But there is always something more to deal with. Caretaker Claire started seeing air in the water at the Carriage House. This caused the faucets to sputter and spit. A plumber attributed this to a leak in the well rather than some problem in the Carriage House plumbing. Fortunately, Claire's boyfriend Jim has a friend with a well drilling business and was able to get him to squeeze us into their schedule. The well is 17 years old now and 15 years is the life expectancy for a well pump, so we decided to pull and replace the pump as they inspected the system. The pipe down to the pump was a heavy grade PVC, but not up to the specs for a 600 foot deep well. We wound up replacing the PVC with galvanized pipe.

We're not sure exactly what caused the problem at the Carriage House, but the new pump and pipe cured it. And, the new pump increased the sustained flow from 15gpm to 20gpm at the Carriage House. Getting the water up an additional 60 feet of elevation and through another 600 feet of 1¼ inch pipe to the Main House reduces our flow to about 12gpm — more than enough to keep the Main House reservoir full.