set up for the landscape project
that day
yes i talked my wife she to help this time
were about to show up to finish the landscape
usually this is the best day for me
when i volunteer at habitat for humanity
getting to work with the high school kids
visiting with them as we go along
as i was getting things ready
my wife she called
we dont have no water
i said
ok
ill deal with it when i get home
so
7 hours later
after finishing the habitat landscape
i entered the realm of the unknown
now we live 30 miles from town
electricians plumbers dont like to come this far out
its always been a problem for us out here
so
you just learn to do some of the things yourself
i once had a plumber come out to fix several things
he looked it all over
let me see if i have the parts
last i heard from him
so
i just figured out how to fix the plumbing issues myself
now we have a rainwater water system not a well
so everything is at ground level
i put it together myself
doing all the plumbing and electrical stuff myself
following this books directions
rainwater collection for the mechanically challenged
it should be around 40-50 psi
i checked to see if the shutoff had electricity
it did according to my meter
now
i still dont understand how this happened
so
this told me either my fuses were out
or
i had a dead pump
we had been having some issues with it lately also
so
i got in my car drove the 20+ miles to get new fuses
sorry the old gent said
we outta that one
you reckon home depot or lowes has them
dont know he said
i never go to those places
so
off to the next town
another 15 miles further away from the country n
yep
that home depot had the ones i needed
so
off back home i went
with my two fuses in tow
then
i plucked them into places
switched back on the shutoff
nothing
so now its saturday late around 5ish
after
working several hours on the landscape
i was tired and filthy and sweaty
greasy feeling like when you have camped out for
three days in the wilderness
i need a shower i said
oops
we aint got no water
then
i remembered
yes
you do
you got 30000 gallons sitting in all those tanks
but
you just cant pump it into the house
so
living away from our nearest neighbors by a 1/2 a mile
i hung a water hose over the input pipe to my largest tank
its about 6 ft high
plugged the hose into the bottom faucet on the tank
turned it on
took me a cold lengthy shower
a true outdoor refreshing shower it was
then
i took to thinking
it has to be the pump
so
the next morning on a sunday
i waited until the local store where i got my last pump
was opened
i knew if i got the same one i wouldnt have to change any fittings
wait
i could just call bud the well guy on monday
he would come over for a few bucks to check out the pump
last time i did that
he just said
you need a new pump
so
i decided to not wait for him to come over in a day or too
to tell me you need a new one
so
i just went and got me a new one
got it home
pulled out the old one
started putting the new one all together
robbing parts off the old one
i dont have one of the 1 inch metal pipes i need
since i couldnt get it out of the old one
plus
i had no pipe goop
oh my wife she
old buddy
old friend
ill owe you one
could you go get me some pipe goop and a pipe
that means a 30 minute one way trip
multiple phone calls
she called back
this guy helping me doesnt know anything about these pipes
mam a man and his wife walked up
what you need
so i had sent a picture of both
oh he said to my wife she
this is what you need
my wife sent me a picture of what she was about to buy
then called me
is this what you want
yes
please hurry home
so
i got all my stuff
rehooked it all back up to the rainwater system
checked for leaks after i turned the water supply
line on
no leaks
flipped that switch to on
no water
by now its 300 pm
im tired
im dirty sweaty again
i dont understand why this doesnt work
saying
power disconnect
no kidding
then
i remembered that my solar went into its own electrical box on
our light pole
it shared this with a few things
before a line ran into my main box
i opened the lid
carefully
i always get nervous when i do this
like a big ole lightning bolt of electricity
is going to shoot out and get me
now
i dont want to die from alzheimers disease
but
i sure dont want to die this way
i switched all the switches off and on
didnt help
so by then
i was tired
ticked off
should i call an electrician out tomorrow
which may take a few days
call bud the pump guy
as i switched this one breaker off and on
it made this noise
i knew it shouldnt do that
maybe i thought those dang fire ants got in there
or some snake or something to short things out
but
we had full power inside the house
remember now all this has left us with no water in the house
its like camping out with a large lake nearby
since we had 30000 gallons of rainwater just sitting there
so i contemplated all night
even dreamed about it two nights
i dont understand it
hopefully an electrician will figure it out
if i can get one
now it had been real warm
we hadnt used any of our minisplit heat pumps
one for each room
for several days
a friend staying with us a few days
you know i turned mine on last night and it worked ok
so
i went to try to turn on the other three
none of them worked but hers did
now im really confused
my rainwater pump dont work
my solar system is off with a red flashing light
ive got electricity to my house
3 of 4 minisplits dont work
i dont understand this
then
a light came on
as i awoke on monday
thats two days later
its that damn breaker switch i think
having remembered that
the three minisplit were tied to the back panel
along with the rainwater pump and the solar system
their electricity came from a line
that came right to that big ole breaker that
was making this strange noise when i turned it off and on
im going to the store to get another new one
before i call that electrician that may not even come out
i remembered years ago that lowes had the right breakers
that fit into the electric panel
nothing wrong with my long term memory
so
yep
off i go 30 miles and back
huh in case you arent counting
thats
180 miles of driving so far
plugged it all in
flipped it on
into the house i went
turned on all the minisplits
all of them worked
yes i pumped my fist
now i was getting excited
i went out to the barn
my solar control system was no longer blinking red
it was solarizing sending electricity into my panel
then
i walked over
carefully a little sweaty a little tachycardic
lifted up the cover on my shutoff box
slowly pushed in the control lever
guess what
it worked it worked
we got water finally after 3 days
now we have to wait to drink it
until we get our new filters in
then after changing those
we have to resterilize the lines
then
hopefully today sometime
we will have some
good ole country n water
my
how we have missed that sweet taste of our water
i realized
i am a electrician
i am a plumber
i am a well man
i am a problem solver
this
sort of despite the three days of no water
made me feel good
to
realize that my memory hasnt been so affected
that i cant problem solve
theres always good to every story
the organicgreen doctor
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