Downsize, example three: The pump repair
Epiphany.
Sometimes the smallest things can be the trigger telling one its time to make a change.
Today's Guest Post would be funny if it weren't for the palpable frustration that John Flenniken describes.
Every homeowner knows the situation. Houses are complicated. Things break and need maintenance or repair. A high-up gutter clogged with leaves. A drip in the kitchen sink that requires a special wrench. Out of control bamboo. Moss on a shady side of a deck.
For 30 years Penny and John Flenniken, my sister and brother-in-law, enjoyed their Portland home. It had bedrooms for guests and room for extended family get-togethers. They raised children and grandchildren there. They made the house fun to live in -- and complicated -- with decks, garden sitting areas, and a fish pond.
John painted the house himself every five years. The job required a long extension ladder to get to the area under the eaves of his two-story home, but two summers ago he hired a painting contractor to do the job. That wasn't the catalyst for change. In fact it confirmed for him that he and his wife could stay in the house so long as they used common sense and hired people to do the big things.
Hiring a painting crew doesn't break the code of homeowner self-reliance.
The catalyst for change came from a little thing. Penny and John moved into an two-bedroom apartment in a retirement community in December.
Guest Post by John Flenniken
March of last year, around spring break for Portland, is a good time for this old 78-year old body to start on yard projects. First project was to hookup the above ground pond pump and filter I stored in the shop.
I placed the pump and filter in position and reconnected the pipes. I noticed the pump on the concrete pad sloped toward the pond, not allowing a good fill on the priming pot. I added water to the priming pot, then adjusted it to accommodate the slope. I tested it to see if everything worked. It did!Water flowed into the upper pond and it began to fill. That’s when I noticed a small leak in the pump intake line. Not good. I dismantled the connections to the pump and inspected the intake. It was all good, though maybe not tight enough. My adjustment with a spanner worked! No more leak.
Now to level the pump. My attemptto level it I knocked the priming pot off vertical. Easily cured! Just disconnect, inspect and remove the accumulated crud it sucked up in the short 5 minute runtime of the test. I reassembled the unit and attached the lid to the now-properly-full priming pot. Thinking I was home free, I started the pump. Nothing! Repeated twice more. Nothing.
Confused, I researched the problem online. Advice pointed to a pump or impeller failure. A new pump was available, with free shipping with arrival in three days for $1,200. A new pump arrived and I found it to be incompatible. I sent the pump back and got credit to my account for the purchase and free shipping both ways.
Back to square one. My son stopped by, says he uses pumps all the time, bigger than this 7,200 gallon per hour pump. He was convinced the on-line advic was correct, and what I had was a loss of vacuum pressure to a broken pump or impeller seal. Frustrated, I researched new pumps again. I learned the exact model and make added an external grounding junction box to the pump, requiring a certified electrician and permit to install. That meant a separate circuit running along the outside wall of the from the electrical panel in the shop. I wrestled with the idea of new pump and rewire job and the additional cost and time. Was it worth it? How much longer could I keep doing this work. I slept on it.
The next day, thinking I might quit, I went out again to remove the base and pump house supports. I found a black object. I dug it out and washed it off. It’s an o-ring about 6 inches in diameter. Could it be that simple? That the o-ring fell out of the priming pot lid? I took it into the shop and opened the lid on the priming pot. Yes, it fit perfectly. Two weeks had past from suspected pump failure to a functioning pump and water feature. It worked!! The pond filled!! That water cleared and the fish that wintered over began swimming around looking for food.
Penny is convinced this was THE MOMENT I knew I wanted to sale the house. I agree, it was time to downsize.