Between Mark and I we got the hole dug, cleared out, the pipes cut, measured, glued and checked. We each have our strengths and weaknesses.. but we get it done (and don't complain about it for years afterwards). That 's a good team.
Showing posts with label plumbing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plumbing. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 29, 2017
plumbing team
Between Mark and I we got the hole dug, cleared out, the pipes cut, measured, glued and checked. We each have our strengths and weaknesses.. but we get it done (and don't complain about it for years afterwards). That 's a good team.
Friday, January 18, 2013
bits of goldfish and toilet physics
We got three new goldfish today - don't worry, Nemo is still alive. Esme named the new fish Treasure and Bubble, and I named the last one Angel for her shape. Nemo seemed much happier to have friends - he had been staring at the mirror surface at the bottom of the tank the past few days. Besides that, I've worked a new strip into the quilt top over the course of the day. Esme has been working on her math, adding single numerals together, and trying to count to higher numbers. There were forty squares in my quilt strip and she got to thirty and that was a test for her - she did a good job. Mark has been helping me reinforce the 'before' and 'after' numbers, simple addition questions etc, and he also wrote down numbers for her on a list and she tried to name off numbers from their written numerals. Esme said it is the secret question, what is it, with three and three etc.. very interesting way of phrasing it. I've ordered two new books for her homeschool - one on volcanoes and earthquakes that I picked out and another on jungle caves that she picked out from the list before I really had a good chance to look at them all -- she was insistent, it looked halfway decent, so I said yes.
The other thing I want to remember is that Esme has been playing with her projector toy all by herself for the past few days - including changing the cartridges. She told me the battery bad noise was happening and I tried to show her how to snap them in correctly - and she brought the projector into her room in her bed and put up a piece of paper at the end of her bed on a box so she could watch them there... quite a good job, and it gave me some nice time this morning to sit and examine what to do with my spoonflower fabric in the quilt pattern.
Toilet physics - oh yes... we took apart the Mainstream we have and were discussing the engineering drawings on AmStd's website and comparing trap heights and other bits to see where the errors in flushing may be coming from. I have hacked up a fix that will involve a new toilet fill valve and a piece of vinyl tube tomorrow - to see how that changes the mechanism. That is one of the reasons for buying that model last year - everything in it is standard and thus hackable at the same time.
No goldfish were hurt during the making of this post. In fact, they are all quite happy. The new three are calico fantails, and one of them gave the lady at the pet shop such a run for her money that it got out of the net she was using once in the air and back into the tank. We should have named that one Tiger - but it is Bubble.
The other thing I want to remember is that Esme has been playing with her projector toy all by herself for the past few days - including changing the cartridges. She told me the battery bad noise was happening and I tried to show her how to snap them in correctly - and she brought the projector into her room in her bed and put up a piece of paper at the end of her bed on a box so she could watch them there... quite a good job, and it gave me some nice time this morning to sit and examine what to do with my spoonflower fabric in the quilt pattern.
Toilet physics - oh yes... we took apart the Mainstream we have and were discussing the engineering drawings on AmStd's website and comparing trap heights and other bits to see where the errors in flushing may be coming from. I have hacked up a fix that will involve a new toilet fill valve and a piece of vinyl tube tomorrow - to see how that changes the mechanism. That is one of the reasons for buying that model last year - everything in it is standard and thus hackable at the same time.
No goldfish were hurt during the making of this post. In fact, they are all quite happy. The new three are calico fantails, and one of them gave the lady at the pet shop such a run for her money that it got out of the net she was using once in the air and back into the tank. We should have named that one Tiger - but it is Bubble.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
bits
"No, I am NOT cute", she says
Well, it's not a NEW laptop.. it's an old laptop, but it is new to her. Daddy has put several games on it for her that are appropriate and blocked other things. And, because she can't spell well (she spelled cat as 'cvd' today) she can't get anywhere in the URL box yet, only click on icons in the toolbar and click on things from there.
all of the rest of the keyboards and monitors in
the background belong to Daddy's ONE computer!
Mark canned up six pints of thick homegrown tomato sauce last night. He was up half the night. We plan to use it on a pizza soon. We had to go to town to get some plumbing things, the pie plate I wanted and a few other things. I replaced our kitchen faucet, which was difficult as the connections had corroded on hard enough to require some serious elbow grease to get them off. It all seems to be solid and not dripping etc.
I have some fabric washing and drying to make another pair of drawstring pants for myself, and trim out the green dress I was wearing again yesterday. The sleeves are still unfinished, and Esme kept trying to put tomatoes in the pockets which were non-existant. So, it needs pockets in the skirt!
Esme is looking very cute in her braids, playing Sushi Cat and eating multigrain Pringles chips she chose for a treat at the store. She was quite unhappy earlier as she wanted to help me with all of the faucet things and I tend to get a little 'go away until I'm done with this' when a hands-on project isn't coming easily. But, as soon as I got it finished it was all good. We have Jell-O in the fridge and another pumpkin to harvest from the garden, soon!
More: As I was up under the sink earlier tonight I was feeling more respect for the huge plumber types who squeeze into tiny spaces and reach far up over their heads at awkward angles. I had not realized just how wide my shoulders are until I tried to get in and out of the cabinet doors over and over again. I had also not thought about how difficult it is to lay on your back and reach up with a pair of heavy pliers again and again to try to loosen supply lines. I was using muscles I didn't know I had, and wishing they were more developed ones! Between that and shaking a tupperware container to mix the strawberry pudding (Esme thought it was yogurt!) up consistently, all sorts of tiny unexpected muscles were overused today. Esme has been introduced to MSPaint on the computer, and is creating quite impressive color block and line drawings. The third pumpkin, about a six pounder, was brought in and put in storage. The 'lasagna' type pie we made for dinner was not quite what we wanted it to be - but it wasn't a whole loss, either. I need to experiment with different kinds of pie crust recipes, as the boxed version I used tonight was brittle and oily. The drawstring pants have a slight pull to one side - needed to trim the reversed pieces to match each other perfectly after they were cut out of the main pattern - and I did not do that step. The resulting pants are wearable but just very slightly strange in both look and feel. They are a modern size twelve which means there is not as much room for error as there had been when I was making size sixteen and just using the drawstring to keep them tight.
It has been a long day!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Bad news and other things
Get the bad news off the table first - our Suki cat is dead, Esme's kitten that we kept and was now a cat. She stayed outside last night - which isn't that unusual for her, and we think the dogs chased her into the fence and then who knows what happened. We heard something about 4 am in the morning but it seemed they were chasing a squirrel and none of the dogs acted funny when they all came back in after the howl. Maybe they were chasing something else and she got in the middle of it unexpectedly. She wasn't torn up, just dead, as if they cornered her and frightened her to death. I'm pretty sad about it - and don't want to tell Esme about it.
Suki and Esme together post
We're getting ready to plant and fence the garden. I reached the end of the yarn I had for the hooded scarf and am back on the blanket until new yarn comes. I've also finished a few of the Swiffer mop covers in dishcloth yarn and should scrub the floors somewhere with them to see if they work.
Esme is begging to go outside now - getting ready.
LATER: Esme is still outside, enpinkenating in the sunshine. We have run the fence the rest of the way around the garden and hooked up the gate to working condition. Three rows of corn are planted with space to plant another three rows in a week or so. We marked out the space for the green beans and carrots, then decided where the tomatoes will go when they are big enough to be transplanted. When it is a little cooler outside we will plant the green beans, carrots and I'll make the hills for the zucchini and squash seeds. I hope to sit down and make Esme a few more pairs of shorts - or start on it. Also, the skirt and tanks I made last month are doing well outside in the hot weather! Just corralled Esme in from outside to watch the movie she hugged and kissed earlier this week. She saw Barbie's Swan Lake on the shelf when shopping with Daddy and would not let it go... yeep! didn't expect her to be a Barbie type of girl!
EVEN LATER: Did the plumbing project in the wellhouse with Mark's help. Then it burst. Then we did it again. And then, it held. Planted the green beans and carrots and zucchini and pattypan squash and watered them all down. We are planning to put in more later - the cucumbers and gourds and pumpmkins and 'meat' squashes (Jarrahdale and Turk's Turban). Then, when the tomatoes and green peppers are at a good size, we can transplant them into the garden. I've also ordered a packet of heirloom indian corn which we plan to plant in between the other corn for a chance at some cross-pollination.
So - we did a LOT today, fence, planting, plumbing!
Suki and Esme together post
We're getting ready to plant and fence the garden. I reached the end of the yarn I had for the hooded scarf and am back on the blanket until new yarn comes. I've also finished a few of the Swiffer mop covers in dishcloth yarn and should scrub the floors somewhere with them to see if they work.
Esme is begging to go outside now - getting ready.
LATER: Esme is still outside, enpinkenating in the sunshine. We have run the fence the rest of the way around the garden and hooked up the gate to working condition. Three rows of corn are planted with space to plant another three rows in a week or so. We marked out the space for the green beans and carrots, then decided where the tomatoes will go when they are big enough to be transplanted. When it is a little cooler outside we will plant the green beans, carrots and I'll make the hills for the zucchini and squash seeds. I hope to sit down and make Esme a few more pairs of shorts - or start on it. Also, the skirt and tanks I made last month are doing well outside in the hot weather! Just corralled Esme in from outside to watch the movie she hugged and kissed earlier this week. She saw Barbie's Swan Lake on the shelf when shopping with Daddy and would not let it go... yeep! didn't expect her to be a Barbie type of girl!
EVEN LATER: Did the plumbing project in the wellhouse with Mark's help. Then it burst. Then we did it again. And then, it held. Planted the green beans and carrots and zucchini and pattypan squash and watered them all down. We are planning to put in more later - the cucumbers and gourds and pumpmkins and 'meat' squashes (Jarrahdale and Turk's Turban). Then, when the tomatoes and green peppers are at a good size, we can transplant them into the garden. I've also ordered a packet of heirloom indian corn which we plan to plant in between the other corn for a chance at some cross-pollination.
So - we did a LOT today, fence, planting, plumbing!
Sunday, April 03, 2011
garden pic
She is going to be PINK with sunburn the way she is refusing to come inside.
Esme trying to show him a green taffy candy she got from me
Mark is really out there pushing the Cub Cadet to till up the garden. Esme is watching him and being very good about staying out of the way, mostly. Misha dog is helping some and digging her own holes as well. I took a pass at the garden yesterday with the tiller and Mark says it is much easier today after the ground is partially broken.
There is something in the wellhouse that needs fixing plumbing-wise. I have taken a good look at it and it does require a bit more parts than we have on hand. I'll buy them at work next time I am there and set the project for the next nice day. It is the valve leading to our garden hydrant, and it is broken just after the shutoff valve from the main well. However, there is another shutoff valve between the main one and the hydrant which has a slow leak at the handle when the water is on. So - replacing that shutoff valve would also be prudent. But, that means having a shutoff on hand (we don't right now) and there is another non-necessary area which is also broken further down the line just after ANOTHER shut-off valve, which is okay, but too closely coupled to the broken pipe to be used again.
I still feel hot and tired from the previous week - like I could sleep the day away. I hope it is not anything more than just exhaustion. I FEEL hot but am not running a temperature. I'm measuring right underneath 97 degrees, which is a normal temp for me (cold-blooded, or something).
We have started nearly 75 tomatoes and 18 peppers in the garage, and a few marigolds to put between the tomatoes to keep bugs away. The tomatoes are 'Roma' hybrid breed, 'Oxheart' heirloom breed, and Brandywine heirloom breed. The first two are sauce type tomatoes while the third is a slicing. The peppers we started were a hybrid 'mix' package and I don't really want a lot of those plants but do want a variety of the ones we will have. We will direct-sow the rest of our marigolds, beans, corn, zucchini, carrots, squashes, cucumbers and anything else that ends up in the pot.
There are several other 'big' things we need to do. Mark has a chainsaw to rebuild, get that hydrant working, mix black earth into the garden and put the fence up around it with the gate working again. We have a big week ahead of us, or two.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Why should you not use PVC on your hot water heater outlet?
There isn't a good response for this on the internet all in one place - so here it is. It is fine to use PVC on your cold water inlet to the hot water heater. But the hot water lines going OUT of the heater should be CPVC. This is why. PVC begins to leach vinyl chloride at temperatures nearing 140 degrees. After 140 degrees, the leaching speeds up and the pipe fails, sometimes due to unsupported pipes bending and separating in the high heat. Most hot water heaters are right around that temperature 120-140 degrees.
The vinyl chloride originally keeps the pipes soft and bendable, but also reacts with heat. This is how the pipe material is made, heated up and then formed in tubing machines.
It is a double-edged sword, as a pipe that holds up initially (does not soften too much) can still over time leach the plasticizer (vinyl chloride) into the water as it passes through the pipe at temps over 73 degrees. Once the plasticizer (the material softener) is gone from the pipe, it can become brittle and break when shocked, moved or even from increased PSI in the pipeline during a time of kick/on kick/off at the water heater.
Normal cold water temperature is 73 degrees Fahrenheit. The PSI rating on PVC pipe is the PSI the pipe could withstand at 73 degrees, and this is stamped along each length of pipe. As the temperature goes above 73 degrees the PSI the pipe withstands is 'de-factored' or reduced by a percentage per number of degrees raised. According to one of the charts I had read (from Harvel plastic company who posts their tech spec online) a pipe that could withstand 350 PSI at 73 degrees can only withstand 105 PSI at 130 degrees, and less and less as temp goes up. Hot water heaters are high PSI appliances. The 'pressure relief valve' on a hot water heater sets off between 120 and 150 PSI, depending on manufacturer. Do the math - a 350 PSI plastic PVC pipe can withstand less PSI at 130 degrees than the hot water heater's backup relief valve puts out under normal operating conditions. And over time, even a 600 PSI plastic PVC pipe will leach enough plasticizer to become brittle and break from internal pressure alone.
A broken hot water heater pipe can damage the whole house, or even cause explosive effects. It depends on so many factors. And that is hard to explain to customers who are more worried about just getting something done NOW and how much it will cost them to have hot water tonight. etc etc... Some of them don't even care they will have the same problem again within a few years.
The answer? They've had it for years now. CPVC pipe. It does not begin to leach plasticizer until 180 degrees, which water heaters are never supposed to attain much less maintain for a long period of time. It will not 'de-factor' it's PSI below 180 degrees.
I still have to tangle with customers daily who do not understand this and it is difficult to explain to them in a store environment. I had a lady last night whose father was dying of cancer and 'Daddy always used PVC on the hot water heater.' Uh huh. There are studies out there showing the leached material, over long term exposure, can cause increased chance of cancer, as well. Like all 'carcinogen' materials, that is hard to prove definitively. I did not try to inform the customer of this issue, as she was already upset and unreasonable.
One of my coworkers said it nicely to me this morning. 'You can't feel bad about it.. you can't warranty stupidity.' I know. But sometimes you just want to protect them from themselves and you know that you can't. And it gets frustrating.
The vinyl chloride originally keeps the pipes soft and bendable, but also reacts with heat. This is how the pipe material is made, heated up and then formed in tubing machines.
The best PVC cutter I have - right here!
ratcheting - replaceable blade, great reviews!
It is a double-edged sword, as a pipe that holds up initially (does not soften too much) can still over time leach the plasticizer (vinyl chloride) into the water as it passes through the pipe at temps over 73 degrees. Once the plasticizer (the material softener) is gone from the pipe, it can become brittle and break when shocked, moved or even from increased PSI in the pipeline during a time of kick/on kick/off at the water heater.
Normal cold water temperature is 73 degrees Fahrenheit. The PSI rating on PVC pipe is the PSI the pipe could withstand at 73 degrees, and this is stamped along each length of pipe. As the temperature goes above 73 degrees the PSI the pipe withstands is 'de-factored' or reduced by a percentage per number of degrees raised. According to one of the charts I had read (from Harvel plastic company who posts their tech spec online) a pipe that could withstand 350 PSI at 73 degrees can only withstand 105 PSI at 130 degrees, and less and less as temp goes up. Hot water heaters are high PSI appliances. The 'pressure relief valve' on a hot water heater sets off between 120 and 150 PSI, depending on manufacturer. Do the math - a 350 PSI plastic PVC pipe can withstand less PSI at 130 degrees than the hot water heater's backup relief valve puts out under normal operating conditions. And over time, even a 600 PSI plastic PVC pipe will leach enough plasticizer to become brittle and break from internal pressure alone.
A broken hot water heater pipe can damage the whole house, or even cause explosive effects. It depends on so many factors. And that is hard to explain to customers who are more worried about just getting something done NOW and how much it will cost them to have hot water tonight. etc etc... Some of them don't even care they will have the same problem again within a few years.
The answer? They've had it for years now. CPVC pipe. It does not begin to leach plasticizer until 180 degrees, which water heaters are never supposed to attain much less maintain for a long period of time. It will not 'de-factor' it's PSI below 180 degrees.
I still have to tangle with customers daily who do not understand this and it is difficult to explain to them in a store environment. I had a lady last night whose father was dying of cancer and 'Daddy always used PVC on the hot water heater.' Uh huh. There are studies out there showing the leached material, over long term exposure, can cause increased chance of cancer, as well. Like all 'carcinogen' materials, that is hard to prove definitively. I did not try to inform the customer of this issue, as she was already upset and unreasonable.
One of my coworkers said it nicely to me this morning. 'You can't feel bad about it.. you can't warranty stupidity.' I know. But sometimes you just want to protect them from themselves and you know that you can't. And it gets frustrating.
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