Well, I’ve tried to avoid politics on this blog, other than as they bear on the Perfect Storm ideas but this little video clip is just too funny to pass by. Here’s Will Farrell’s rendition of President Bush on Global Warming:
Will Ferrell – Bush on Global Warming
Other than that great bit of humor, today has been a bit of a trial. My wife and I, in case you don’t know, run a wholesale/retail nursery on 25 acres just outside of the town of Monroe in the State of Washington here in the northwestern corner of the United States. www.woodscreeknursery.com Well, yesterday, our main irrigation pump failed after serving us well for two years and three months and that’s a major bummer and a very big event because it risks our very livelihood.
So, as you can well imagine, it jumped right to the top of my list of things to deal with. And, after I diagnosed the problem, I’m a bit embarrased to admit it was basically my fault that this happened. Two years ago, when I installed the last pump, I failed to put in pump-protection circuitry to protect the pump (which in addition to the grief it is causing me, costs about $800 and takes not less than a week to get a replacement for). So, we reap what we sow, eh?
Another wrinkle is that the old pump was a 230v 3-phase model and those are rare. Part of the delay involved in getting another one is that when you need one, they generally have to go to the factory and make one up as they don’t tend to keep the rare one’s sitting on the shelf.
We were using 3-phase because that’s what they were doing here before we bought the nursery and we just went along with it. Later, as I learned more, I found out that we don’t really have 3-phase power here. We just have the (US standard) normal 230v single phase power. In order to run 3-phase pumps, someone in the past had installed special circuity which converts single phase and, using capacitors, makes it mimic 3-phase. This is lame because power-efficiency is the main reason to run 3-phase and by just mimicing 3-phase, we suffer the inconvenience of using, maintaining and replacing 3-phase gear but not reaping any of the benefits of it.
So, as this saga has unfolded, I’ve pulled the burnt up 2.5 HP pump (burnt up because the pump lost its prime and ran dry and fried itself because I’d negelected to install pump-protection circuitry) and I’m in the process of replacing it with a 1.0 HP replacement (also 3-phase) which I just happened to have setting here as a spare. I’m doing this ASAP because I can then get water out to our 50+ greenhouses which are getting pretty dry (read economic disaster). In the mean time, it gives me a breather to contenplate my next move.
So, do I want to replace the 2.5 HP 3-phase pump with another of the same type – custom made – and a week’s time getting here for $800? Mmmmm. Not too keen on it. The alternative is to rip out the circuitry that converts 230v single phase to mimic 3-phase and then install a new replacement 2.5 HP single-phase pump which might be a bit cheaper and will sure be available on much shorter notice (as in it might even be on the supplier’s shelf when we call). And, let’s not foreget that this time I’ll also install the pump protection circuity .
So, when I’ve finished plumbing in the replacement 1 HP pump tomorrow and water is flowing again, I’ll have to study the electrical circuitry (all of which is 10 to 15 years old, full of cobwebs and junk and mostly looks like a nightmare) and see if I’m confident enough to order the single phase pump and then take everything down again (read risk factor) and redo the electrics and then put it all back together again in a day or two. No pressure here…nope, not a bit – just love this stuff.
It’s one of the things I alternatively love and then hate about this business. You can’t really be in it without being able to be a jack-of-all-trades and sometimes that’s fun but sometimes it’s downright scary.
Ah, and as an aside, I’ve got two of my guys up on the roof of my rental manufactured home ripping off the roofing and the plywood to sort out the cronic leaks there. That was particularly fun, to step away from the pump disasters and go over and observe the roof laid open to the rafters and to discover how very very shabbily made manufactured homes truely are and this one has, apparently, already suffered an earlier attempt at roof repair that was done by some one who probably should have been shot before being allowed up on the roof – for their good and for mine . But, my guys are competent so I know we’ll get it right this time. We just need to spend some time and money on it and that’s always easy, right? Grrrr.
So, friends, thanks for listening to all this whining. I’d love to be playng on the Internet and blogging on environmental issues but today the great python called ‘making and preserving a living’ has got a strong grip on my reality.
Cheers!