[DeepSouthBamaGRITS]

Almost ALL of the well diggers/installers/repairmen that were once numerous in our very rural area have also retired. The best old-timer father/son business retired several years ago & they lived just minutes from me. You could call them most any time night or day, explain your problem and they were there PRONTO with the parts to repair. The old man must have been in his 80’s when he retired but he knew the land here and the problems that were common with all the iron rock and where the veins of iron rock were. The son took over for a while but after his father died, he slowly cut down on his services. He mainly did repairs & had most all parts needed to repair any problem. His only problem was he didn’t like to share his knowledge about repairs since it would take money out of his pocket if a DIY’er just wanted parts to fix it themselves. Most everyone in our area had wells since we didn’t have access to city water (which I would not ever use due to all the chemicals they use). Old farmers retired, sold off their farms & the younger generation went to city water once they expanded the service to the more rural areas. So his business declined & thus why he made the decision to do all repairs instead of helping DIY’ers. He was NOT CHEAP elther so he finally shut his doors, too. I have spare parts that are a common failure with wells. (Square D boxes, pressure switches/gauges/gaskets, etc. We now rely on friends with wells to help problem solve issues. Major problems we have to use the guy I mentioned in my earlier msg. With him being the ONLY Well Guy that services this area, you normally have to wait a while for him as his business has expanded to a vast area & he is ALWAYS out of town doing well drilling jobs. This is a dying business since city water has expanded to most all areas now and no one wants to fool with a well that can go out or give you problems at any given time, especially when you’re dealing with IRON ROCK, iron build-up that clogs up parts. I always looked at the big picture for the future to have water. Power grid goes down, NO CITY WATER. At least I have the Simple Pump if my backup power sources can’t power the well for whatever reason. Power sources fail & have problems, too. (Not enough sunlight to charge, etc., or failed parts).
Do have your well water tested once you have yours installed. I picked up a water test kit & sent a sample off with (back then) was just $10 and you have the broken down details of your well water & what was found in your water. This is crutial if you haven’t used the water or weren’t the original owner of the well. It may have been shut down for contaminated water. Just a heads up on that if you haven’t already thought of it.
We are HOPEFULLY seeing a break in this oppressive heat this next week as a cold front is slipping down our way. PLUS we have a Hurricane brewing in the Gulf of Mexico that could get very close to my area. We will welcome ANY rain we can get since we’ve been so dry for several months and EVERYTHING is dying. We can do without all the wind/devastation involved in a potential MAJOR hurricane, as this one COULD be. Every weather report given twice daily the path changes as well as the intensity growing. We are used to tropical systems, living along the Gulf Coast so we watch them like a hawk as they can change their landfall at the last minute. It seems we go from one weather related issue to another but the last two years it has been EXTREME swings way out of our “NORMAL” weather patterns. That is my reason for getting that 2nd much larger greenhouse/high tunnel built. To have a more CONTROLLED growing environment.
Another change I have made in my preps is a DEHUMIDIFIER for the main living area of my cabin. It will remove the humidity, which will make it feel much cooler (like an A/C does) PLUS the water it pulls from the air is collected that can be filtered and used to drink/cook/etc. They can be run off one of my solar generators, as long as it can stay charged via sunlight. The heat/humidity is our biggest problem here in the Deep South, other than hurricanes!! LOL! We seldom have to worry about FREEZING WEATHER except for last winter when we had a couple of bouts of Arctic Blasts that reached our area. No telling what we will face going forward but WE WILL SURVIVE and get thru whatever comes our way!
It is always good to talk to you. Hope all goes well for you moving forward. Definitely we face a lot of UNKNOWN problems no matter WHERE you live. It is always good to SHARE ideas with each other to help with troubleshooting our own problems.
BTW: our temps yesterday were 106(F) with feels like temps of 116(F) the last I checked at 1pm. Same expected for today but fingers crossed that changes in a day or two. I will be glad to see those EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNINGS vanish from my weather app!!! Plus be able to get SOMETHING accomplished outside that is getting so far behind! Take care!