Water Line Service

Water Line Service – Turning now to our house location after cleanup. There may be some excavation required, and replacement of melted, cracked or damaged water fittings, valves or pipes before the main water supply reactivation. If you don’t know where you are going to rebuild, you can put a frost-free draining standpipe and extend out further to “stub-out” for access later on. When installing any of these frost-free faucets, be sure to use a good amount of gravel at the bottom of their ditch so the pipe can drain properly.

Inspections & Permits – Spokane County, L & I (Labor & Industries) 1-800-547-8367 is the Office that handles the permits, and inspections for this part. This page on their website explains the rules and it is a good idea to read all of them. Here is the form that you must fill out to pay for your permit online, by mail, or in person at their office downtown. F500-094-000 or ONLINE  You will need to pass an electrical inspection before you will be allowed to fill in the ditches or cover any wiring up in the walls. If you forget and fill in the ditches and close the walls, they will make you open them and dig them back up to show them,. They will also charge you again for scheduling another inspection and probably make you wait a while for your inspection.

Restoring Electric & Water

Restoring water, and electrical are the first steps our family needs to take in recovering from the Oregon Road Wildfire disaster. Pete called the man who drilled our well first, at Pat’s Pumps 509/292-2322. He is who we have called to fix it whenever something went wrong over the past 25 years. Pat went out the next day to inspect how bad it was, then called us back telling us what we need to do.

Temporary Power Hookup – First, get temporary power to the pump is what Pat said. So, we called Inland Power 509/747-7151 to find out what we would need to do. You can download their specs on how to put a “temporary meter box” post in. Here is a copy of the drawing that outlines what is required  at  www.InlandPower.com | New Construction | (drop down list) New Construction | Construction Specs |Temporary Underground Service Thank goodness Pete knows electrical. If it was just me I’d have to hire an electrician to buy the right materials and put them together for the installation of the pole for the meter box.

Inland Power will handle from the pole to the transformer and transformer to meter base.

Excavation work has to be done. Take care of both the electrical line access to the pump and digging up the water lines from the well (at the same time) and save money by paying for one equipment rental or using elbow grease only once. Waterline from the well to the pressure tank (repair or replacement) at the same time. Pressure tank to house service is checked next.

Powerline needs to go in from the house to the well using a rented ditch digger (trencher) following the specs from Inland in conduit.

A New Pumphouse is Needed – Build a new pump house because the well mechanisms need protection from the elements. They can’t freeze or get wet.

Will you need to order a new pressure tank? Ask someone you can trust. Pat will order that and bill us for it, or tell Pete what we need to go get. Any reputable pump service will gladly supply you with how much their materials and labor are going to cost, up front.

When the electrical and water lines are exposed and the pumphouse is replaced then the well contactor will come back to pull the pump up, check it out, and rewire it.