Misadventures in plumbing, or the joys of home ownership.

[actaeon277]

Relax. After you get experience, it gets easier.

 

[amboy49]

I have two questions. First, who is still using ice cube trays in the 21st century ?
Second - Zagnut candy bar ? Really ?

 

[CampingJosh]

Vive le PEX!

+1. I'll never use PVC/CPVC for pressure pipes again.

And as far as cutting 1/2" PVC with a hacksaw...
View attachment 38256

 

[CathyInBlue]

First, who is still using ice cube trays in the 21st century?

Me.

View attachment 38256

I have one of those. Makes light work of finge— uh, short lengths of pipe.

 

[bluewraith]

I have two questions. First, who is still using ice cube trays in the 21st century ?
Second - Zagnut candy bar ? Really ?

Second vote here. I live alone and don't use ice fast enough to warrant having more than a tray done at any given time. 2 cubes to cool down the first mug of coffee a bit in the mornings, that's it.
If I had an ice maker, the cubes at the bottom would evaporate away and smell funny.

 

[tmschuller]

Me.

I have one of those. Makes light work of finge— uh, short lengths of pipe.

+1 awesome tool that is a must have with pex. He left out stopping to get drink after all that.... Sorry buddy it gets better after awhile. Drinking not plumbing.

 

[miguel]

This happened last week and I can laugh about it now, but last week I was not in a laughing mood...

Your post sums up almost every day of my life.

 

[CindyE]

If that happened at our house and my husband was working on it, I would not want to be around!

 

[Miller Tyme]

This happened last week and I can laugh about it now, but last week I was not in a laughing mood.
Anyway, middle of last week The Boss tells me the toilet is running. I get home and check it out, the valve that refills the tank would close but the part that refills the bowl wouldn't. Not bad, losing maybe 5-10 gallons of water a day. I fiddle around with it and it won't shut off. O.k. I'll pick up a new valve the next day after work.
So Friday after work I stop at the local critter feed, work clothing, and home improvement emporium and pick up a valve. Get home and The Boss has a couple other things for me to do. Get them done and its getting a little late and I'm tired. The Boss suggests I hold off on the toilet until the next day and get a good night's sleep. I didn't argue and went to bed. Now, I had plans to go to Clarksville on Saturday so I thought I'd get up a little early and replace the valve. After all, how long does it take?
Get up and have breakfast and get my stuff together to replace the valve. Go to shut off the supply valve and instantly there is a spray of water coming out the supply valve's stem. Crap. Shut off the pump at the breaker and open as many faucets as I can to bleed off pressure. Open the supply valve back up and the stream gets worse. GAAAHHHH!!!!
Well damn, now I need to replace the supply line valve also. I can't take off now, and leave the water shutoff, but if I get to town, pronto, I can replace both valves and still get to Clarksville by noon. So after throwing a couple old towels on the small pond in the bathroom floor, I pull out my hacksaw and cut the line below the valve then jump in the car and head to town to the above mentioned home improvement emporium. Get there just as they open the doors, find what I need and beat feet back home. The supply valve I picked up was for the correct size water line, but was about 1.5" shorter in length.
So I get home, dig out my PVC cement and proceded to install the supply valve. Go to hook up the line from the valve to the toilet tank and its too gosh dern short, by over an inch! GRRRRRRRRR But at least I have an assortment of PVC fittings and plenty of pipe to lengthen the line. Off to the garage, and find my fittings. FK ME, all I have are 3/4" inch fittings, and I need 1/2"!!!! Well, I don't think I'm going to make it to Clarksville. Off to town again. Oh, and its not like I live on the outskirts of town, from the bottom of the drive to the city limits of Tell City is a good 20 minutes, then another 10 to the mentioned above emporium, the closest place that has the needed supplies. Walk in the door and am greeted with a cheery "forget something?" Yeah, biatch, I forgot something I thought to myself. Needless to say, I was already more than a little aggravated, and that was the last thing I wanted to hear. Pick up the fittings I need a length of 1/2" pipe and head home.
Alright, let's get this done, at least I can get in some shooting this afternoon. Only need a piece of pipe about 1" long so I cut it a little long and test fit everything, then cut a small length off for a perfect fit. Ever try to cut a short piece of PVC with a hacksaw while holding it? Real fun. Hacksaw grabbed the pipe, the stupid thing rolled and pulled the back of my thumb right into the blade. OUCH!!!!
I'm sitting in the floor against the vanity with a wash cloth around my thumb trying to get the bleeding stopped, there's about a half dozen soggy towels next to the tub and assorted tools, plumbing parts and other miscellaneous items laying around. About this time The Boss gets out of bed and comes in the bathroom. "Can you keep it down in here? I'm trying to sleep! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO IN HERE?!?! IS THAT ONE OF MY GOOD WASHCLOTHS????" Yes, yes it was. Was. Not no more. A white one.
Once I got the bleeding stopped I was able to get everything glued, screwed, and otherwise hooked back up without further incident. Since the glue needed to set a while before turning on the water I thought a bite of lunch was called for. Had a bacon, bacon, and bacon sandwich. Not really, it was salami, but since this is I had to mention bacon somewhere in here. There is a reason I mention lunch. In keeping with the theme of how my day has gone so far, I had nothing cold to drink in the frig. No Pepsi, no Dew, no tea, no koolaid, nothing. Plenty of The Boss's diet dews, but none of mine. No ice in the freezer either, as SOMEBODY had neglected to refill the ice trays the previous morning before leaving for work.
After lunch and farting around on the net for a few minutes it was time to test our handiwork. Flip the breaker expecting to hear water come rushing though the lines and hear...nothing. Now what. Hmmm, maybe I need to go to the pressure switch and mess with the handle. Nope, no good. Now what. I know, let's see if there is juice! Pull out the electrical testing apparatus and guess what? No juice! Oh boy! I get to go get a new breaker now!!!! hehehaha Somebody just shoot me, please.
Get to the emporium mentioned several times above, and browse their electrical section looking for a 20 amp 2 pole breaker. Ask about it, and they don't have any. Great. No electrician places open, so I head across town to a chain hardware store. They don't have any either. Tell City is small town, about 8000 population. There are no Home Depots, Lowe's, Menard's or any place else like that in town, or closer than 40 miles.
So, after a quick phone consultation with The Boss, I head towards Owensboro KY. Get to Menard's and find my breaker. Figure while I'm at it might as well get a spare, along with a couple other sizes I might need. I don't know how you all are, but there is no way I can go in a place like that without doing some browsing, anymore than most people here can walk into a gunshop and buy a single box of .22 ammo with out checking the rest of the inventory. After wandering around for about 30 minutes my phone rings, it was The Boss. She wanted to know if I was on the way back. Uhhhh no. Not yet. Waiting to check out, yeah, that's the ticket. Get checked out and head towards the house. I tend to drive a little on the fast side, and this afternoon I was driving a little faster than normal. The stretch of U.S. 60 from Lewisport to Hawesville KY is 4 lane, and I don't think I've ever seen a cop shooting radar along it. Until last Saturday. At least he was decent about it.
Get home and while I'm watering the tree, I ask The Boss to get the bag that has the breaker in it out of the car. Not only did she get the bag, but also the ticket that now entitles me to drive 69 in a 55 zone. That is how it works, right?Yeah, The Boss didn't buy it either.
Back to our plumbing/electrical issues. Get the new breaker in, and hooked up and now we're ready. Flip the breaker, yep, we got juice. Alright!!! Turn on the pressure switch, and...














nothing.
Check the juice at the pressure switch, good. Look at the contacts, oh happy happy joy joy they are fried. I believe I invented a few words. One of those words may need further investigating, as I would swear I saw a buzzard blush. I am now ready to put a torch to this place and move into an apartment in town.
So guess where I went next? If you said the local critter feed, work clothing, and home improvement emporium, give yourself a seegar! Walk in the door less than 5 minutes to closing, grab a pressure switch,a nipple (a type of pipe fitting you perverts, although there was a girl working, well let's, nevermind) and a Zagnut candy bar for The Boss. Home again.
Take off the old pressure switch, replace the nipple, screw on the new pressure switch, hook up the wires. Thinking, what else is there that can be replaced. Pump, wires, on and on. Flip breaker, and what do I hear. We got water!!! Check everything on the toilet, no leaks. Check the pressure switch, no leaks and it cuts the pump on when it should and cuts it off when it should!!!
So let's see. What should have taken 15 minutes and cost $15 ended up costing...
over $300 (including bandaids) and took oh, I don't know, about 15 hours counting windshield time and not including lunch.
But hey, according to The Boss I have the satisfaction of having done it myself. Really? REALLY???

And that John is why plumbers make the Big Bucks.

 

[Tactically Fat]

We had more than a few expensive things needed fixing/replaced within the first few years of moving into our house.

Every time someone said "The joys of home ownership" I wanted to punch them in the throat.

 

[actaeon277]

We had more than a few expensive things needed fixing/replaced within the first few years of moving into our house.

Every time someone said "The joys of home ownership" I wanted to punch them in the throat.

And yet still better than when I lived in an apartment.

 

[Tactically Fat]

And yet still better than when I lived in an apartment.

I let my neighbors pay my heat in the winter...

And the landlord mow the grass and maintain the place. Apartment living was nice!

OF course I traveled 100-105 nights a year... My apartment was a real expensive storage unit.

 

[MAJB Retired]

All the stuff

If a job is worth doing, it's worth at least three trips to the hardware store.

The more trips the more satisfying the job...three is usually on the low side. After years of home ownership and doing almost all my own repairs, I have a complete supply of every tool, electrical part, and plumbing piece that I'll ever need...except the one for the current job