Sri Lanka It's Happening

July 21, 2008

In the wee hours of friday morning my wife shakes me awake and says there is no water. I mumble something and go back to sleep. I get up again at a more reasonable hour, climb to the roof to inspect the overhead water tank. It's empty. Climb down 60 steps to the ground flow to inspeact the water pump. It's off and will not start. Try the back up pump, it works so I happily go back upstairs bt a few minutes later notice that the backup motor also shuts down.

Here in Colombo, the water supply is unreliable. If you want an uninterrupted supply you need to have an over head water tank for storage. But most times the pressure is too low for the water to get into the tank on it's own accord. So you need an underground storage tank as well. Then you need a water pump to transfer it from there to the rooftop. For good measure I have a backup pump as well.

Both the primary pump and the backup pump cutting out had me worried, I opened the cover of the sump only to find that it was nearly empty and water was just barely trickling in from the mains. There is a float switch to ensure that the motor would not start when there is no water in the sump, but that had failed. The cable of the float switch had not been properly secured and the weight of the switch had dragged it below the minimum level needed by the water pump for it's operation.

Running without water in the system causes the pumps to overheat and then the thermal cut off switch springs into action. Unfortunately it seems inspite of the cut off switch playing it's part, the primary pump had got damaged. Though it could be started up by, it cannot push the water into the roof top tank.

Now I call the plumber. Apparently his house is under water and he will not be able to rush to my aid. Heavy overnight rains had caused flash floods and I didn't hear about it until the plumber told me so.

I am desperate there is going to be a scheduled power cut in a about an hour. So I disconnected some of the water lines on my own to test for blocks. There are none. So I gave up on it and turned my attention to the backup pump. Ever after the thermal cutoff has been reset, it wouldn't switch back on. I struggled with it a bit and then looked closely at the wiring. Somehow while messing about with the water lines, I had disturbed the electrical wires.

Now I call the electrician, he is on another job but will do is best to come in the afternoon. That's No good, so I fix the wires myself and manage to get the motor started up but after a few minutes it cuts out again. The power cut is less than half an hour away.

The sump had been completely emptied by the water pump once again. So I check the ball valve that connects the main line to the sump. To do that I have to nearly hang upside down like a monkey. The opening to the sump is very narrow. While I can easily lower myself into it, I don't think I will be able to get myself out of it again (it's about a foot taller than I am).

The ball valve is completely clogged up. There is plenty of mud at the bottom of the sump. It could only have got there through the water mains. To think that some people drink this straight from the tap without boiling. A little of that mud had got stuck inside the ball valve restricting the flow of the water. I remove the valve and clean it up but can't put it back again while hanging like a monkey. You need both hands for it , but only one hand is free (I am holding on disparately with the other one).

The electricity supply should get interrupted right about now. So I decide the hell with the ball valve and switch the motor back on. Once upon a long ago, Sri Lankans were puntual, then came president chandrika and tought us how to be tardy. She might enter the guiness book of records as the only person to keep even prince charles waiting (not that it's such a bad thing)

Thanks to her, the electricity board engineers no longer interrupt the power supply at the announced time. The other side of the coin is that the supply doesn't get restored at the announced time either but I will take it.

The story doesn't have an all together happy ending. I gave up on the ball valve and shut down the water supply at the mains connection itself. I was then closing the covers on the water pumps when I heard a splash. My still very new E51 had slipped out of my pocket and into the sump. I managed to get it out with the greatest difficulty. It had soaked for a few minutes by then and wouldn't boot up.

Posted by raditha at July 21, 2008 4:09 AM