Here we are ready to go to work laying a foundation at the bottom of the 40 ft. deep excavation. We are keeping ahead of the incoming groundwater with our electric submersible pump connected to the local electric supply when suddenly the power goes out! No problem. We run over to our backup diesel self-priming pump and start it up. What? Why isn’t it pumping?!!
Oh, that’s right. The dig was deeper than we anticipated and this type of pump can’t lift the water that high. Now our only choice is to stop everything and try to lower the pump into the hole until it can catch prime and hope it can keep up until we find a better way. Tic-Toc, Tic-Toc…as time and money passes by.
Wish we had used a hydraulic submersible to begin with.