Warmer may not be better

[altivo]

At this time last night it was -6°F and we had a frozen hydrant in one barn (of the type that isn't supposed to freeze.) Tonight it is +6°F instead, and the hydrants are now dead in both barns. Not only that, but there's water hemorrhaging somewhere on that supply line at an estimated rate of 3 gallons per minute. That's a big leak. Nothing is coming to the surface, so we can't tell where the problem is. The really bad thing is that there is no shutoff for that line. It runs on back pressure from the well, so the only way to shut it down is to kill the pump and therefore the entire water system, house included. I am going to do that overnight tonight, both to stop the waste and the wear and tear on the pump, and in hopes that the leak will freeze solid enough to stop further leakage for at least a few days until things actually start to thaw.

At the moment, even if we knew where to dig, it would take at least a pickaxe and more likely a jackhammer to break the ground. I'm afraid this is going to be mucho expensive. One thing's for sure. If we have to pay a well service to take care of this, they're going to put a separate shutoff in that line to avoid future complications.

If it weren't for that major PITA, I'd be just enjoying the two inches of white fluffy stuff that fell today...

Comments

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

Ugh...why didn't they put shutoff valves in there to begin with? Water is odd like that in that sometimes it seems to disappear. Recently, a local water utility had a tank rupture and they lost 150,000 gallons. Except nobody knows where it went @.@

The lines should be 4 feet down and below the frost line, so I would tend to guess that the blockage would be in the portion of the line extending from that point up to the hydrant.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

No shut-off because they were cheap. It saved a couple hundred from the cost of installation. We've been told that this is a common practice in our area, but I find it incredibly stupid. My suspicion is that it's promoted by the well guys because they know it will get them another juicy job a few years down the road.

I was convinced for years that there must be a shutoff somewhere and we just hadn't found it. Then we had to have the well maintenance crew out a couple of years ago to pull the pump and replace the gaskets in it. They confirmed that there was no shutoff and quoted $500 to install one.