Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire I haven't paid a water bill in 37 years- - - - -

Since we bought our farm in 1983 and drilled a well, I haven't had to worry about a water or sewer bill- - - - -got a well and a septic system! However- - - - - -I've also become my own waterworks, plumber and electrician. Why does the pump pressure switch ALWAYS pick a cold, wet night to fail? I got it going temporarily a few minutes ago, but the first stop in the morning is going to be Home Depot to buy a new switch. I usually buy two, since it's 20 miles to the nearest supplier, but I guess I used the spare the last time this happened! Even with the hassles, I'll bet I'm still money ahead over paying some municipal water system every time I flush a turd!
Jerry

You must need a bath like nobody before.

I just made a payment on my water system. Installed a new pressure tank and water softener. The softener is a Iron Pro KDF-85 type. The final result is 0.0 hardness, 0.0 Iron, 154 ppm tds.

What is causing the pressure switch to go out? Usually they last for years and years. If mine has a problem, all I have to do is clean the contact points with a fine file and it's good to go.

No water bill here either.....................


but the more water we use, the more we pay for electricity............which ain't bad considering our Rural Electrical Co-op has the cheapest rates in the State.

Geno

A 4" hole through 300 feet of limestone means I don't need any sort of Calcium supplement in my multivitamins!
LOL!
Jerry

Ditto so far,

And get the odd spider web out.

Geno

Air bladder is probably bad if your switch is firing all the time, hence burning out.

Mine average about 5 years each. I'm not such a cheapskate that I can't afford 15 bucks for a new one rather than file the points and wonder when it's going to fail again- - - - -on another cold, wet night! Got a new bladder tank, less than 2 years old, and the pressure is correct.
Jerry

My water bill averages about $25/month. It ain't breaking the bank. But having a well is the only option where my mother in law lives.

About $500.. a year for sewer/water where I live. Take a long time to pay for a well and septic system. And I have paid for one 40 years ago.

I get on average 5 years out of a pressure switch, hell I can remember my grandpa getting 15 years out of one.

My house is on town water, and the quality is excellent. My house is right by the largest fresh water supply in the world. My ranch has a well and septic. The pressure and table is excellent.

I really enjoy the convenience of city water but I also like the freedom of my own water supply. It’s a toss up.

When I built my place in '06, the Franklin subdrive system was just coming of age.
This is a system with no external pressure tank, no switch, no fuss. It's all in the well casing.

Recommend to everyone that desires an incredibly unobtrusive, uber-efficient well system.

It may be that our switch is sending a lemming message to the snails here. The little armored slugs get in the gap and short it out.

It is always interesting to be your own plumber, electrician and general contractor. Ahh, yes, the life in the rural lane. There are many good reasons that it is not for everybody.

Replaced the kitchen faucet this weekend, thanks to the calcium and magnesium in the well water. No water bill is nice. Remind me next month.

I’m about to hookup to a well. It’s the best tasting water!

I kinda figure my electric bill is partially my water bill.

Probably about the only way to be truly water bill free would be to have a windmill on your well atop a hill, that feeds a cistern atop the same hill, that gravity feed your needs. House, barn, whatever....
Few of those places around here that still operate like that, but very few.

We were getting bovine fecal coli form bact in our shallow well. (It was a dug spring). That; and my wife’s dumbass cousins were washing their Iroc-Z camaros every day during the warm months. Kept pulling the water down during dry times

There were 5 families on that well.


I had to get me some of that city water brought down the highway

Got to watch out for them water snakes with wells.

The neighbor half a mile down the road has a truly "no cost" water system. His spring is 75 vertical feet uphill from his house, with a storage tank just below the rock outcrop where the water runs out and enough gravity flow to pressurize his plumbing. There's a small spring on our place at approximately the same elevation, but I've never gone to the effort to install the catch tank and 300 yards of pipe that it would need to supply the house.
Jerry