Downsizing, example three: The pump repair.

Epiphany.

Sometimes the smallest things can be the trigger telling one it's time to make a change.

Today's Guest Post would be funny if it weren't for the palpable frustration that John Flenniken describes. 

A generation of Baby Boomers is deciding if and when to downsize.

Every homeowner knows the situation. Things break and need maintenance or repair. A gutter clogged with leaves. A drip in the kitchen sink. Moss on a shady side of a deck. These are things one can fix on a Saturday.

For 30 years Penny and John Flenniken, my sister and brother-in-law, enjoyed their Portland home. It had bedrooms for guests and room for extended family get-togethers. They raised children and grandchildren there. They made the house fun to live in -- and complicated -- with decks, garden sitting areas, and a fish pond. 

John painted the house himself every five years. The job required a long extension ladder to get to the area under the eaves of the two-story home, but two summers ago for the first time he hired a painting contractor to do the job. That wasn't the catalyst for change. In fact it confirmed for him that he and Penny could stay in the house so long as they used common sense and hired people to do the big things.

Hiring a painting crew did not break the code of homeowner self-reliance.

Penny and John moved into an two-bedroom apartment in a retirement community in December. The catalyst for change came from a little thing.

Guest Post by John Flenniken

March of last year, around spring break for Portland, is a good time for this old 78-year old body to start on yard projects. The first project was to hook up the above-ground pond pump and filter that I had stored in the shop.

I placed the pump and filter in position and reconnected the pipes. I noticed the pump on the concrete pad sloped toward the pond, not allowing a good fill on the priming pot. I added water to the priming pot, then adjusted it to accommodate the slope. I tested it to see if everything worked. It did! 

Water flowed into the upper pond, and it began to fill. That’s when I noticed a small leak in the pump intake line. Not good. I dismantled the connections to the pump and inspected the intake. It was all good, though maybe not tight enough. My adjustment with a spanner worked! No more leak. 

Now to level the pump. My attempt to level it I knocked the priming pot off vertical. Easily cured! Just disconnect, inspect and remove the accumulated crud it sucked up in the short five-minute runtime of the test. I reassembled the unit and attached the lid to the now-full priming pot. Thinking I was home free, I started the pump. Nothing! Repeated twice more. Nothing. 

Confused, I researched the problem online. Advice pointed to a pump or impeller failure. A new pump was available, with free shipping and arrival in three days, for $1,200. A new pump arrived and I found it to be incompatible. I sent the pump back and got credit to my account for the purchase and free shipping both ways.  

Back to square one. My son stopped by, saying he uses pumps all the time, bigger than this 7,200 gallon per hour pump. He was convinced the on-line advice was correct, and what I had was a loss of vacuum pressure to a broken pump or impeller seal. Frustrated, I researched new pumps again. I learned the exact model and make added an external grounding junction box to the pump, requiring a certified electrician and permit to install. That meant a separate circuit running along the outside wall of the house from the electrical panel in the shop. I wrestled with the idea of new pump and rewire job and the additional cost and time. Was it worth it? How much longer could I keep doing this work? I slept on it. 

The next day, thinking I might quit, I went out again to remove the base and pump house supports. I found a black object. I dug it out and washed it off. It’s an o-ring about 6 inches in diameter. Could it be that simple? That the o-ring fell out of the priming pot lid? I took it into the shop and opened the lid on the priming pot. Yes, it fit perfectly. Two weeks had past from suspected pump failure to a functioning pump and water feature. It worked!! The pond filled!! That water cleared and the fish that wintered over began swimming around looking for food.

Penny is convinced this was THE MOMENT I knew I wanted to sell the house. I agree, it was time to downsize.

 

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