Leave a CommentShare: |
Subscribe
Today, the plumber guys came back. They replaced the damaged bladder tank, tucked it into an insulation wrap, and put pipe insulation on all the old-style pipes that remain under the house. The only pipes that were replaced with new, expandable pipe were the kitchen pipes. The kitchen pipes were in the wall (but not anymore!), and also on the coldest side of the house, with a north-east exposure and therefore most prone to freezing. They recommended I replace the other pipes sometime, but pipe insulation should do the trick for now since I don’t want to replace ALL THE REST OF THE PLUMBING IN THE HOUSE.
The existing tank in the barn was pretty small.
As you can see, it was protected by nothing more than some torn-apart styrofoam. The new one has the insulation wrap (plus the heat tape is plugged in!) and is also larger, though that’s hard to see under the insulation wrap.
The larger tank should increase water pressure to the house.
So, they got all done, I had water, and they left.
And as soon as they left, the water stopped.
You know, you get used to living without running water. At first, it’s a panic. Then the panic subsides and you realize you’re still alive, and if this situation goes on for several days, you settle into a new routine. A new routine in which running water is not expected. Running water is something other people have, and of which you can only dream, if you had time between scooping buckets of water out of the creek. You kind of give up on running water.
And then, oh THEN, you have it again!
AND THEN YOU DON’T.
Which suddenly makes it all seem so much worse. If I’d had no water all day, I’d have been fine. But to have it for half an hour and then NOT have it anymore? I was ready to stretch out on the grass and let the chickens peck me to death, it was THAT BAD.
Then I called the plumbers. They guessed the problem and came back with a new pressure switch for the tank, and I told the chickens to GET OFF ME, ALREADY and I did the dishes! And some laundry! And took a shower! And brought Morgan home!
Oh, happy day!
P.S. THANK YOU for your commiseration and your help!!
Posted by Suzanne McMinn on January 10, 2012
6:42
pm
6:48
pm
Tina
7:00
pm
7:07
pm
7:12
pm
7:16
pm
We need a new bladder (sometime soon). But fortunately, our plumber lives around the corner …
Hopefully, we won’t need one SOON!
Ain’t a bath wonderful? HOT water? [Blessed be the inventor of the hot water heater, I mean REALLY!]
Judi
7:33
pm
7:35
pm
7:39
pm
You’re lucky the plumbers got this done so quickly.
7:54
pm
7:56
pm
What a relief for you. I figured that a shower was going to be on your first order of business.
My grandpa used to say, “water, water everywhere but nary a drop to drink”; I think that pretty aptly described your predicament.
8:09
pm
8:17
pm
NOTHING else bad will happen now…I hope!
So glad you were able to bring Morgan home, I bet you felt a bit lonely without her.
8:40
pm
9:16
pm
9:19
pm
10:17
pm
Hopefully everything is smooth with the plumbing from here.
10:42
pm
Happy dance for a happy day! Glad you have water once more!
11:08
pm
12:18
am
Anyway, hope this is the last of your winter problems, and you can enjoy your new farm!
12:25
am
1:43
am
5:15
am
In the pasture tours you were talking about the pastures having creeks for watering the animals. I don’t know about the area where you live, but where I grew up it was very important to know what was both down stream and up stream of any natural water source animals had access to, and field runoff from fertilizers, sprays etc. Like the county agent would be coming out and having an official talk with you important. Just a word of warning, you’re quite intelligent and I’m sure will figure it out.
Also, I second the recommendation that you have a weapon in the house, and I recommend one in buildings where you spend a lot of time too. Shotguns and a small caliber rifle would be my weapon of choice but especially a shotgun, they don’t take a lot of aiming to damage a target and they’re fairly simple to use and maintain. Plus, there is no more universal way of saying “go away” than the sound of a shotgun racking a shell into the chamber. Besides being useful for scaring off those who are up to no good, they’re really a must if you have an animal emergency on the farm. After having dealt with a severely injured and not well trained beef heifer during an ice storm, watching her suffer, we put a shotgun and a .22 in the barn office. Both of them proved quite useful in chasing off predators too. I’ve heard that you can open up a shotgun shell and take out the metal bits, then load it up with plain old rock salt. It’ll give their behinds a good sting if they’re within about 30 feet of you.
5:33
am
6:31
am
6:53
am
7:05
am
7:34
am
10:02
am
10:31
am
10:44
am
3:09
pm