So here I was six feet down in the well pit draining the pump to our summer cabin’s water system while the wife packed the car for Florida.  35 degrees and cold rain above, dripping down my neck.  I put my wrench on the drain plug, gave a twist and it popped out after about a 1/16 turn.  Not right, right?  Feared it was stripped, tried to re-insert after draining, felt so wrong I didn’t force it.  The plug looks ok, threads seem a little worn in the rusted part of the thread.  Afraid now I maybe have stripped the female threads–but maybe they are just jammed up with rust.  So now I sit in the Florida condo thinking about next May when I will be back in the well pit trying to prime the pump while the wife waits inside to flush the toilet, and maybe I can clean those inside threads enough and maybe I can’t and have a major leak while I try to get a plumber from 50 miles away and when he does come he will be like the last one who said my below-grade pump was now illegal and I would have to pay him cash to avoid all the paper work he would have to report me.

So I’ve got six months to worry about this.  I’m 75, still fit and able, and not a pro but I have built two houses including wiring and plumbing and I’ve tried many skills but I have never used taps and dies to cut threads.  Time to learn something new.  So what should I have when I go down in that well pit to 1)clean those female threads in case they are ok, or 2)cut new threads if I need them?  And then I will need an over-size plug, right?  Or will enough teflon tape do the job.?  I think these threads are quarter-inch.

Thanks to all you guys out there.  My days on Breaktime have taught me as much as I learned in college.