YEAH! AN ALL NEW WATER WELL PUMP! WE HAVE WATER PRESSURE! WAIT! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SOUND?

We lost water a few weeks back after we had that big rainfall and on Sunday (of course, it HAD to be a Sunday), our water stopped running.  So we called in the experts at the well company to see what might be going on.  Last time this happened, a mouse had gotten jammed up into the switch and died causing it not to work, this time it was a snake!  Yikes, me?  I don't like snakes, never have, never will.  Anything that moves along without any legs is not something that I think is right.  Not right at all.

Anyway… this was something we knew would come at some point:  we had to replace the pump.  I don't know why, i mean look at it, it looked pretty efficient to me:

This is where it hides in the ground, under the old windmill armature 

That's the thingy to turn the pump on and off

This is some kinda tank thingy.  Don't know why that's there.

I guess this happens, things get old, they go bad, but how bad was it?  I mean we could last a little while longer, right?  Not according to our expert here, he said, "On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the most efficient, perfectly running pump out there, yours is at about a 1 1/2."

Well, that means we have a little time left, right?  I mean it's not dead yet?  It's got 1 1/2 left in it!  He gave me the look; that one eyebrow up in the air, head cocked look of, "Really, lady?" So i guess that wasn't gonna fly with the man, so we decided to go ahead and take care of the pump once and for all.

And all that extra money Bob made for picking up a class this summer, literally went down the drain.

But i got excited when the promise of taking a shower and doing a load of laundry at the same became too real.  From now on could we actually NOT have to announce to the household that we were taking a shower so no one would flush the toilet while we were in there?  Could we actually have the dishwasher going at the same time we were scrubbing our bodies?  It seemed too good to be true. We got all excited at the prospect of good water pressure!  Ahhhh, the little things in life.

The new pump delivery and hook up was scheduled to arrive yesterday. We waited patiently for the well guys to arrive and at long last about 11 am our knights in shining armor (blue work uniforms) came bounding down the driveway on their white stallions  (white pick up trucks) and brought with them the best treasure of all:  a shiny new water well pump! It was special: it was bluuuuueeee and it had new hoooooses and it looked all - perfect!

Tall, really tall!

Specializing in "Country Water"  yes!  that's for us.

After they arrived we waited with baited breath for the imminent water pressure we dreamed of.  And within two hours they were done.  They said turn on your faucets and allow it to drain out for a little while.  Then they took off out into the sunset on their mighty steads.

But within minutes, our water had stopped and there was nothing coming out of the faucets.  Bob got on the horn and called them right back.  The boys returned, worked a little magic and when we turned on the faucet, black sludge came out.  Turns out they had put a new pipe in that they pushed right through the old one, so it got a little clogged.  But to our relief, our water was on, there was pressure, and boy oh boy did we have fun!  I mean i went all out:  we turned on the washer, I got in the shower, I even flushed the toilet all at the same time to see what would happen!  It was great!  The water pressure didn't go down to a trickle like before when the washer was running, but it did get WAY too hot when i flushed the toilet.  Oh well, can't ask for everything, it's still an old house.

We basked in the glory of perfect water pressure and a new pump for nearly five hours.  Then the worst happened.  We came home to find the basement with an inch of water in it and the sound of a torrential downpour seeping through the house.

Not only did we have no idea what was going on, we had no idea how to stop it. Yes, logically, it would have been wise to turn the pump off, but it was 9 pm, dark and as you saw in the previous pictures: not someplace you want to be hanging out in the dark.  So i found a lever that i pulled on and the sounds of the waterfall behind the wall silenced slightly.  We went to bed and hoped for the best.

This morning we called them back and they immediately came out to see what was up.  Well, that's when we were socked with the bad news:  the new pressure busted the old pipes!  Now we need to replace all the piping leading from the pump to the house.  Found out that it had never been replaced. These poor "country water" boys hadn't ever seen anything this old before.  Now mind you, they wouldn't have because this house is 125 years old.  I don't think there was indoor plumbing back then, but whenever it was put in, it wasn't made to last this long.

Well, there goes the next five summer's worth of extra money down the drain.  Goodbye new camper!