The fun of country living AKA our frozen well pit

[th3w01f]

I learned quick and you will too in time...after problems the first two years, I haven't had any in the last six. The first two years, I had a frozen line from the well head; I had to have somebody come out with a mobile welding truck and thaw the line...$250 each time. I now have what is basically a block heater on the line coming from the well and I sealed off the wall of what use to be a garage door where that line was exposed. There are a couple of guys that make tons of money thawing out lines up in the conifer/Bailey area. The switches used off the pressure tank to turn on the well are really shitty too. I have to flip the contacts occasionally for the system to turn on. Having somebody walk you through your system is extremely valuable. I didn't know anything about it when I started; its not bad once you have somebody show you.

Had the 20 year old pressure tank and all accessible plumbing replaced today. I watched every bit of the 5 hours and had them explain exactly how things worked. Not sure what happened the other night, the switch was corroded and the pressure gauge wasn't working at all. Their best guess was a bit of ice in the nipple attached to the switch caused the pump not to turn on. When they cut the vinyl tubing connected to the holding tank, they poured out about 5 gallons of black/green sludge and algae. My theory is that the previous owners left the well pit open to the sun all summer long which caused some strange growths in the clear and PVC tubing.

Now what to do with 300' of buried, 20 year old, PVC that's connecting the houses..... That's going to be a PITA at some point, especially the part that enters the main house 10' below grade, under the driveway.