More pump surprises.



Peanut butter or Nutella?

I drove to Hermiston today to figure out how to fix the control panel.  There are no stores locally that carry these kinds of parts.  I took pictures of the control panel yesterday.  I went to the first irrigation pump store and stuck out.  No electrical parts are sold.  So instead I bought a 3 inch 90 degree elbow and three 3 inch end plugs.  They were on the list.  I was sent across the street to another store that does electric work on panels.  At that store I gave my story again and showed my pictures of the circa 1956 control panel.  He finally said I needed more help and gave me the name of a business in Umatilla that makes pump control panels, Selectric.  I had Google maps take me there and there was a warehouse but no sign for Selectric.  I drove around and could not find it so I just went up and walked in.  There was no one at the desk, just a bell.  I rang the bell and two guys came out.  I started my spiel for the third time and this time answers started flowing.  Of course the first thing they wanted to do was sell me a new panel.  I don't want this, as I will have to jump through tons of paperwork and permits.  They were willing to sell me all the internal parts for a brand new control panel in an old box.  I would have purchased everything immediately, but I failed to take a picture of the motor.  I needed the motor statistics so I could get the right parts.  They gave me their phone number on a sticky and told me to just call in the specifications and they would work a quote up for me.  This was great news.  They kept asking about whether the motor was a three phase.  I thought it was but when I took voltage measurements I had 0 V, 110 V and 208 V on the three wires coming in.  This continued to bug me on the way home.  I should have more voltage. 

Irrigation motor stats.

Irrigation pump stats

I went out to the pump for pictures and a transcription opportunity.  The motor was three phase.  Two years ago I got the pump to work, and it just kept bugging me that I could not even get a buzz out of it this time.  A buzz would have made me happy.  I started looking harder, and then I looked up, way up into the sky!  One wire of the three had been shot in half.  I need to get an electrician and boom truck out to the farm to get the line repaired.  Hopefully, they can repair it and not make me replace the whole thing. Once the overhead line is repaired I will go back to worrying about the control panel. 

I picked up the rest of the lumber for the kitchen cabinets today.  Sarah had to help me unload 3/4 inch oak full size 4x8 feet sheets of plywood.  She was not impressed and still sore from her drill weekend.  There was much cajoling on my part.  It was still easier with her than doing it by myself. 

I have a mouse out in the chicken coop.  It chewed into two of my bags.  Instead of trapping a cat in the back for a week I am going to try some mouse traps.  The question is will they like peanut butter of nutella better?