Skip to main content

Well, Well, Well...

I'll be the first to admit that I love well water. No added chlorine, no heavy metals, no monthly bill...

But recently our well pump gave out. We figured this out when the water stopped flowing during showers. Not a good thing to have no water on the farm. The animals get thirsty. We get stinky.

We hired a well repair guy to put a new pump in for us. He needed to pull all the well pipe up first, remove the old pump at the bottom of the well (more than 100 feet down), put the new one on, and put it all back like it was.

He advised us that the well was looking kind of slimy down there at the bottom. He didn't have time right then (and neither did we, as it was 6:00 a.m. on the day we were leaving for a much-needed vacation), but he advised us to have our well blown out.

Okay...fast forward 3 or 4 weeks (during which we drank water toted from my parents' house) and we're ready to blow the well out.

Again, he pulled up all the pipes, one by one...


And then prepared to blast air (using a giant compressor) down into the well. Why do you suppose he's standing way back away from the pipe like that?


Ah, I get it now. He knew what was coming...


It was a fairly long process with the water starting out brown, turning to the awful black you see above (at which time I was quite certain I would never drink well water again), and progressively getting clearer and clearer. We had an irregular Old Faithful geyser going there at the end--never knew when or how high it would blow.


After things looked nice and clear, he put everything back together. He chlorinated the well the next day, hoping to kill any lingering bacteria.

And now we're good to go. At this point, some of you might be very glad that you drink city water. Just go google "water treatment systems" and see how you feel about it when you're done reading.
Labels:

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 31, 2009 at 1:00 AM

    I'm going to ignore the black sludge and continue to be the only member of my family who still drinks the well water in this house. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. AlwenSeptember 2, 2009 at 8:15 PM

    One birthday after we were first married, I went on a field trip to the water treatment plant with my husband and his night chemistry class.

    I'm knocking on wood our well is all right - we are stimulating the economy enough right now without having to do anything to the well!

    ReplyDelete
  3. LonaSeptember 2, 2009 at 8:32 PM

    I neglected to mention that the black was actually water that contained very fine minerals. I had to ask (always curious), and so the well guy took the time to show me. It was much finer than beach sand.

    My drinking glasses always look cloudy, and NOTHING I ever do helps with that. After looking at the very fine minerals, I suspect that my glasses are etched.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ValSeptember 4, 2009 at 12:44 AM

    Hi Lona,
    Glad to hear the well problem could be fixed. Good water is hard to come by these days!

    I've had so little time on-line this summer, so enjoyed catching up on what you have been doing!

    ReplyDelete
  5. PamSeptember 7, 2009 at 10:32 PM

    I have to admit that black sludge picture was pretty nasty, but I'm so glad you guys were able to get that done and that you have nice, clean, pure water again. VERY pure! (it beats city water any day)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bloggy Giveaway--Now Closed

**This bloggy giveaway is now closed** Thanks to all who participated and gave such great comments. Janette is the winner of the $15 gift certificate to our etsy store . I'm participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival . Click the link to go to the carnival where you can enter to win literally hundreds of things. The good news is that even if you have no time to play on the computer trying to win hundreds of things, you can still enter to win one thing right here. This week, I will be giving away a $15 gift certificate to be used toward the purchase of an item in my etsy shop . This contest is open to residents of the United States or Canada only. The winner will receive free shipping on whatever item they choose. Items in my etsy shop include handwoven rugs, wool yarns and roving from our farm, and the ever-popular cotton dishcloth! To be entered in this wonderful drawing, you must go to the etsy shop and look around a bit. Then come back here and type a comment that ...
132 comments
Read more

Haying 101

A few posts back, "deep end of the loom" (love that name!) asked me to tell a bit more about the haying process. If you want my version, read on. If you'd like to read the official wikipedia version, click here . Haying happens in three steps: cutting, raking and baling. This process takes several days, as the hay must be dry when baled. Moist hay molds and heats up and has even been known to spontaneously combust, burning down the barn. Gotta have dry hay. This first photo is of our haybine. The haybine not only cuts the hay, it also crimps each piece of long grass in several places, to allow for faster drying. We usually cut hay in the early afternoon, when the dew is gone. When we're done, long row of cut grass lie waiting. The hay is allowed to dry for two to three days, depending on wind and sun conditions. Obviously, the more wind and sun the days hold, the quicker the hay will dry. When we feel like the hay is nearly dry, we go out with the rake. There are diff...
1 comment
Read more

This Giveaway Is Now Closed!

Today starts a giveaway at Farming in the Shade! I am happy to contribute this complete hat kit (needles not included) to someone who has a knitting obsession and a small person in their life. Here are the rules (contest open to US or Canada residents only): Giveaway ends May 1 at 9 p.m. EST. Winner will be announced by Sunday, May 3. Enter by posting a comment on this blog post. Tell me something about your knitting--who taught you to knit, your favorite yarn, the coolest thing you ever knitted. Make sure you leave contact information! Earn extra entries by: 1) Following me on twitter. (If you don't know what twitter is, don't worry. It's another way to waste your time on the computer.)  Add a comment here so I will count it as one entry. 2) Tweeting this giveaway (no more than once daily). Add a comment here so I know you did it. 3) Blog about this giveaway. Add a comment (with link) here so I can go visit your blog. 4) Follow or subscribe to this blog (or tell me if have...
45 comments
Read more