The water has gone off - thankfully at 8.30am on a sunny day (albeit mid-shower with a head full of shampoo!) For most people, the water going off would be a call to the water board (whoever that is where you live) and a check with neighbours to see whether it's just your house. With Clacheranmor, and a private water supply to just our house, the process in summary is:
Walk up the hill (100m) to the lower settlement tank (about 2m3 in size), open the hatch and have a look: it's empty and the input from the top feeder tank isn't flowing
Walk further up the hill to the feeder tank (a concrete box about 2 feet square on the burn/stream) lift up the lid and have a rummage around and notice that it's a little 'gummy' but it seems to clear and water starts to flow to the lower settlement tank
Check the flow going to the settlement tank: all good
Wait 3 hours thinking that the feed from the settlement tank to the house is higher up the tank than it is
Make tea with the water from the brook along the roadside
3 hours later when the tank is full, but the house still doesn't have water, scratch your head
Realise that the pipe to the house is bunged up and try to unblock it, initially with a powerwasher (injuring gramps in the process!) but more successfully by digging up the pipe by the stop cock and releasing the blockage
Put it all back together but wondering why the taps inside still aren't giving us anything
Realise you didn't trun the stop cock back on, and hey - presto - running water!
Have a pint of Loch Fyne Ale to celebrate
Go back the next day to check everything is working as it should (which it isn't as the feeder tank to the settlement tank is not not flowing very well because you left the course filter off and all the stirring up has now got in the pipe)
Rod it out to get it cleared
Replace all tank lids and run the taps indoors a bit, and wash out the filter under the sink to get rid of the sediment and grit
It has to be said - the water is lovely and clear, fresh and natural, but the system needs some TLC which we don't think it had been given for about 3 years, resulting in pipes getting silted up and the problem working its way down to the house and then a failure. We're now a little more prepared for the next time this happens and preventative maintenance.
Update - the 'next time' was Christmas Eve, in the dark! Thank goodness for Dave from next door with his special unblocking rod (wink wink) and saving John from jumping in the water tank three days after his first chemo session!
This view is off the hillside behind the house where the water comes from. There's never a shortage and even in summer, the peaty hillside still releases water like a sponge.
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