Quality well technicians will brave arctic cold to get your water flowing

You can hear the wind howling and the frost is creeping across your window. The backyard looks like an arctic landscape as the snow swirls and blows. It’s cold outside and it’s good to be indoors. Your plan is to just wrap yourself in a comforter and settle down with a cup of cocoa and a good book.

In the kitchen, you take the teapot off the stove and carry it to the sink. You hold it under the faucet as you glance out the kitchen window and remind yourself how fortunate you are for central heat. Then, you lift the lever and … nothing. You try again. This time you hear a bang and a wheeze and some rusty powder puffs out of the faucet.

You look under the sink in the hope something simple and easy to fix is responsible for the unexpected disruption in the on-demand flow of water. But, under the sink, everything looks fine. In other words, it looks the same way it does any other time you look under the sink.

You think to yourself, “I’d better try the bathroom sink” but you receive the same response from the faucet there. Even the bathtub and utility tubs are coughing dry powder instead dispensing water.

You call a friend who knows a little about maintaining a home. After a couple of unsuccessful suggestions, your friend recommends that you call in an expert. You have well water so you need to call in a well technician.

Hopefully, you’ll call a well company like McHenry Water Well & Pump. You need someone who knows wells and well pumps inside and out. You need someone who can fix your well on a good day but is also willing to come out and fix your well when it’s 10-below zero and the wind is making it feel like 50 below.

On a day such as this, when that well technician arrives, you watch from the warmth indoors as the well technician leans against the blowing wind and fights his or her way out to your well. Maybe, it’s a simple wiring issue and your water is quickly flowing again. Then again, it could be the well pump or the well tank, or both.

In this scenario, the work is a bit more involved. That well technician will be out there fighting the elements for a couple of hours so you can have fresh, clean water indoors while you huddle in the heat.

Ask yourself, what would you say if you called a well maintenance or repair company and they said, “I’m sorry, it’s too cold out today. Why don’t you call back when it’s a little warmer?”

A quality well repair and maintenance technician knows there are hot days when they repair and maintain wells and there are cold days – sometimes, very, very cold days. It comes with the territory. Of course, for folks like those at McHenry Water Well & Pump, it warms their hearts when they see the smile on your face knowing your water is fresh, clean and running again.

For more information about McHenry Water Well & Pump, call 815-403-3333 or visit: www.mchenrywellandpump.com.

Keep your well pump humming with care: but if you need a new pump

You barely hear it. Maybe it’s just a slight vibration in the pipes but you know it’s working because, when you turn on a faucet, the water comes out. Behind that reliable flow of water is a pump that carriers the water from your well and into the house or office.

Lift the handle in the kitchen and nothing happens and you’ll suddenly recognize the importance of that pump. If the water doesn’t flow soon, you may have to choose another place to stay or work for a while. Indoor water is more than a convenience; it’s a necessity.

Properly maintained, a well pump should last 15 years or more. In fact, with regular maintenance, well pumps have been known to last 30 years and more. Without that maintenance, your water pump can burn out in a fairly short period of time.

Your well system is a finely tuned mechanism. The electronics, the pressure tank and the well pump all have to work in unison, day in and day out, to ensure the water supply is available upon demand. Annual maintenance is all it really takes. You don’t have to have it checked every other month or twice a year – just once a year. That annual maintenance is generally enough to keep your well working like a well-oiled machine, and that includes your well pump.

It doesn’t hurt, of course, if you’ve had a better quality well pump installed. Discount well pumps, such as the ones sold at the big box stores, may save you a little money up front. But, in the long run, you may pay much, much more. In fact, even among professionals who install well pumps, there are differences in the quality of the well pumps they install.

STA-RITE is a commonly installed pump. It’s not a bad pump. STA-RITE well pumps are made with good-quality craftsmanship and decent materials, though many of their casings are made of a composite material.

Grundfos, however, really makes the Cadillac of well pumps. Their craftsmanship is exceptional and, from the casing to the parts inside, Grundfos uses stainless steel for its well pump parts. Each part is expertly machined to the tightest tolerances. Additionally, Grundfos well pumps are competitively priced.

Without proper maintenance, any well pump will experience a shorter lifespan. With proper maintenance, including checking the charge in the pressure tank to avoid short cycling, a superior well pump has the best chance of lasting 30 years or more.