Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Rural Living Irrigation Well Trouble...

Always happens when you need it most.

Been hot and dry, and not a hint of needed rain.

First, the 2 phase power line has an issue with a downed wire off a pole. The electric company can't get to the powerline on their easement, so they have to call in a dozer crew to clear the line for the lineman truck to access the downed line.

That takes close to a month...

Finished and fixed power line.



Then what happens? The well that irrigates 60,000 olive trees and provides water for cattle quits working... It's blowing $20 control box fuzes like they are candy without pumping much water..

So I call the deep well guy.

AND... it takes 3 weeks or more to fix.

Water in the huge tank is barely there.



Pulling unit in place.



Turns out it wasn't the pump, but the motor.

New motor, and pulling the well and running everything back down-hole is gonna cost around $10k...

They should have that back down hole today. I'll be running that well for a few days, playing catch-up.

Not cheap, not much is.

Sheeeeit!

Got the new motor and everything down hole okay today... But not without hiccups. (Of course)

They wired the polarity of the motor/pump backwards so when we went to turn on the well, it blew another $20 fuse...

Re-wired the control box reverse... and it worked!

Then they knocked 1 1/4 hole in the 5" spout pipe, and it was shooting a stream where it shouldn't.



Had to go to town and get supplies to fix that. Of course nobody had a 5" pipe rubber coupling, so I had to do some cowboy improvisation.

Got a bike tube at Walmart and clamped it after I stretched it around the hole, then wired more security on either side...



Yeah, that's a henhouse way to fix that spout pipe, but cheaper than $500 for a new 30' length of 5" spout pipe.

Finally success!

Well is running, and I will just let it run 5 or 6 days to fill up the lake, and test the new pump motor.

Sorry Barry, at times I can't help it.

Those cows were sure glad to see it!

That pipe fix looks like something I would do. In fact, did.

Southern Engineering!

It's called Afro-engineering here. But, I always figured as long as it works, it don't matter what it looks like.

I would have liked to have welded a regular garden hose faucet on that pipe while I had the hole to deal with, but probably correctly assessed the pipe was a bit too thin to weld on...

You know....in there defense.....it looks like you had gotten about all the good you could have outta that pipe!

Yes sir.

Just wasn't wanting to spend $500 for a new one, and the delay with going and getting it, and paying the well crew to sit around until it arrived.

A $3 Walmart bike inner tube was cheaper...

High roller!


You been throwing away old ruined inner tubes all these years? Now you have to buy a new tube to patch that leak?????



Good times in Texas I guess!

Good thing there is #10 wire now that no one uses baling wire.
Heck that repair will last til the innertube fails from sunlight exposure.

Did the well company not test the wiring/motor before pulling the pump?

Olive trees???
I am being serious and trying to correct ignorance on my part.
Are there many olives grown in the area and a market for olives down there, green or ripe?

Yessir, the well company got an electrician out there and tested before it was pulled.

Olive's are a pretty new market here in Texas. The orchard I manage has 60,000 trees with room and irrigation for about that many more.

It's a market for olive oil. They have to be processed immediately upon harvest, as they spoil quickly. That all has to be done at night here, with the temperature below 90*

They have a mobile mill that will crush and extract the olive oil right there in the orchard as they are harvested.

All olives whether green or ripe have to be pickled before they are edible. (You won't try but one fresh one... )

Texas olive oil has a big market. https://texasoliveranch.com/