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Q Can you help me find a household water well pump that can operate from a small generator? In one of your YouTube videos you talk about a 120-volt submersible pump for household use like this. I want to be able to keep water flowing at our house during and outage, but our local hardware store has never heard about this kind of pump.
A Most water well pumps use 240 volts and are hard-wired into electrical panels. These issues pose two problems if you want to use a small generator to keep water flowing from fixtures during an outage. First, you can’t connect the pump to a generator because it has no removable plug. And second, small generators weighing under 40 lbs. only put out 120 volts, and they don’t put out enough watts to get a typical water well pump going.
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A few years ago I installed a 1/2 horsepower submersible water well pump designed especially for situations like yours. It’s made by Grundfos, it’s configured for 120 volt operation, and the motor is designed to start up slowly (they call it “soft start”), over a period of a few seconds, minimizing the high initial current draw at startup.
In the installation I did I wired a male plug end on the pump side, and an ordinary outlet nearby to plug it into. When grid power goes out, you simply unplug the pump cord from the wall, then plug it into an extension cord leading outdoors to a small generator. This system has worked perfectly for more than five years, and can be operated with a generator that puts out less than 1500 watts. Water flow and pressure are what you’d expect from any good water well pump.
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Heat pump shelter
Q What’s the best way to protect the compressor of a new heat pump we’ve had installed? I see some people leave theirs uncovered, but I’d like to protect mine.
A Shelter makes everything last longer outdoors, and this makes even more sense if you get lots of snow or ice that could block air movement around the compressor. Any kind of small roof built over your heat pump will do the job, but the trick is finding an approach that looks good, is simple, and lasts a long time. One option is a fabric cover over a metal frame. Covertech is one Canadian company that makes shelter for heat pumps and mini-split units, and I know from experience that they make a good product. I have one of their fabric shelters and it has lasted well for more 15 years. The nice thing about their cover design is that it’s easy to install, and easy to remove when it comes time to service the unit.
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Dealing With eavestrough leaks
Q What’s the best way to deal with eavestrough that’s not working? Mine leak and overflow and don’t do much good.
A In my experience standard eavestrough is just barely good enough to do the job. Leaks are not uncommon, you need to keep troughs cleaned out if trees are nearby, and it’s not unusual for them to overflow during heavy rains.
If your current eavestrough has a few small leaks, these can be sealed with caulking. Sometimes water slips behind eavestrough and leaks down the backside, and I’ve used a fix for this that you can see here. (https://baileylineroad.com/eavestrough-and-roof-leak-repair/). But in some cases a completely different alternative to eavestrough makes sense.
More than 20 years ago I installed something called Rainhandler on several buildings without basements and it continues to work well with no need for maintenance. It’s a system of aluminum louvres that take the place of eavestrough. The louvres break up roof runoff into droplets, then directs these droplets away from the building.
Steve Maxwell has been helping people make the most of their homes, workshops, gardens and tools since 1988. Visit him at baileylineroad.com for thousands of articles and videos about successful hands-on living.
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