Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 Back to town for swamp cooler parts. And I was just there yesterday! But the water shut off valve started leaking. Aaarrrggghhh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Hair, SASS #29557 Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 Plumbing problems are the absolute bane of homeowners. I feel your pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 When I lived in the high desert, always kept a spare pump, water valve, line, and fittings on hand. Things always seem to fail on the hottest day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 Also some fibered roofing tar and a yard of fiberglass cloth. Could patch any leaks on the pan easily. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 15, 2022 Author Share Posted June 15, 2022 21 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said: When I lived in the high desert, always kept a spare pump, water valve, line, and fittings on hand. Things always seem to fail on the hottest day. I had everything except the one part I needed natcherally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 1 hour ago, Utah Bob #35998 said: I had everything except the one part I needed natcherally. BTDT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 Slightly askew of topic, but still related: I've been using an Australian made Bonaire evap cooler for about 15 - 16 years. We have very hard water in these parts, and I quickly learned that the "lift pump" generally had a life expectancy of... one season. I had to replace that danged thing annually; a couple of times twice in a season. The shafts would sieze. Well, about six or seven years ago I decided to try something a mite different - I replaced the last cooler pump with a small, adjustable fountain pump. I formed a "bowl" of window screen to set it in, and it's been functioning perfectly ever since. Instead of being shaft-driven with an out-of-the-water drive motor, this thing is totally submersible, much heavier duty, and was just about the same price as a cooler pump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dawg Hair, SASS #29557 Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 3 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said: I had everything except the one part I needed natcherally. That is always the way it is. It's a conspiracy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 15, 2022 Author Share Posted June 15, 2022 57 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said: Slightly askew of topic, but still related: I've been using an Australian made Bonaire evap cooler for about 15 - 16 years. We have very hard water in these parts, and I quickly learned that the "lift pump" generally had a life expectancy of... one season. I had to replace that danged thing annually; a couple of times twice in a season. The shafts would sieze. Well, about six or seven years ago I decided to try something a mite different - I replaced the last cooler pump with a small, adjustable fountain pump. I formed a "bowl" of window screen to set it in, and it's been functioning perfectly ever since. Instead of being shaft-driven with an out-of-the-water drive motor, this thing is totally submersible, much heavier duty, and was just about the same price as a cooler pump. Interesting. Wouldn’t work with my pond pump though. The water in the cooler pan is only about 2” deep. But I’ve only had to replace the pump twice in 16 years. It doesn’t get constant use. Normally about 4 hrs a day in July, August and September. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 1 hour ago, Utah Bob #35998 said: Interesting. Wouldn’t work with my pond pump though. The water in the cooler pan is only about 2” deep. But I’ve only had to replace the pump twice in 16 years. It doesn’t get constant use. Normally about 4 hrs a day in July, August and September. You are soooo fortunate, living on the outskirts of Paradise. 'Round these parts, we're on the outskirts of Hell ~ 'bout 16 miles from Fresno, the acknowledged capital of Mercury. My cooler pretty much runs 24/7 from the last half of May through most of September, and lesser periods before and after. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J.D. Daily Posted June 15, 2022 Share Posted June 15, 2022 The well water here in Fallon unless you live near the Carson river south of Hwy 50 and your well was drilled before the county health codes required that it be deeper than the water table is HARD. It contains soda ash. I have a friend who lives a couple miles south of the Carson river. The house interior is modern brothel & I believe it dates to when Churchill County had brothels that served the few truck drivers that travel Hwy 50 & sailors from Fallon NAS. There a two 25 foot deep wells with water at 10 feet. One is for landscape & horse water & the other is for the house. The water has a lot less dissolved solids. North of Hwy 50 our water from a 120 foot well with water at 45 feet has some iron & a lot of soda ash plus a trace of H2S.* I followed advise I got from the wire last year & replaced the circulating & purge pumps with heavy duty water feature pumps with the impeller on the bottom like a sump pump Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Three Foot Johnson Posted June 16, 2022 Share Posted June 16, 2022 16 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said: Back to town for swamp cooler parts. And I was just there yesterday! But the water shut off valve started leaking. Aaarrrggghhh! Where is "town" for you? Dove Creek is probably kind of slim for parts like that, so Cortez probably? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utah Bob #35998 Posted June 16, 2022 Author Share Posted June 16, 2022 7 hours ago, Three Foot Johnson said: Where is "town" for you? Dove Creek is probably kind of slim for parts like that, so Cortez probably? Yeah. Cortez. There’s a hardware in Dove Creek but they are always out of anything I need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickasaw Bill SASS #70001 Posted June 16, 2022 Share Posted June 16, 2022 wells are for water , outhouses are for crappin' preferbaly way away from the well CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canton Chris Posted June 16, 2022 Share Posted June 16, 2022 Had that happen to me but with the sprinkler system. Had to go to the hardware store 4 times for misc parts as one problem led to another. The bad thing was the store is 20 minutes away so wasted over 2 1/2 hours driving! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sedalia Dave Posted June 17, 2022 Share Posted June 17, 2022 When I was stationed at China Lake we had a couple local hardware stores. Always had cooler parts in stock year round. Then Home Depot came to town and put both of them out of business. Per corporate policy they started stocking cooler parts in March. 2 to 3 months before most people even turned theirs on to check functionality. By the 4th of July Home Depot no longer carries cooler parts even though most people would be running their coolers full time till mid to late September. Complaining to the manager did no good as his hands were tied by corporate policy. Fortunately the Ace hardware in a tiny town 10 miles up the road kept parts in stock year round. Didn't take long for ea lot of people to decide that home depot wasn't worth the effort and soon the little Ace hardware up the road doubled its sq footage and started carrying many of the same items hd carried at the same or better price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.