Mr Happy, events unfolding as you describe seem to be the norm to me. I've given up planning a quick half-hour task as it will end up taking all day.

My house water supply is totally tank water, fed by a pressure sensitive electric pump. A few weeks ago I noticed the pump kicking in at night even though no taps were turned on. Being aware of a couple of dripping taps I decided it was time to replace all washers on all taps in the house, twenty in all.

The first step was to turn the pump off and close the tank valve. While doing that I noticed a wet patch around the pump and discovered a leak from somewhere along the pipe up to the house. Cutting the saga as short as possible; I found that the body of an in-line filter had cracked so replaced it. Then the connection to the new one wouldn't seal. So I replaced the section of tubing there with new connections at each end. Each new discovery meant another trip to the hardware shop. The pump supply shop had run out of pressure tubing so I had to search the surrounding suburbs to get some.

While working on this connection I had to move the pump. The pressure chamber on the top cracked off, revealing a significant amount of rust in the pump body. Rather than fight a loosing battle with that I replaced the pump. Different type, all the connections had to be changed again.

That done, the feed from tank to pump started dripping. More connectors and tubing to be replaced.

Finally I got back to changing the tap washers. Every pair of taps in the house is different. Some need flat screwdrivers, some need phillips head, some need an allen key. Each new pair meant another trip down to the tool shed for a different implement of some kind.

Two days and $1000 later the job is finished. .... and the pump still kicks in at night sometimes.