repairing a water pump in Isaan

[soalbundy]

 

 

Last week the water pump in our garden stopped working, it did so undramatically, in the evening we all had a shower and in the morning we didn't. The worst thing for my wife was being unable to use the washing machine, I think (unkindly) that washing our clothes every day is her 'raison d'etre.' My wife rang up the two men who had installed the pump 6 years ago but they were 50km away installing another pump. She rang up the village electrician who was also otherwise engaged, probably 50km away with the pump installers, "you should ring again in the evening." Evening arrived and it was pouring with rain but she rang anyway and to our surprise he actually came, armed with a substantial 'repairing pumps in the rain' umbrella and a large flashlight.

We led him hopefully to the pump and after removing the metal hood he saw that an electrical cable had been gnawed by mice. He set to repairing the cable and after 5 minutes told us to switch on the pump which we dutifully did and were met with silence followed by an expletive from the electrician. 'Well I can't do much at this time of night, I will come back at 8 o'clock tomorrow". I had a sense of foreboding, if he had simply said, "I will be back tomorrow" there was a good chance that he would be there the day after tomorrow but a Thai giving an exact time is the same as saying "forget it."

 

The next evening my wife rang him up and was told that he wouldn't be coming as he knew nothing about water pumps. My wife, now desperate to get her washing machine working again, had a brain wave, "There is a man in the next village who repairs 'things' " So without further ado we drove to see this saviour of water pumps. Surprisingly he knew all about water pumps and would follow us to our house. He checked to see that electricity was reaching the pump, scratched his head several times and said he would be back tomorrow, not at 8 o'clock I was pleased to hear.

 

Late afternoon the next day he arrived with his 30 year old son and set about tampering with the pump, after an hour he said he would have to take the pump away and dismantle it. It wasn't an easy task, the pipes leading from the pump to the water pipes going underground stubbornly refused to be separated from the pump and had to be sawn off as the bolts had rusted tightly, all the electrics, quite a complicated array, were unceremoniously clipped apart with pliers and off they went. "Will you be here all day tomorrow" he asked with what I thought was uncalled for optimism.

 

The next day at 10 o'clock he arrived carrying the pump, it was raining but he had the ubiquitous 'repairing pumps in the rain' umbrella and his son carried a large tool box and some spare plastic pipes, this was obviously going to be a professional job. I left them to it. Two hours later they came and said we can turn on the taps now and oh joy we had water!! I went to the pump and noticed that they had tied part of a rubber inner tube from an old motorbike around one of the pipe joints coming from under ground. "What is this" I foolishly asked. "Errrm it was leaking a bit but it will be alright now"  "It is still leaking" I said, thinking I was paying 4,000 Baht for this botch job. "Really" the old man said adjusting his glasses and looking despairingly at his son. "We will have to remove the pump again and redo the pipe connection". "Without the rubber inner tube" I said sheltering under his 'repairing pumps in the rain' umbrella. Another two hours passed and they announced they had finished, everything is OK now. The wife turned on the taps and we had water, for two minutes, it stopped as they left the house, the missus ran after them complaining and they came back. They spoke in the Khmer language to the wife which I don't really understand but I knew enough to know that they were blaming me, "There is air in the underground pipe now because you made us redo the joint" Ni looked at me accusingly, her washing was in danger. "We shall have to disconnect the pipes from the pump to the underground pipe system and fill it with water." "Well then do it". "We can't, we tried but we can't get them disconnected, that is why we sawed the pipes off in the first place". "We will have to ask the installers to come and help" Ni rang them up and they said they would come tomorrow without mentioning 8 o'clock.

 

The next day, it wasn't raining, and 4 men were huddled around the pump wielding spanners and hammers, for 4 hours my garden sounded like a blacksmith's forge but soon the hammering stopped and we were informed all was well and it was.

 

Two days later the wife came to me complaining, "What's up with the pump again"? It had stopped working. Remembering how my grandmother always got the television to work properly I took a large hammer and struck the pump in several places, it started again, so now all really is well again.

Perhaps I should have done this in the very beginning and saved myself 4,000 Baht.

[Lamkyong]

sort of like the story   but for 4 k it might have been wiser to install new

4k over the top for repair/install   sounds like  will no be long before next failure

[soalbundy]

8 minutes ago, Lamkyong said:

sort of like the story   but for 4 k it might have been wiser to install new

4k over the top for repair/install   sounds like  will no be long before next failure

I have a hammer

[Lamkyong]

14 minutes ago, soalbundy said:

I have a hammer

if that is your chosen short repair method  well so be it sure beats the 4k farmer route ????

[55Jay]

Ha ha, great story, been there. (except for the 4k bill part!)

 

I started keeping a spare pump on hand a few years ago.  Also quit buying those pumps with the pressure tanks, now only constant pressure pumps.

[farmerjo]

Sounds like the pump is fine but the motor is not.

[Notout]

I had a similar problem a couple of years back. We got the local fix it man who turned up with only a hammer and I thought here we go. After some poking, prodding and jiggling he finally gave the thick a wack with the hammer, OK he says. OK, OK?? Turned it on and it ran as smooth as, 3,000 Baht he says, I nearly choked, 3,000 baht? Well I will need an itemised account from you then. OK hitting with the hammer 5 baht, for knowing where to hit it 2,995 baht.

I know, I know it's an oldie.