Let’s keep this thing moving people! Operation: move in is rocking and we want to keep the momentum! In phase 1: warm me up, we got the furnaces running, because without heat, you can’t keep the pipes warm. And with the crazy spring (aka WINTER) we had here in Divide, we NEEDED heat! So, with our furnace roaring, it is time to stop the water park like action we are getting inside the lodge when we turn the water main on!

Maybe it isn’t obvious to those who have running water in their homes, so let’s look at all the things that don’t work when you don’t have water…

• Toilets. With four people trying to live in the lodge, not having a place to release is a problem. Our RV helps, but with the cold, she is having her own set of issues…
• Sinks. Washing hands. Brushing teeth. Washing dishes. It isn’t going to happen.
• Showers / tubs. Let’s continue with the washing theme. Washing hair. Washing body parts. It just isn’t going to happen.

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but you get the idea. In this day and age, we need running water in a home to make it a home. And we don’t have it yet. Well, we do. But it isn’t running where we want it. As such, we are living in our fabulous 5th wheel we named “Gipzee” until we can get phase 1 complete. Gipzee, the 5th wheel, not to be confused with our adorable Colorado Mountain Dog, Gipzee, became our home for 6 months in a crazy little adventure we call epoch48. You can read more about our attempt to travel to all of the lower 48 states, in 52 weeks, with a pug, and a chicken, at epoch48.com !

Now, being April, in Divide, Colorado, at 9200 feet above sea level, we have some serious challenges to deal with. Namely, the FREEZING COLD! And WIND! Gipzee is blowing through gas like, well, we won’t go there. But we are filling up propane tanks like crazy just trying to stay warm. On top of that, we are having a problem keeping the water running with any decent pressure.

So the “pressure” (get it) is on. We got 4 people living in a 5th wheel trailer. Very little water pressure. Cold. Anxious to get at least some of their things out of boxes. Ready to move into their future home as it sits just to the east of us. Taunting us. Pretending to be ready for us to live in by it’s appearance outside. Yet, a mess inside. So, phase 2 is a go!

phase 2: step 1: turn it on and see what happens!

Now that we are settled in Gipzee, we can get a little crazy. What is crazy about turning water on you ask? Well, this place hasn’t really been lived in in who knows how many years. It gets cold in Divide. And the house was never properly winterized. So, when we turn on the main from the water pump – who knows what might happen. We will only find out when we flip the breaker and let the water pump do what water pumps do. Here’s how we did it – don’t judge.

call someone smart

The first thing we did was call a local pump service company. We want to use as many local resources as we can during this project because, well, it is the right thing to do.

This is no different than phase 1, we need smart people’s brains to help us – especially when you are talking about a water well, and a seized water jet pump, a HUGE pressure tank, and a 5000 gallon cistern! If we messed this up, we could flood the whole neighborhood! Not really, but it is kind of fun to think about…

So we called the best local well service folks in the area – and they were great! They had to be creative. They had to be flexible. They had to be reasonable. And they were! Within a few hours, they had bypassed the 5000 gallon cistern, removed the seized jet pump, plumbed the the well pump directly into the pressure tank and were ready to test.

At this point, our near-term future hung on what would happen next. There were so many things that could go wrong. All the pipes in the well house were old, and abused by the weather. The pressure tank was older than dirt. Even the switch that turned the well on and off looked like it was something used to awaken Frankenstein. If anything didn’t work, we would be stuck in the 5th wheel for who knows how long. With no water pressure and a limited amount of space for poop. Needles to say, we were praying for the best.

Thankfully, we got the best. The pump guy did a great job. The pipes held. The pressure tank held. And the switch that woke up Frankenstein, woke up our pump! BAM!

phase 2: step 2: turn it on and see what happens – V2

Now that we had water running in the well house, and the pressure tank was holding water – all we had left to do was turn on the water in the house and hope for the best. Strangely, the pump guy bailed as quick as he could – before we could turn the water on on the house. Just kidding. But he did leave, and we were on our own for this next step.

We talked about all the things that could go wrong in the water house, but the reality is that it seemed like an infinitely unrealistic expectation that this next step would go as well as the first step did. And unfortunately, that was the case.

We fired up the water from the water house to the lodge and immediately Kari called and said, “SHUT IT OFF! SHUT IT OFF!”. Talk about a let down. It took almost 30 seconds to realize that we were in for a fight with the plumbing.

phase 2: step 3: run away, run way

Yes, Monty Python had it right. Though we weren’t running from an attack bunny, we were running none the less. And for that matter, so was the water. But it was running everywhere we didn’t want it to run.

To recap, we were running away from the water that was running away from the pipes that were supposed to contain the runaway water. Got it? Good.

phase 2: step 4: hack. leak. hack. leak. rinse. repeat

To make a long story short, I got out the sawzall and the pipe cutter and started hacking out any pipe that even looked like it might be a leaker. You think the FBI had leakers? We had leakers.

Anyway, we had to be a little smart about this. We couldn’t hack out so much that we didn’t have water going to the bathrooms upstairs – or we would essentially be in the same boat as we were already in. At the same time, there was so much water running wild and free in the lodge that we couldn’t not hack out a ton of stuff.

So I got the big hammer out and started smashing the walls and ceilings, tracing the water lines – trying to figure out which ones we needed and which ones we didn’t. At one point, we thought we had it. Then, as we listened. We heard dripping. Then we saw water flowing. Once again, I hear Kari screaming, “SHUT IT OFF! SHUT IT OFF!” Then I would drive to the hardware store, buy more stuff, and we would do the whole thing over again. Then we turned the hot water on…

phase 2: step 5: victory

As many people have said and experienced, many times you lose battles – but if you don’t give and you are on the right side, up you will win the war. In this case, it was true. After MANY trips to the hardware store and MANY failed attempts to keep the water where it was supposed to be – we finally had it. But even in victory, we still had a battle. Though we had water flowing to the kitchen and one bathroom, after a bit of time, there would be almost no pressure. Really? How can this stuff leak like crazy yet there not be any pressure?!? And what would happen when there was pressure?!?

phase 2: step 5: where’s the pressure?

After Googling for hours, I finally had a theory. The pressure tank wasn’t pressurized properly. So I hauled out our air compressor and attempted to make that right. I drained the water. Hooked up the valve and pressured it up. Turned the pump back on and to my surprise, hardly any water went into the pressure tank.

Back to Google. After much searching, I found out something I didn’t know. Our pressure switch had an adjustment. And for whatever reason, the pressure setting was as low as it could go. And the pressure range made it such that, when the tank ran low on pressure, it would never kick itself back on. Sigh. So I wrenched on the pressure switch to get it set to shut off at the proper pressure and BAM! When the pressure tank ran low on pressure, it it kicked the pump back on and we were in business!

phase 2: step 6: de-stink

So, the reality was that without water running right in the RV or in the lodge, we were getting stinky from a lack of showering. We actually had to resort to paying to use the pool at the local rec center in Woodland Park. We showered before getting in the pool of course, but really? Never had to do that before. At the same time, it was nice to get away and spend a few hours at the pool having fun with the kids. So, I guess all things really do work for the good.

But now that we had water. And that water was flowing where it was supposed to stay. And the water pressure was rockin. We could finally take a shower in the lodge! And phase 2 was finally in the books! operation: move in is now moving on the phase 3 – MOVING IN PEOPLE!