I have to report, sir,
I've been unable to remove the stains from your bathtub.
I've been unable to remove the stains from your bathtub.
― Schindler's List
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There
are advantages and disadvantages to well water. I have to admit, the
delicious icy-cold stone flavor out-weighs rust and limestone deposits.
When we first moved to Willow Manor 24 years ago, I was appalled at the rust,
dutifully scrubbing the skin from my fingers every week with some God-awful
rust remover. What can I say? I've mellowed since then; I embrace
the patina. It's harmless rust. Think of it as art.
One nice advantage to having a well, is that there's no water bill. However, last
week I turned on the water at the kitchen sink and nothing, not a drip. Eight hours later, I was the proud owner of a new $2,000 well pump,
efficiently pulling up gallons of that delicious, icy, Scioto limestone water. Well, I
guess everything evens out, in the end.
If that's the only pump work you've needed in 24 years, you are most fortunate! Yes, you have a nice patina in the tub, and there's nothing wrong with that :-) There is nothing quite like water from limestone, is there? Glad you were able to keep enjoying it, despite the price tag! I did that sort of work for a couple of years back in the '80s...adjusted for inflation, that sounds about right, guessing what all they had to replace. Here's to another quarter century of well water for you *clink*
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dr. L...the pump people were amazed the well pump lasted as long as it did...they said the average life of a pump is 12-15 years!
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents had well water. When ever it would turn rusty for a few days they would switch over to city water.
ReplyDeleteI can even remember going to the country and using the hand crank to pull up a bucket of water from my great granddaddies well. He had one of those aluminum dippers to drink out of. (He also had an outhouse...which I hated using)
nothing is as good as well water; so pure. I've missed it these last 12 years.
ReplyDeleteBeen there, done that. My well was 168 feet deep with a submersible pump. I acquired more than a little expertise at replacing pumps and foot valves. They always seemed to go bad in mid January.
ReplyDeleteThere is a pump outside my husbands dear old aunties place...she's gone now of course...the pump is at least seventy years old (hand pump). The new tenants tell me it still works just fine.
ReplyDeleteWait until you pass the stones.
ReplyDeleteSteven, I've been there...done that...
ReplyDeleteMust be hard on your glorious auburn locks.
ReplyDeleteLinda Sue: Culligan water softener
ReplyDeleteArt is whatever you can get away with.
ReplyDeleteI get away with a lot...
ReplyDeleteFunny, was just having a conversation about well water the other day. I haven't lived with it for a long time, and when I did, I never came to accept it. As a drink, anyway. But it sure made my hair soft. The smell of it reminds me of my wonderful mother-in-law, now departed. I miss her kitchen, and I miss her. Thanks for reminding me of her.
ReplyDeleteNot quite the same, but I'm considering sinking a huge container to collect rain water for the house. Here in France our water is becoming precious.
ReplyDeleteWe used to get our water from our beck but then we got connected to mains water. It may not be as pure but it is certainly more convenient.
ReplyDeleteI assume that the old pump got clogged up with rust. Funnily enough, I just made a comment on someone else's blog about rust and the passage of time. The comment was "ideas don't rust away". Neither does your writing Tess.
ReplyDeleteFrom nearby rusty PA, I feel your pain--been there done that and it was on Thanksgiving Day. I love having well water, but there is the upside and the downside :-) Having the other part of that equation (septic) pumped and removed from the other side of the house never ends either. I'm told that the real headache begins when one sells a house with water well and septic due to updated environmental laws concerning inspections, certifications to sell the property, and some areas require rebuilding the system to sell the house. I'll have to remember I'm supposed to think of it as art.
ReplyDeletethere is an artesian well here. so also no water bills but when the electricty goes out....no water either.
ReplyDeleteSuki you are so right...when the power goes out...so does the water...when I use hair color goo I always fill a sink with water just in case I get stuck...
ReplyDeleteugh I hate the taste
ReplyDeleteWe used to have one for watering
give me lake Michigan water anytime
and I hate what it does to everything it touches...
it must have been love for you to move there....hooray for you that you love it
pot for every lid
Now I'm going to be wondering all day if I'm a lid...or a pot...
ReplyDeleteHere in the city, we have the good fortune of the purest water that comes from deep within mountains straight to our taps. I remember pumping water as a child, I learned to count and multiply while filling a pail: 1, 2, 3 x 3 x 3. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy family grew up on well water...still the case at my parents house to this day! And I am totally with you Suz! Love the Lake Michigan water! Such a treat when up north, hiking through the woods at the park... ;)
ReplyDeleteI drank well water during my early years. My grandparents weren't on the main supply until the mid-seventies. I can still taste the sweetness of it.
ReplyDeleteYes, I still remember well water from one short period of my childhood. I thought it delicious then - don't recall the stains, though!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a girl in rural Indiana, there was a spring with a tin cup on a chain attached to the rocks. I remember it being the best tasting water in all the world.
ReplyDeleteSucks about the expendature, but I have to agree...well water rocks!
ReplyDeleteYes indeed. Whether a person subscribes to four element theory (fire, water, Earth, air) or TCM (fire, water, wood, metal, Earth), water shall be named sacred.
ReplyDeleteThis may sound a little pathetic, but I never imagined such things in America! I thought you all so hyper-industrialised that water pipes would cross the entire land.
ReplyDeleteHow stupid is that?
I'll bet it is icy cold!
ReplyDeleteA wonderful metaphor for life, there will be some rust stains... it is art, it is life. I like that very much. You speak of maintanience, no you can't put it in the living room and show it to the neighbors, but again like life, a treasure.
ReplyDeleteVinegar is good.
ReplyDeleteMy (naturally blonde) daughter's hair turned rusty for a time in a drought when we used well water and it looked great to everyone except her!
we had terrible well rust and then a neighbor in the chemical business who supplied water companies told us of this neutral cemical that is added like clorine with a drip pump and keeps the iron in solution in the water instead of letting it peroclate out as rust stains. after years of red stains and red towels we had clear clean sparkling well water and rust free living.
ReplyDeleteMr. Mulvahil, plumbing consultant
Mrs. Tessie,
ReplyDeleteRemind me to tell you the story of the shallow well that we used to get water from -never had pump problems to speak of but try to imagine the smell of that drink when the dead snake was rotting away at the bottom. Why, I'm lucky I'm still here to tell the tale...
Mr. Ace
I installed a couple of deep well pumps in wells about 400ft deep. Always enjoyed making sure teh venturi was placed just right at the bottom of the hole. Those were the days - and then replaced the sucker years later with a submersible pump that all the old guys helping called summersibles. must have been the 'b' just didnt sound right. The brand was called Red Jacket and the case was as red as the name.
ReplyDeleteDon't think the years when i converted to working in an office didnt include longing glances at teh lucky men in the streets using their hands and bodies and enjoying the midday sun.
Ace the plumbing consultant/pump installer/worder/big mouth