We capped another leak this morning and began pressurizing the system at about 11AM. A single pump is holding pressure at 52psi into the lines running constantly. That’s better than yesterday. Our system pushes in cycles from 40-60psi. If the system never reaches 60psi, the pump never shuts off and never alternates to the second pump which extends the life of the pumps. We started pressurizing when the storage tank hit 8.0 feet (max), we shut down last night when it was nearing our danger level. Our wells can deliver us about 0.4′ per hour under maximum load (not good to sustain). All that said, the situation is still too dynamic (toilets filling, people purging lines of discoloration, etc.) to predict how long this can hold out. The real purpose of starting up this early is to give some time for additional leak detection.
We need everyone to check and keep checking. As pipes unfreeze, water can then reach the splits. Even if you haven’t seen a leak thus far, a new one can emerge. Check your home, look around at your neighbor(s) as well for signs of flowing water or ice buildup. As the temperature increases over the next week, it will be harder to find leaks.
We REALLY want to keep the system up so we can all have a shower, wash some clothes and clean up dishes. The volunteers all live here as well, and we’re very motivated to get this under control. Worst case scenario (at least for the system), we have to shut down again when the storage tank is empty, but as things are fixed or at least shut off, the length of time we can run increases. When we get to a constant running state, we’re still not out of the woods yet. The system can’t be stressed to the max constantly. We have to get all these leaks detected and dealt with or the infrastructure will buckle under the load.
SGCC Board and Operations