Shortly after having placed an order for all the cabinets, their hardware and the paraphernalia necessary to construct our built in entertainment/media center, a problem arose. Some problems you can ignore, put off for another day and some you can not, this was one of those that could not be ignored. It began with a sluggish toilet in the guest bathroom, it had given us trouble in the past, enough trouble to call in plumbers. Turned out the lift pump to our septic tank had never been connected. Once an electrician was called to run the wires and connect the pump all was well...for awhile.
Photo above...This lovely eyesore is control center for the septic system lift pump. Should the pump fail, it is supposed to light up its flashing warning signal. If it did so, we never saw it !
Now the same scenario was playing out, same sluggish toilet, a repeat performance; encore if you prefer. Soon other drains were being affected and John surmised that the culprit must be the lift pump; the pump was not functioning. Of course this had to happen on a weekend so the possibility of contacting someone to come out and survey the situation was nil. The problem would have to wait until Monday. On Monday the professional confirms John's diagnosis...the pump is kaput...we'll need a new one...he doesn't have a pump with him...he will have to get a pump...we'll have to wait a couple of days for him to get one and then return to install it.
Photo above...All one can see of the lift pump is a small metal box jutting out of the ground.
Photo below...In both pictures you can see evidence that the pump site had been dug up and filled back in as the pump unit is buried beneath ground; digging is the only way of getting to it to remove and replace it.
Usually a lift pump last for years and years, I'm talking like 15 or 20 years much like a good water heater. Why did ours conk out after only 2 years? Just our luck I guess or Murphy's Law, we had indebted ourselves with the purchase of the plasma HDTV and then the cabinets for the media center, so naturally something had to quit. Had it not been a $2,000 lift pump it would have been our refrigerator, or stove or maybe the front load washing machine.
But as they say; "It never rains that it pours". ...TO BE CONTINUED...
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UGH! Isn't that always how it happens? I am SO happy to be on city sewers. I can't even imagine septic tank problems...BOOOO. Hope it gets fixed soon :)
ReplyDeleteoh that sucks!
ReplyDeleteour hdtv broke last week... it was only 4 years old! and of course had no more warranty on it. so we had to go and get a new one. all this when we are trying to renovate our office into a nursery!... so i feel your pain!
everything breaks at our house. Ceilings collapse, floors fall through, roofs leak. We are doomed to bad luck
ReplyDeleteAly - Wish we had city sewer connections, but they haven't brought the sewer lines out this far yet...maybe someday !
ReplyDeletecabin+cub - Looks like Murphy's Law struck you too. But bet you're having fun getting the nursery fixed up for the little bun that's still in the oven...how exciting. Hope you had some type of extended warranty or service contract for the HDTV, 4 years is certainly NOT a very long time.
Plantress - Oh my those are some really serious repair jobs. It sounds like you have a very old, maybe even an historic house. Older homes have lot of charm and character but they also have lots of problems.
Oh No! Poor you! I'll keep you in my thoughts! This thing has happened to us several times. For different reasons. Like I have to be hospitalized and the ceiling leaks with the next rain storm....Sheesh!
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear about the septic. Isn't it always the way when you want to spend money on something fun then something crappy (He! He!) needs fixing.
ReplyDeleteKeep smiling, wait 'til that beautiful new media center is in place :) T.
All I can hope is that the rule of three is not in effect with the next update, yikes! What a crazy thing to have happen, timing really is so wrong sometimes! Those glorious cabinets will make it all worthwile in the end :-)
ReplyDelete