Plink... plink....

I am shattered. I'm having a quick beer and heading to bed. This project turned from "oh, a couple of days" to a Cecile B. DeMille epic. Complete with chariot races and a man acting strangely around a shower curtain... (Oh, wait, that was Hitchcock, wasn't it? :-) ) And I wasn't being strange. I was flush... TMI, perhaps?

When I started this project I figured that no water wouldn't be a show-stopper. After all, I lived through the recent Big Blackout (4 days without water); I've camped in remote spots where the nearest water can be a long way away - at least a zillion miles, perhaps more. (Okay, okay! It was down the hill... :-)  Sometimes.) "Shouldn't be a problem" I told the Mrs. She looked skeptical. As she does with that type of reassurance. :-)

To be perfectly frank: I stink. And I'm flattened.

I had a wash-down, which was undoubtedly helpful. And tomorrow should see the completion of this project. I reckoned half a day to take out the old pipes - instead it took most of today. There were oddities all over the place! I was chatting with a plumber and mentioned that, on a 45 foot long house, I shouldn't take out more than about 60' foot of copper pipe. I've taken out, best guess, near on a hundred feet. And twenty foot of that - the "first" twenty, I'll add - was full of sediment and - get this - debris! How the hell do you get debris in a 3/4" pipe?!? That's been in there for for a bit over 20 years! I wish I could explain it, but I've got nuthin' for that one. I dismantled the toilet connection - that turned from a 15 minute job into a 2 hour saga. (The best of it is - I can't figure out why. Except that the various connections - all one of them (under the toilet cistern) - wouldn't come loose.)

So now the pressure tank has been moved (7 times if I've got the count right), the filter system too  (three times) - and I've got a new sediment filter to install as well - and I've got PEX and CPVC piping all over the place. I'm not renewing the bathroom plumbing - not until I redo that space, anyway (it needs a vent, too. Who the hell passed the permits on this place? The original "plumber"?) And upstairs can wait as well. I don't think that'll ever get changed, to be honest. The pipes look to be in good condition and I'm scared they'll take a convoluted path (Why not? So far I've removed 3 pipes that should have been straight lines to their destinations).  Best leave them where they are.

I've got 100' of 1/2" PEX - it's a new plastic pipe that is awesome! - and that'll do to replace the old 3/4" copper pipes. The flow through a PEX pipe is so good it can replace the next size up, at least!

So I have one more trip to my Mecca (not really)... Some folk get excited because of a shopping trip to Victoria's Secret. Me? I head to Home Depot. Because I usually need plumbing fixtures more than I need lingerie. (C'est la vie, etc :-D ) And then I'll get down and dirty clean with the tank-to-filter connection. Not to mention the pump-to-tank end of things. And then I'll take a nice loooong soak in a tub of hot water and wonder why there's a "plink" from the basement... And, after ignoring it until Sunday, I'll slip into something more comfortable. :-)

For a post about plumbing, there's way too much information in here. :-D

G'night.

Carolyn Ann