Cistern Issues

Well we forgot to mention that we are currently having some cistern issues. It started last week when we came home from an evening out and Jay noticed the water pump was running non stop. We got an email from the tenant downstairs and said that there wasn't any water coming out of the faucets, only spitting water and air. So Jay checks the cistern, and sure enough, it's empty. Well thankfully Jay knows what to do and switches to the other half of the cistern. It hadn't been used in awhile so we dumped a bunch of bleach in just to be safe. We turned on several faucets to get the air out and eventually we had running water again. Yea! But then we noticed that the pump still hadn't shut off. Jay checked things out and got on the Internet to research the issue and determined that it was either the pressure switch or the bladder in the accumulator tank. Either way something was burnt up from running for several hours so we had to turn it off which means no water. We let the tenant downstairs know so that he could use some water before we turned it off for the night. The next morning we turned it back on for showers but then turned it back off before heading for work. We let the landlord know what was going on and she got someone there the same day to look at the pump. I still haven't heard what was the issue, but all I know is that it works and that's good enough for me.

In the meantime, the landlord had someone come look at the cistern while it was empty. They had talked about having it cleaned at some point, so since the one side is empty this seems like a pretty good time to take care of that. They actually found a small crack in the cistern so that could explain why it went empty. In the year that we've been here it had never even gotten low so that's why we were surprised when we found it empty. So they started the process this past Wednesday and it will take a couple more days. They had to completely shut off the intake because it has to remain dry while they make the repair and apply a sealant. So that means what little water is left on the other side of the cistern has to last at least a week which I don't see happening. We've been taking our laundry to the laundry mat in order to conserve water and trying to be as frugal as possible with daily usage. Worse comes worse, I guess the landlord will have to pay for a load of water to be delivered, but hopefully it won't come to that.