Wet Ants are NOT Well Friends

"I'll blog when I get out," is what I thought right before I went to shower. The water was warm but something was off. It was the pressure.

As a homeowner on well water, I knew immediately there was an issue at the pump. I tried to ignore it. "Maybe I can finish my shower..."

Nope. I thought better and, before all pressure was lost, I jumped out, dried off, and headed for the well house. "I'll finish when the water's back to normal."

I grabbed my meter and a flashlight and headed out. It was immediately obvious what was wrong, though I checked everything. The capacitor was still good. The juice from the house was 240V+.

A billion ants, with their odd electricity craving, coated the pressure switch. I used the meter contacts to flick the relay a few times, smashing ant carcasses in little puffs of smoke and ozone until the pump stuttered to life.

Stuttered. Not good. I pretended it sounded fine.

Back to the shower. Try to finish up. Head full of shampoo and the water starts to sputter, again.

Head soapy, wet and mad, I head back to the pump:



This time, though, I brought the RAID ANT KILLER. It was an ant holocaust. I am now showered, clean, and the pump is running smoothly, primed, figuratively, and maybe literally, with the blood of ants.