Well....

 

No, literally. My well is acting up. I have no water. Right after I got out of the shower (fortunately) I noticed a drop in water pressure. Now, I've dealt with this well not putting out before, so I went right to the pressure switch. I found the pressure dial indicated that the pressure was low enough that the switch should be on and the pump should be running. I opened up the box and saw that the contacts were indeed closed, but no pumpy-pumpy.

I checked the circuit breaker and found that one side had tripped on the double pole switch. I reset it and it held. Then I went back to the switch and tried to start the pump manually. The switch would not stay engaged, indicating something wasn't right with the wiring or the pump. There should have been some kind of electrical spark when the contacts closed, and the pump should have started up. Nothing. 

I got out my multi-meter and checked for power there at the switch. I had power on both sides of the contacts when I held it closed and only on one side when it was open. Normal. That would only leave me with the wiring going to the pump or the pump itself. I have no way of testing a piece of wire that long, nor of providing an alternate source of power to test the pump independently.

So, basically, it's time to throw up my hands and call a well service company. Just what I wanted to do tomorrow. Blah, blah, blah...something about being grateful for the things that are going right in my life. Oh, wait, I hadn't agreed yet that there were any. I was still in the "bitching about the state of affairs of the universe" mode that I've been in for the last, I dunno, decade or so. 

This could be a costly repair, just to get me back having water again. And unless they address the root cause of the wiring issue (direct burial romex wiring with no conduit) I'll be dealing with this issue time and again, as the underground rodent population chews at my wires.

So, to sum it all up. The long and the short of it, "FU------uuuuhhhhhCK!"

There. That solved nothing. And I don't feel any better. Let's see. Oh, yeah, at least it's not a complete power outage. There's plenty of stuff I can do still. I'm not in the dark. But no water is a major setback. Kinda need that for basic life stuff. 

It's gonna be difficult sleeping when my mind is going full steam in problem identification and solving mode. But I've hit the end of my ability, so I'm going to have to let it go or I'll be a mess tomorrow. More of a mess, I mean.