[masraum]

We have the grandsons (6 & 3) Tue - Fri this week. Our son and daughter in law have today and tomorrow off, and came out today to spend a day with us. The DiL is ~8.5 months pregnant.

My wife's big plans for today and tomorrow are 1 today, make a giant slip and slide with 100' of plastic sheet (folded to about 55' so it would mostly be double layer), a hose, baby shampoo and a kiddie pool for the kids today. Tomorrow, our son, the 6 yo and myself are going to spend a few hours floating down the river. Hopefully, we can get that done before it gets crazy hot, because we are all pasty white folks.

Today, about 20 mins into the slip n slide (which was a huge hit with the boys, btw) the water stopped. All of the water stopped, hose bibs, inside the house, everything. We're on a well. We have an 8.5m pregnant woman spending the night. We NEED water, to wash and flush toilets and the like.

Fortunately, the issue was the pressure switch. When I got to the pump house (should I say pump dog house) I could smell hot electronics, and 3 of the 4 wires at the pressure switch were pretty thoroughly fried, and the pressure switch had clearly gotten really hot it spots. One of the wires was very fried, and 2 others had been very hot. The closest hardware store had a 20-40psi switch and a 30-50psi switch, but our switch is a 40-60. Fortunately, Tractor Supply ~15 miles down the road had a couple of 40-60 switches.

I got the new switch in about 20-30mins before sundown. THere were no leaks at the switch. I sat there for 15-20 mins after, and none of the wires ever felt a tiny bit warm. I'm guessing there was a bad connection.

I noticed it seemed like there was a capacitor in a box that was connected to the pressure switch. That made me wonder if it is a good idea to keep a spare capacitor laying around as well as a spare pressure switch.

The kids had a great time on the slip and slide. More than once I heard the 6 yo get up after sliding down and scream "THIS IS AWESOME!"

And I was able to restore water to the house with an expenditure of $30 and 1-1.5hrs of work.