It's dripping again.

August 17, 2006 (5:11pm)
68º F, Wet clouds, SSW wind 4 mph.

Good afternoon,

Wahoo!! We have a non-leaking water supply again! Finally got everything put together and it appears (crossing fingers, eyes, and toes) nothing is leaking. I have been some skeptical about the project being completed correctly. It has been a rather long time since I have sweated copper waterlines together. I purposely waited until this morning to start the last stage of things, so I could get something from the store if I needed it - I did!

Got out the Bernz torch last night to get ready. I discovered the tank was empty, so got another from my supply (thanx to my Dad and I think there is still 3-4 more left, dated 1970!) and put it on this morning. When it came time to light the torch, it wouldn’t work right. Ugh! Into Algoma to get a new one from the hardware store there. I really was some surprised at the cost, about half of what I expected to pay. That is a good thing.
Actually the opening of the old waterline went a lot easier than I thought it would. One end needed to remove the flare fitting on the end of the copper line and then remove a half dozen of the various pieces of pipe fittings attached to it. All opened and came off reasonably easily. The only real problem was trying to get adequate leverage to get the wrenches to swing. Could not use my really big wrenches, so had to apply more pressure in very awkward positions. I already can feel my shoulders and expect they will really be talking to me in the morning. Of course I did get something of a shower in the process too.

The other end needed to be cut and a fitting sweated on. That was the part that worried me. It did go rather well, even though it was not fun to do in such a confined space. The connection was made in a trench I had dug to get at the point of connection. I had to sweat a reducer onto the line and it really went well - on the first try!
Once both ends were open and prepared, all I needed to do was put the pex in-between. I pulled the old line out and in the process, broke off a drop I put on a cold water plastic line, to add future lines. Fortunately I had a supply of plastic fittings and was able to repair that too. When the line came out of the house, I found that apparently it has broken once before and repaired with a rubber sleeve and a couple of hose clamps. I think that is the place it was leaking, but have not had a chance to really look over the line.

Now that the water supply is connected again, I will wait a few days, just to make sure there really are not leaks in it. If there are none, I will then insulate it, probably with a few inches of ridged blue board. I also will leave the crawl space open for a while to dry out the crawl space and the soil under it. My dislike of playing in clay mud has been reinforced and want to prevent that from happening again - anytime soon.

I did find that the pex piping system is very easy to use. Easier than I thought it would be. I will slowly lay in a supply of pipe and fittings. As I find the need to repair/replace things, I will replace them with the pex. I really like how clean the system is, compared to all the fittings and joints in either copper, iron, or PVC. It sure cuts down on the possibility of making a mistake or having a leak. It is also easier to isolate a problem within the system too.

Watching the news and the various episodes of planes, &c., being diverted or evacuated, I found the BBC website ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/ ) is usually the first to report on it. That really surprised me, since I normally hear that FOX or CNN is always first on news stories. Guess not. The BBC usually has more detail too, and more accurate. We monitor the BBC website for European news (wonder why) most of the time, just to keep up.

The beautiful days came to and end when the rain, light, came this afternoon instead of Friday night. Guess it will be back for Friday too. I was just finishing up, when it started to rain lightly. So far only enough to settle the dust and get me a bit wet. We really need the rain and it is a nice slow rain shower passing through every once in a while.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><