Tuesday, November 12, 2013

The Water Flows Freely

or I'm Happy



We live in a house that uses a water well so we have a pressure tank to manage the water pressure through our pipes. The tank is usually set at moderate pressure which I am told is best for all of the pipes concerned. However, moderate pressure really means low. At least that's what we thought when we moved here and switched from city water to well water. The "moderate" water pressure in our new house took some getting used to.

However, time went on and we adjusted. We still enjoyed taking a shower at a hotel or a friend's house with city water, but mostly we didn't notice anymore. That is until recently. The pressure seemed to be decreasing. First we attributed it to air in the lines from the water being turned on and off by the workman working in the kitchen. But after a week or so of trying to explain the decreased pressure away, we knew it was real. The shower was not flowing much more than a trickle, so there was no doubt now. There was definitely a problem.

Yesterday, however, my hero arrived--a local plumber who knew a lot about wells and pressure tanks. He tested the well flow, he tested the pressure tank, he tested the electricity, he tested the water neutralizer, and he cleaned the filters.  And by the end of it all, the water flowed freely. We had the best water pressure we've had since we moved in 16 years ago. I immediately jumped in the shower and was able to get wet all at the same time. What a luxury. A wonderful luxury that we can enjoy while we're still saving water with our "moderate" pressure. :)



9 comments:

  1. Awesome! We grew up with well water, too. Now we have county water...which is nowhere near as refreshing as my nostalgic mind remembers well water being.

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    1. Our well water is really good, but I also liked the taste of the water when I lived in New Orleans. It came from the Mississippi River and was full of bad chemicals. However, it once won a contest for the best tasting water among several major cities in the US. However, we used our common sense and like most people drank bottled water.

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  2. Awesome! We grew up with well water, too. Now we have county water...which is nowhere near as refreshing as my nostalgic mind remembers well water being.

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  3. I also grew up with well water--I don't remember water pressure issues but boy did we have a lot of iron in our water.

    The worst water pressure I've experienced was on our honeymoon in Bermuda. We stayed in an efficiency apartment off of a home--in Bermuda, all fresh water is rainwater which is collected on rooftops and drained into a reservoir. The host home was working on their reservoir while we were there, plus with a low water supply, we only had a trickle to shower in. Other than that it was a fabulous place to be.

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    1. Well water gets its characteristics from the rocks it flows through and it can be perfectly safe to drink with plenty of of iron or sulfur for that matter in it. Several of my friends growing up had sulfur water and, boy, did it stink.

      On the other hand, Kris, it's hard to imagine a bad honeymoon in Bermuda even if there wasn't much water pressure.

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  4. I'm glad your problem was solved, much better than having to dig further down or a new well all together which is a frequent problem here.

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    1. We have had other problems where there has been a backhoe in the front yard digging to fix things. However, as you said, this time was much easier.

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