Typical scenario we will all experience at some time.....

 

Having shower; water runs dry, the expletives flow fast and loud, problem to sort.?

Electric still ok, water still ok, more expletives directed at the pump as its only 6 months old.

 

You're at home, no worries, you have all day to browse the interweb for a likely cause so no big deal.

 

***

However its 9pm and we have 6 customers in the spa at various stages of showering, using the wc, the wash basins and the washing machine is about the run. If we have a power cut now then that's about as bad as it gets.

 

Its gonna hit the fan and I am thankful I am not there.

 

Ok that was the drama (from me) and I cant get out of my head that we have two pumps in sequence both quite new and I am trying to find out which one failed.

 

Without much thought, why is it we always blame the pump, panic, throw money at it, buy a new pump after all there are no leaks and the power is fine so it must be something serious..surely?..we contacted our pump installer who sent someone first thing this morning.

 

Following his methodical approach, he was soon removing the lid to the  8 year old 1000 litre water tank and  shining his torch inside.

The tank had run dry!

 

The problem....a seized/sticking ballcock that over time slowly gunked up with rust, water impurities and closing the water valve.

 

It seems now in hindsight such an obvious reason for such an old tank and probably second nature  for a plumber to check out.

 

Well I have learned something today that's actually useful, 

 

So, next time you have a water flow problem with the pump, ask yourself if it could be a seized ballcock on an old water tank.

After 40 + years in the pump I can say without doubt the call of " its a pump problem" is the majority of the times WRONG. 

Having been the victim of a 2 day mains water shutoff (repairing the pipes somewhere but no-one bothers to tell the people who were cut off) I agree - tank first.

Make a water level indicator so you can always see how much water there is in the tank.

 

Get an empty whisky bottle and an empty small bottle, one of those power drinks bottle is ideal.

 

Make a tiny hole in the lid of your tank or use the existing opening and thread a length of nylon string through the hole so one side is inside the tank and the other on the outside.

 

Connect the empty whisky bottle to the string inside the tank and the smaller bottle to the string on the outside of the tank.

 

Fill the smaller bottle on the outside with water to act as a counter weight. Now you have to experiment with trial an error with the length of string and amount of water to put into the whisky bottle so it floats upright in the tank and allows the small bottle on the outside to move up and down with the level of water in the tank. There you have indicator to show water level in the tank at a glance.

 

Just remember that the small indicator bottle on the outside will be showing the reverse of the actual water level in the tank. So when the small bottle is at the base of the tank the whisky bottle will be floating at the top and the tank is full.

 

A more interesting way to determine the buoyancy of the bigger bottle is to start with full bottle of whisky and gradually drink the contents until floats just right in the tank. Possibly by that time you reach that point you may not care about the water level anymore 

 

But then there is always tomorrow ?