One thing I can DEFINITELY say is that I can never say I have nothing to do. 2 years ago, the well pump on the barn died at 1830 on a Saturday. Finished mowing, went to hose off the tractor and the mower on the 3 point, and...nothing. Fortunately, my friend across the street had a spare that he got from another friend/neighbor when it died, he had it rebuilt, and sitting on the shelf. By 11 that night, had water in the arm again. Bought a new motor for my dead pump, along with the parts to rebuild it, then bought an identical pump new and threaded unions etc. to make swapping out a 15 minute job. Things being what they are, I kept saying I have to change that out and return it, but something else always got in the way. The other day, I was running water out there filling buckets and when I was done the pump seemed to run a long time. I looked at the gauge and the high pressure cut off.....wasn't. Pulled the plug and next day was out doing what I SHOULD have done months ago; Installing the rebuilt pump and replumbing with Stainless steel unions. Fished up just after lunch and primed then fired it up. One small leak at the coupling I forgot to finish tighten and all done. Borrowed pump was always a bit loud, has been getting louder. New one is quiet as a mouse. Good thing is I can't hear it run, bad thing is I can't hear it run. One job done, Horses have water and I can wash down equipment w/o taking it to the house. I'm sure 2 more just added themselves to the listwhile I was finishing that
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Now I will take the pump I borrowed and strip it down and rebuild it before returning it.Place next town over has a pump and motor shop. They typically only deal with wholesale, but when I met the guy he helped me out tremendously and said: "The sign is there because most people not in the trade don't know anything and drive me nuts. You, you know your way around things, come back any time. (I worked with my uncle on larger irrigation and well jobs, so I know a little bit.) A little glass bead, a little paint, some seals and gaskets and I can return it with a clear conscience -
Man! If you have that expertise, you are a rare breed and worth more than your weight in gold! 💪
The well pump at M.T. Acres never did work right. After recalling the original well guy several times and him seeming to fuck it up worse every time he left, I finally broke down a couple years ago and bought a whole new system, from a different well guy (pressure pump, pressure tank, controller, everything except the actual pump at the bottom of the well) a couple years ago. I may as well have just opened a vein and bleed money, but it is at least working correctly finally.
I also learned my lesson on that one! At the same time, I bought a spare of almost everything (except the controller). I figure I do have the nerd skills to cobble together a controller in a pinch.
But yeah, I keep spares of EVERYTHING now - common carburetors for all my "must have" tools, extra filters for everything, etc. If I can afford it and I have room to store it, I keep at least one in reserve.
You da Mang!!!Comment
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I grew up working on farms and working on fishing boats: One you learn to fix it yourself because you don't have the money to pay for it (or you "swap work" with someone who has the skills), the other because you're out in the middle of the Atlantic and there's no one else to do it. -
My Uncle had a job he got called in for on a large estate because it had repeatedly burned up irrigation pumps and despite several techs checking it, it kept happening. He asked me to come along. HUGE place. I'm sitting in a well pit reading the voltage available while the pump was running (He was manning the controls. For a 220 motor, it only had 200v available while running. This was the reason the motors were burning out. That was caused by the voltage drop because of the long run of wire from the panel to the motor.We had 2 motors wound to run on 200v. Installed one, and it was fine long after the others had burned out. Swapped it out for the other, which also was fine after the trial period. Left that one in, tagged the first one as a 200v ONLY and left it with the groundskeeper, and the property owner was very happy.
Side note: While I was in the well pit, this guy comes walking by in shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and flip flops and asks what I'm doing. I tell him. He then says: "Your uncle tells me you're a car guy. When you're done, go over to the garage over there, I have a few cars that might interest you. Just please- don't start any of them up" He was the owner, and in his air conditioned garage say a 1905 Cadillac, an Auburn Boat tailed Speedster, a Duesenberg, a Cord, a gull wing Mercedes and others. I took full advantage of the opportunity
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Work on a homestead / farm NEVER ends. There is always something to do, something to fix, something to feed.Comment
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Important things with well pumps (above ground): Keep the inlet and outlet as straight as possible at the pump; the more gymnastics the water has to do, the harder it will be to get water through the pump. Have enough pump for what you want to do, have a big enough pressure tank, and use big enough pipe- bigger on the suction side than the pressure sideComment
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Back in the day when something broke the saying was, what do you have more of, time or money? Meaning buy new or fix the old one. Always cheaper to fix the old one.Comment
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The summer the Rona happened, I found myself with a bunch of time on my hands and not much to do with it. So I decided I should run "automatic" irrigation lines to all the fruit trees and gardens around M.T. Acres. (I say "automatic" but we still do have to manually turn the whole system on and off. Living in the desert, every drop of water is precious so I did not want true automatic system that would just time the water regardless of the recent rain situation).
I spent a couple months digging almost 3/4 of a mile of trenches 2 feet deep and installing Schedule 40 and drip emitters all over the place. with everything tuned to the specific kinds of trees, etc. When I turned the damn thing on, almost every single one of them blew up and it blew out the diaphragm in our pressure tank! The first well guy set the water pressure way too high on the controller. After spending a couple hundred dollars on a new pressure tank (that I replaced) and few more hundred getting a new well guy to come over and evaluate the whole system... I didn't know shit about wells, and still don't, I had never owned one before.
It was only about two years later I had the new well guy out here replacing EVERYTHING except the pump at the bottom of the well. (Our water is deep enough - 540 feet - that our system has two pumps: one at the bottom of the well that fills an above ground tank and separate pump attached to a 2 or 3 gallon pressure tank that gives us our pressure going to the house, etc.)Last edited by Inor; 03-30-2026, 07:42 PM.Comment
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Holy Chit! Yes, am familiar with the type of climate, irrigation requirements, and the depth you had to go for water, along with the equipment needed. WTF was the first guy thinking? you can only run so much pressure, if he was trying to compensate for the length of the run, that's what booster pumps are for. That should have been addressed on the test run. Our water is shallow here (60 feet) so I only have the above ground pump. The pressure for the house system and the barn are the same- on at 40, off at 60. My sister's system is 320' down, so she's got the pump down at the well point and a booster up top, same as you do.
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Pastor's well pump went out . . . pump worn out . . . one of those motor / pump / tank units.
Went to get one at Lowes . . . then checked Harbor Freight . . . 50 bucks or so less . . . bought it at HF . . . took it back . . . put it in . . . it was a super leaker.
Went back to the store . . . got a bunch of guff that they don't take returns . . . has to go to the mfg . . .
I suggested I could call the better business bureau . . . and get on facebook with his name . . . etc.
Funny thing . . . he came around to my way of thinking . . . traded me for another new one.
Been in for several years now . . .
May God bless,
DwightComment
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Funny how that works....
I had a Gould J5 (1/2 HP) when the motor quit, the guy at the pump parts store told me what I already figured: 1/2 HP was too small, so he sold me a 3/4 HP replacement motor and seals etc for the pump, effectively giving me a J7 (pump housing is the same). I then looked and found a deal on a new J7 for $500, usually 750+. Works well, quiet as anything and gives me all the water I need. When the House pump goes, it will get another Gould. It's been there laboring along for at least 15 years, so it owes me nothing. I'll set it up to match the other ones, so I'll have a spare either way
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