We have no water

[butterflywings]

I can hear our water pump running, but no water is coming out. It first came out as a trickle, now nothing. The water was fine today, came out at full force, so dh and I think it's some sort of a pump issue (god help us if it's a no more water in the aquifer issue ). We had this exact same thing happen about 7 years ago, a messed up pump I mean. Has anyone had this happen before?

 

Of course it has to happen on a holiday weekend and dh is working tonight and has to be there at 7am tomorrow. The next door neighbor, a contractor, who fixed it last time, is on his way over to tell us what the problem is. He should be here any minute.

 

Guh, another $300 +. Every time I think we are close to getting out of debt, unexplained expenses keep coming up impeding our efforts. Probably Sears isn't even open tomorrow and we will be 3 days without water, today, tomorrow and Tuesday until we can get it fixed.

 

FML

Edited September 6, 2010 by butterflywings

[Quit Screwing Me]

This happened to me once and it was a $65 repair. My situation was the somehow some mud got stirred up in the well and clogged the impeller so it was just this ball of mud spinning instead of fan blades. The dude cleaned it off and no problems since. This was back in 2001.

[butterflywings]

Our neighbor is still here. He said that we have plenty of water, so take that worry out of my mind. He said there are 2 definite small leaks that may or may not be the actual cause of the no water coming into our house. He is checking for further problems with the pump.

 

Eta: We need a new pump. He primed the pump and it is not working. I don't know what priming a pump means, but whatever it means, that answered his question. He fixes pumps all the time so I guess he knows and that's all that matters.

 

Ah, another $300 hooray.

Edited September 6, 2010 by butterflywings

[Ditto]

Best of luck!!!

 

It seems major thing always happen over Labor Day weekend! (I've lost 2 AC units, 4 years apart both on Labor Day weekend)

 

Knock on wood- thank goodness for good neighbors!

[butterflywings]

Best of luck!!!

It seems major thing always happen over Labor Day weekend! (I've lost 2 AC units, 4 years apart both on Labor Day weekend)

 

Knock on wood- thank goodness for good neighbors!

 

Thanks! Now what are the odds of having an AC go out on the same day like that 4 years apart? Wow! I am sorry to hear that's happened to you.

 

If we can't get the pump tomorrow we won't have water til Wed because our neighbor won't be avail til then, only tomorrow or Wed. Our pump motor is fine, it's just another part of it that isn't working so we will hold onto the old pump as parts. I hate that we have to pay $300 for a new pump, but thankful we aren't paying for a new water well to be dug. My neighbor said there are a ton of scammers out here wanting to take advantage of homeowners. He said that over the summer another neighbor of ours up the road, when they hooked up their water pump themselves and found they had no water they called a local well drilling place in our area, thinking they were out of water. The well drilling place told the neighbors that they needed a spring dug which would cost them $5k and they freaked out and called my neighbor who, while the well drilling place was right there and ready to dig, walked up to the pump or wherever it was plugged in and it was hooked up to a 110 and it needed to be 220 (i dont understand what I am taking about here ) anyway, so all he did in front of everyone was plug it into the 220 and wa la, water everywhere.

 

The well drilling people just stood there. He said that place was willing to scam this young family of $5k for something that would take 3 seconds to have fixed by plugging it in the right outlet or whatever. Can you believe that isht?

[butterflywings]

This happened to me once and it was a $65 repair. My situation was the somehow some mud got stirred up in the well and clogged the impeller so it was just this ball of mud spinning instead of fan blades. The dude cleaned it off and no problems since. This was back in 2001.

 

I wish we would've been so lucky. I'd love to have a pump last 9 years in a row. This is the 2nd pump in 7 years.

[Quit Screwing Me]

I'm still on my original pump from 1996. And it needs to last a loooooooooooooong time more. If I had to have a new well dug or some other major expense, I'd be better off filing bankruptcy.

[butterflywings]

Update!

 

We ordered the pump online at Sears and lucky for us, there is a 20% off sale going on, on most everything, and it included our pump, plus the woman on the phone (I called customer service about a question) offered me an additional 5% off without even asking for it. And even luckier for us, it was the LAST pump in stock for our nearest store. We got it in the nick of time!

 

DH is picking it up after work, and we should have water by late afternoon tomorrow. Yes!

[Quit Screwing Me]

I don't know what makes me think this, but is it the Sears at the McKinley Mall by any chance?

[Not Given]

At least your whole town's water isn't off for several days, twice, in the dead of winter. Along with the electricity for several counties, some for 3 weeks, from an ice storm.

[Kaysei]

I can SO relate to this! When my power goes out for more than 30 minutes, the pump loses its prime. This happened just about two weeks ago. The power was out from 10:15pm till about 12:00am due to some problems with lightning resistors or something, according to the power company. From past experience, I KNEW I'd have to re-prime the pump. If DS hadn't been here that night, I would've been SOL because I couldn't get the bolt off the top of the pump so I could pour water in. We poured 8 gallons in before the pressure started coming back up. It took about an hour to get it going right.

 

The next day I called the landlord and told him this had been happening way too often. Several months ago, the power went out for 3-4 hours, and it took me nearly that long to get the water back on. He said he'd get someone to take a look it since he has no clue about that kinda stuff. About two nights later, he called to tell me what his 'expert' had decided: "When the power's out, you can't run the water." That was it. I told him I've known that since I was about 8 years old!!! He advised me to let him know what happens the next time the power goes out. Gee thanks.

[mk_378]

Sounds like a bad "foot valve" letting water run back into the well while the pump is off. This will also cause the pump to run when you're not using any water, wasting electricity.