Well Water or Not So Well!

Here is the pump house. The little roofed building next to the flower and herb garden. As you can see in the background, there is a repair truck leaving. On Sunday, the pump, which brings fresh, clean water to the house stopped working. We called "the pump guys" also known as brothers, John and Dave, and John's son, John, at Rogue Valley Pump. They were enjoying their Sunday afternoon with family and returned our message by saying they would be over on Monday morning. We had water in the holding tank (2,000 gallons, give or take a few loads of laundry and some flower watering), so we felt comfortable with the next day.

John came to our rescue and began investigating the problem. He was quick to discover that the "impeller" was not turning. Upon further inspection he saw that not only was it not turning, it had a chunk broken off and the rest of it melded together.

The rust colored yuckness was due to the heat, the melding, the breakage, and the need for repair. You can also see how utterly misshapen the other parts had become. John ended up dismantling the entire pump to take it back to the shop to loosen the most stubborn parts and gather the spare new parts for repairs. He said we were his priority and he would call to give a time frame for repair. John was true to his word and he called later in the afternoon to say the parts were 40 miles away and would be here on Wednesday, unless somebody wanted to pick them up. Well, that somebody was Mr. and Mrs. Yours Truly. Although, we had been confident with the holding tank when this adventure began, we have livestock to water, plants to water, people to water and sometimes even dishes to wash! So off we went to gather new spare parts.

Dave had made the arrangements for us to pick up the parts in an industrial park from a very nice man named Bruce. These large hangar type warehouses are filled from floor to ceiling with spare parts and Bruce had them ready and waiting for us. We seemed to be the only moving parts in the whole industrial park and only needed to call for redirection once. When the parts were back on the farm, we notified Dave and John and the said they would return first thing in the morning.

John returned to the dismantled pump house with our Goulds Pump minus the old impeller. He reconnected all of the parts, inquired about the prime and how often we had to prime our pump (each time it turns off), and John replaced the pressure gauge. John is extremely mechanical and pays attention to every little part because it matters to the whole function of this centrifugal pump that brings water into the house. John asked more questions and responded thoughtfully to our questions. By Tuesday afternoon, we had running water in the house. It was just in time too, because the trusty holding tank was beginning to feel an incredible thirst! We are so grateful to the great guys at Rogue Valley Pump!

Here is the Gould's Pump all put back together and holding the secret to life: Every little part matters to the whole! If all else fails, use a good pipe wrench for reinforcement, and remember to prime often!