Thursday, May 13, 2010

Water Woes (!*%#!*#*)

Do you see what this is? Black water, in my bath tub!! Two hours ago there was no water, and I'm not sure which is worse - no water versus black water? This whole saga started three days ago, on Tuesday morning when I came to work. I made a pot of coffee, flushed the toilet a couple of times before noon and after lunch I went to get a bucket of water to wash the chairs and tables down in the workshop and guess what? No water!
I wasn't too worried, I thought it was just an electrical problem. We have lots of trouble with the pilot light going off on the boiler and Mike just comes and starts it every time that I call, so I thought it was no big deal. Until Mike came and could not solve the problem. So we called Reed, our plumber. Reed worked on it for two days before he called in back up - our electrician that lives just down the road.
By now, I'm sweating bullets. Two years ago we trenched in a water line and a power line to connect the workshop to the well - some $30,000.00 later, we had flushing toilets for the staff that came to work. The electrical line is 6 feet down with the water line and our electrician told us that there was a fault in the line somewhere and we were losing power, at the well we did not have enough current left to start the pump. There is 2300 feet of electrical line between the well and the taps. WTF???
Gerry changed some wires around, using a ground wire for the hot wire and changing the faulty wire into the ground wire. Or something like that. Today, Reed came back to hook everything up and after a lot of hissing and spitting, water started to come out. At first, it was sort of yuckky looking, so Reed directed all of the water through a hose into the toilet and cleaned the system, or so we thought. Then Reed left. I went to clean up some of the muddy spots on the floor, turned on the tap and guess what came out? BLACK WATER!!! We shut everything off fast and went and got some garden hoses, turned on the outside tap and it has been running for over two hours now, but this is what is coming out.
It is oily and sticky and leaves streaks on everything. The only cleaning product that I have that will take it off and break it down is Comet. (Believe me, I have lots of cleaning products and I have tried them all in the past couple of hours). It is in every sink and toilet and shower and bath tub!
Have you ever had one of those days (or weeks) when it is two steps ahead and three back? That is this week for me!! I am going home to have a stiff drink. I'm going to let the water run wild all night if I have to. I'll worry about cleaning up the mess tomorrow!

4 comments:

Artytart said...

Well, Cindy, it sounds like the only good thing to come from this is that is sounds like you might have 'struck oil' and might become a millionaire!

Enjoy the stiff drink....sounds like you need it. Colleen

serena said...

oh wow! you are taking this remarkedly well! I think this is the difference between a city girl and a country girl. I am a big baby city girl. I would sit down and cry. i would be hysterical. Can I tell you that even the smallest gross thing makes it on my can't deal with it list. for example when I was toilet training my kids if they pooped in their underwear I would just throw them out - yes I did. I hope to heaven that my mother in law never finds that out! you rock - way to be tough!

Kimberly said...

oh! I like Colleen's idea.....!

mow180 said...

I think you must have struck oil! What the heck???
Keep us posted, I really want to know what has happened here.
Get in touch with your insurance agent, there should be some help for you in the clean-up.