I am the water bitch!

That's what it feels like, anyway. Every damn time the water goes out of prime, guess who has to fix it. This guy! Damn I hate that. It's a pain in the ass. We've had nothing but problems with the water. We've gone through two damn pumps so far this year. They put a regulator on the pump, saying it would fix it so it won't go out of prime. Did it help? NOPE! Not one damn bit. Yes, it hasn't gone out as much but it still does. It never does it when my friend's here. Nope. Just when I'm here alone to deal with it.

This last time really got on my nerves. My friend's son is taking a shower and the water stopped working. Of course my friend isn't here to deal with it so it's the water bitch to the rescue. Here I am trying to get this damn thing primed and it keeps spitting water back out the hose. No pressure or anything, it just runs out. I go through almost a gallon of water before the pump is finally primed. Does it stay primed? Hell no! I go up to the neighbors (who are also on the same water system) and they're not running water. I go in the house and ask my friend's son if the water is off. He says "Yes". I go back out and try to prime the damn pump before it burns out. Got it in prime, only to have it go right the hell back out of prime! Add your favorite cuss words here because I sure the hell was saying them. I go back in. My friend's son is finally out of the bathroom and I check the taps. Are they off like he said? Hell no! The damn taps are turned wide the hell open. Damn it! So, I turn them off, go back out, and almost another gallon of water later, the damn thing is primed. I wonder how long until the next time I have to mess with it. All I can say is I hate being the water bitch.

a reply to: Skid Mark
Wow, I get to virtually meet someone who has to prime the pump? What a delicious anachronism!

Today has been aqueous for me, as well (pun intended).

I awoke to find my slumlord (landlord) had failed to pay the water bill (that his tenants had paid him for) and no toilet, coffee or shower for me ... until about an hour ago.

Anyway, aitch to the O biatch.

Don't know what kind of pump your using but my father had a similar problem went through a few pumps till he blew out the lines and got rid of a clog in the induction line (not sure if thats the correct name it was the line that draws water into pump) replaced the filter on the end and has had no problems lately. Dont know if this will help best of luck.

a reply to: Baddogma
We have a well here. The pump is an above ground one. Priming it involves taking the hose that runs from the pump to the pressure tank and dumping water down the hose and into the pump. Sucks.

a reply to: Leto2
Interesting. I don't know where the filter is but if it messes up again, I'll look. I think you have the right term though: "induction line". It sounds right.

By the way, do you like Frank Herbert's Dune? The reason I ask is there is a character in it named Leto 2

a reply to: Skid Mark

The god emperor of dune is one of my favorite novels. Have you had a chance to read the series?

a reply to: Leto2
I've read most of it. I've also read some the ones that are supposed to be prequels by Frank Herbert's son and Kevin J. Anderson. I think I'm missing about four books. Anywho, great series from what I saw. The movie...I saw the movie last night and while it's good on the whole, the shields made me laugh. I thought it looked like Lego guys or like they were encased in Jello.

a reply to: Skid Mark

The 1984 movie? The sheilds are pretty funny. The prequels fell a little flat for me. But in all I love the series. Love to meet a fan of the series.

It sounds to me like the foot valve/check valve is not holding or there is a hole in the suction line.

a reply to: Skid Mark

a reply to: Justacasualobserver
Thanks. It's working for now. When it gets light I'm going out to look at the lines. As for the valve, that's beyond my experience. I'll have my friend check it out.

a reply to: Skid Mark



Play this often and think of your pal Snarl.

More than likely the foot at the bottom of the well is screwed up (which means you need to dig a hole in your yard, find the wellhead, and pull the well pipe up) or the suction line is cracked/leaking somewhere between your well and your pump.

It sounds to me like the foot valve/check valve is not holding or there is a hole in the suction line.

i thought it might be a check valve also

Not sure how your system is set up but having the well pump fill a storage tank first then going from there to the pressure tank would save you some trouble. That's how I had mine when I drew from a well. We had the pump in the ground which pulled the water up and into the storage tank as part one. Then stage two was our Pressure tank and the lines that go to the house on a separate pump. That way as long as the storage tank had water there was never a problem. The secondary pump always stays primed and you're good to go. If for some reason the well pump was having issues you at least had the storage tank which would last a while until you figured out what was happening with the well pump.

a reply to: Snarl
Hey, I like that! I can't believe I haven't heard it before.

a reply to: charolais
Oh nice! I'm glad it's not my well.

a reply to: mOjOm
My friend has an above ground pump hooked directly into a big blue pressure tank. The setup you describe sounds interesting. Thanks.

originally posted by: Skid Mark
a reply to: mOjOm
My friend has an above ground pump hooked directly into a big blue pressure tank. The setup you describe sounds interesting. Thanks.

Sure thing. If you need any more info let me know. I was forced to learn a lot about how the whole system worked because I had to replace the whole thing myself once after a cold winter that cracked the housing of our second pump and some of the lines. It cost too much to have someone professional do it so I did it myself. Spent many hours on line learning the various ways you can set them up.

The only draw back of course is the extra cost having the tank and second pump. But it saves a whole lot of headaches and BS.

a reply to: mOjOm
The cracked housing sucks. That's what happened to the other two. I'll pass the info to my friend. He's good at things like that. Thanks again.

a reply to: Skid Mark

Yes plumping issues can be a pain. What also sucked is I spent those couple of weeks without easy water access having to transport 5 gallon jugs of water from my neighbors house down the road back to my house on the back of my motorcycle. I could carry like 15 or 20 gallons per trip. It was then I realized how much water is used in flushing a toilet. I became the water Nazi around my house for a while and everyone pissed outdoors other than the women. But even they were told not to flush unless it had to be done.

It's funny how many things we take for granted that we don't think about in civilized society.