Sooooo close but yet sooo close....

As we get closer and closer to Christmas, every week has meant serious progress on the great water project of 2013-14.  Last Thursday and Friday, we took another big step - installation of the actual pumps.  

There has been some confusion about the pumps which is probably my fault.  My mistake was calling the new building on the range a "pump house" when in actuality there will not be a single pump in there.  The wells we dug over the past two seasons are just larger versions of a well you might use to get water to your house or garden.  The pumps are "submersible" meaning they sit at the bottom of the well and pump water upwards.  My little corner of the "pump house" actually is used to house our new electronic pump control system.  A large electrical panel, sensors, wires, flow meters, and a state-of-the-art acid/fertilizer/wetting agent injection system will be inside to control all of our irrigation operation.  This panel will communicate wirelessly with our irrigation computer back at my shop and allow us to run our system efficiently and accurately.  The panel was set this week, but nothing is hooked up yet.  This will be the final step, along with getting all the electrical work completed to give it juice.

So let's all agree to call it a "range house" from now on.  Most of the building is for much needed range storage and two indoor hitting bays anyhow and I just have more of a large "closet" anyhow.  

More pics coming as installation proceeds.  We should get most of the equipment in place in the next week or so, some finishing touches on the building, and then after Xmas start looking for the final electrical work. 

Hope everyone has a great holiday!

THIS is what a 100-horsepower submersible pump looks like.  More like a long range missile but will move around 700 gallons per minute for us.  This will be the workhorse for the system.

Here is the smaller, 60-horsepower rig waiting to be put down the hole.  All of the pipe stacked underneath will be attached to bring water to the surface into the manifold.

Here's the "brains" behind the whole operation.  A new Flowtronex control panel.  If you remember, the fact we needed to replace our current one of these is what got this whole thing started.