18/12/2024
An update…
We forgot to update you on our pump situation. It’s a bit of a boring story 😆 but as many of you donated, we wanted to let you know what’s going on and teaser…it’s still not fixed!
You may remember in August, yes in the height of summer, our well pump broke. This is a very important part of the day to day running of the sanctuary as it delivers water from our well to all of the animals. Just 1 horse alone can drink 50-60 liters of water per day in hot weather and the pigs need lots of water for their mud baths to keep cool in summer.
As an immediate solution, we put in a temporary submersible pump. This wasn’t going to be strong enough to deliver water through our irrigation system but would pump the water up so we could fill an IBC tank and deliver the water to the animals using the car and trailer. For the horses we ran a hose from the garden tap at the house. This is potable water so of course has a cost, unlike our well water which is free.
The pump failed after not even 2 months and we were still unable to get anybody to come to the sanctuary to repair or replace to old pump.
We bought a second temporary pump- a more powerful above ground one. This has been working well but still isn’t powerful enough to replace the old one.
We have since been able to remove the old pump with the help of our plumber. However, the old pump doesn’t contain the plaque it should have which carries the specifications of the pump. Our plumber took it to different pump specialists but nobody can determine the specifications of the pump so nobody knows what to replace it with 🤦🏼♀️
We are now waiting for our plumber to come and take a series of measurements so the specialists can (hopefully) work out the power of the pump we need.
As always, things like this are be very easy or quick in Spain! Thankfully the weather is cooler and the animals are drinking less so our temporary solution is manageable.
Thank you everybody who donated. It has helped with our temporary pumps and IBC’s an extra cost of potable water for the horses 🥰
We will let you know when we have news on getting the pump we need!🤞🏻 Were a bit exhausted from all of this malarkey so are happy to let our plumber take the reins 😆 At least we know it’s not just us as even a plumber whose native language is Spanish is struggling to get sorted 😅
MAN DOWN! 😥
This here is a very important part of the day to day running of the sanctuary. It is the pump which pulls water up from the well and sends it around different points of the sanctuary to give water to over 120 animals 💧 And on what is to be one of the hottest days of the year so far, it’s given up the ghost.
All of the animals have water for now but time is ticking as they will soon drink and dirty their waters and the pigs’ mud baths will evaporate. In summer we replenish their water and mud baths 3 times a day.
In previous years when the well ran dry, we had to cart tap water from the garden hose at the house to all of the animals using 25 litre containers. Not only is this ridiculous hard work in the heat (with the help of volunteers of which we have none right now), it made the water bills extortionate!
The old pump is badly corroded and the impeller has stopped working meaning it won’t fire up. We’re not even sure we can remove it completely due to the corrosion in the bolts securing it to the ground!
We are currently trying to source a new pump which will likely be in the region of €1000 and then Julian will have a job on his hands today fitting it.
Any donation would be greatly appreciated at this time for this unforeseen but (very urgent) expense. We will put an update in our stories when we find a pump and know the final cost:
PayPal: www.PayPal.me/jacobsridge or DM us for bank details (Spain or UK account).
Thank you so much ❤️🙏🏻 We will keep you posted! By 10.30 this morning it had already reached 34 degrees Celsius and it’s due to reach 40 by 2pm 🥵
