I remember moving in and asking who I call to set up my water service…that’s when I discovered I have a well. Yeah. You’d think I’d know this prior to buying a house…but no.
I have to say I love having a well. My water tastes SO much better than the nearby city water. In fact, I can’t even drink city water in most cities anymore. I can smell strong chemical odors and it really bothers me when water has an odor. Granted, there can be issues with well water, too, but so far I’ve really been happy with it.
So having a well requires a bit of knowledge. Knowledge I didn’t have and so far still have a lot to learn.
My first winter I didn’t know a well could freeze and pipes could burst – after almost 20 years in Florida I hadn’t experienced much of winter my entire adult life. Not having water and having animals really sucks. So between my well guy and my plumber I had to learn some tricks to dealing with my well and shoddy old pipes.
Rural life for me has meant I’m pretty devoted to the weather channel during winter months. When a freeze is imminent I put a light bulb on my well to help keep it from freezing. So far this has worked every winter even in 6 degree temps. Wrapping exposed pipes and faucets and keeping a slow drip on the faucets in the house also helps.
A few days ago I woke up, went to brush my teeth and found there was no water. Ugh. I checked for leaks and didn’t find any. I removed the well cover and saw there was no pressure. For some reason I flicked the electrical box. It shuddered back to life! I should try that with other things.
Later that day my fencing guy arrived and I mentioned to him my well was having issues. He looked at it and informed me it’s common for spiders to cause problems in the electrical box. What. I hate spiders. I sick my chickens on them. Anyway, he showed me how to “clean” the problem area with sand paper (with the electricity off on the well, of course) and it worked like a charm!
This lifestyle has been a constant learning process for me. Every day I discover more I need to do or learn but it’s all part of becoming more self-reliant and I love it.
xo