Well, what a day. First started last night, attempting to sleep.... hour here, hour there....
then, at one point during the attempts, I heard a strange sound. Unfortunately, I convinced myself that it was a room to room fan that was running....I rolled over and finally fell asleep. This was sometime between 1 am and 3 am.
Then at 5:30 am, wifey went to the bathroom.... I was told that we have no water... :shocked: not even a trickle. I was now awake... and recognized that the sound I had been hearing was gushing water...:confused2: I heard it coming from the direction of the bedroom window.... looking out, I saw a babbling brook that should not be there....
we live in the high desert!
So, getting dressed on the run towards the front door (I still do not know what I put on), got out to the main water shutoff and stopped the flow. I could tell where the leak was from the tell tale giant washout / pothole. I knew what I would be doing for the day, and it was something I was not going to enjoy!
Got the tractor fired up, had to switch out the PHD for the BH, and off to digging in muck I go! Found the pipe 4ft down where it should be. I was happy that I put a band of bright orange vinyl tape about six inches above the pipe I originally put it in, but getting that next scoop with the BH, snagged the pipe! That little voice was telling me stop! But I did not listen.
Break out the shovels and time to get dirty! And dirty did I get! My son came over and took over the job for me. He had it all cleared out. Broken elbow and pipe.... 1 1/2 inch main. I cannot wait to see the water bill!
Went to the shop, dug out my plumbing supply box. Nope .... everything but 1 1/2 fittings. The piece of pipe I had was about 6 inches too short for the repair. Oh well, wait for the hardware store to open at 9....
Had to wait in line, about 5 people before me, but only about a 10 minute wait. Got everything needed and went back to the muck. My son said he would get in the trench and do the fit up. He never did real plumbing before, so a good learning experience. I showed him how to measure the pipe / fittings, do a dry fit up, then glue. Successful job! We used the fast set wet glue, but still were going to wait 4 hours for it to dry.
I was reminded by wifey that I promised my other son that we would go get the trim needed for his garage (yes, he is trimming out his man cave with stained 1x4 ponderosa pine). So, while waiting for the pipe glue to dry, went to the lumber yard. What a bunch of crappy wood they had... went through about 80 boards to get 32 good ones. Then went to get 264ft of other millwork, that we paid for, that they only had about 60 . Had to go through their whole millwork rack to find a different trim that they had enough of. Of course it cost more, which we had to go and pay before we could load it!
2 hours later, that fiasco was over, just as they were closing up for the day.
At least the glue was dry (After now 6 hours) by the time we came home. Pressurized the system, no leaks! :thumbsup:
Definitely going to leave the trench open overnight, just in case. Needless to say, I did not work on any of my projects already in progress. Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully it will not be as exciting!
