Many people move to the country out of a desire to be more self-sufficient. Self-sufficiency in the country means more than just growing and canning your own vegetables, or raising your own animals for meat. It means when things break down, there is no repairman to call. You have to learn how to fix things on your own. Or have family and neighbours close by who are handy. That's helpful too.
In just over 10 years in the Peace Country, I have learned more about water pumps than I would have thought there was to learn. At the other house, we had a very poor well. The previous owner had tried about three different wells. The one in use when we moved in had rather grey water, left rusty stains on everything and had very low water pressure. We had to "shock the well" (pour bleach in the well) more than once to kill the bacteria that cause the rust stains. And I had to be very careful with my water usage. If I did a load of laundry I had to wait for a couple of hours to have a shower or wash dishes. If I didn't wait, the pressure would drop too low, switching the pump off and I would have to wait two or three hours or more before it built enough pressure for me to get it turn on again.
One of the reasons we moved to this house was water. Our water comes from a natural spring and now we have an abundant supply of excellent water. We still have pump problems but we are becoming experts at diagnosing and repairing pump problems. I know how to fix and replace the pressure switch, the pump and the pressure tank. I know what to do when it freezes, and where it's most likely to freeze. Well, most of the time I know what to do, but sometimes it still surprises me.
Last week we had a cold snap. It dropped to -30 every night, with a windchill of -40 at the beginning of the week. We've been having trouble with the water for a few weeks. We changed various parts out, and couldn't find the problem. Then the cold weather came. Monday I had no water for the morning because the water froze. Wednesday I had no water all day because the pump quit. Thankfully the cousin down the road had another pump and helped put it in for me. Then Thursday the water froze again.
Being without water is very frustrating, especially with four kids in the house. It means laundry and dishes have to wait longer to get done. It makes everything difficult. It makes me thankful for running water though! My water shortages are temporary. I'm thankful that I don't have to haul jugs of water for miles, or wash my laundry in the river. I'm thankful that I can get some jugs of water from the in-law's down the road, and still have a working sewer system to pour water in the sink and into the toilet for flushing. I'm also thankful the temperature's back up again!
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