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#166839 - 02/10/09 04:44 PM Re: My SHTF yesterday afternoon!! [Re: Susan]
Mike_in_NKY Offline
Member

Registered: 05/22/07
Posts: 121
Loc: KY
Even better when you can learn from someone else's experience! Thanks Todd!

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#166842 - 02/10/09 06:17 PM Re: My SHTF yesterday afternoon!! [Re: Susan]
Eugene Offline
Carpal Tunnel

Registered: 12/26/02
Posts: 2997
I'be gotten to where I replace extra stuff so I end up having new water lines or electrical wires in parallel with the old while I install all the new stuff so there is very little downtime when I cut over the new. You ca tell I work in It and support servers too much when i start thinking about downtime and making sure my kitchen is fed by dual redundant paths.

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#166857 - 02/11/09 01:48 AM Re: My SHTF yesterday afternoon!! [Re: Eugene]
Todd W Offline
Product Tester
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/14/04
Posts: 1928
Loc: Mountains of CA
Glad ya`ll like the lesson smile L O L.

I`m back up here today brought with me my ATV and 15g of water from the 'city water' to keep on hand now.

We have a winter storm warning in affect for 24 hours 10 to 20 inches of new snow, and then continue until Monday. I thought we would NEVER Make it back in here again unless I came up and keep the private drive open. Luckily I have internet and can work from here too!

Food, water, brought up 5g more gas, 7200watt generator, I`m ready to stay until Monday if need be!

I was thinking at this point even if power goes out I only use it to have light and I have other lights for that so I won't need the generator. This weekend I`ll make a cord and test the genny out for my well and see if I can get water with it, that's the goal and to run the refrig when needed.

Wood stove is warming up, almost 30 outside (65 in), and starting to snow. Supposed to come in hard between 7 and 10pm (almost 7 now).

I`ll keep everyone updated smile

_________________________
Self Sufficient Home - Our journey to self sufficiency.

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#167404 - 02/20/09 01:53 AM Re: My SHTF yesterday afternoon!! [Re: Todd W]
Todd W Offline
Product Tester
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/14/04
Posts: 1928
Loc: Mountains of CA
So, left Sunday night back Wed evening.

Drip by drip it was still on, running down the copper, into the floor / ceiling and saturating my insulation. Luckily I turn off the power when I leave and it was only existing water in pressure tank! Tomorrow I`m doing another test for leaks though!!!

I now have a 3'x7' hole on my downstairs ceiling from rippping out wet insulation.

It dripped so slow it ran 6' or so SOAKED the insulation drywall not really ruined...

Great... more $$.

I put on the new valves today and no more leaks...

This ended up costing like $500 or so (or will) in labor to repair it all frown
_________________________
Self Sufficient Home - Our journey to self sufficiency.

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#167428 - 02/20/09 03:14 PM Re: My SHTF yesterday afternoon!! [Re: Todd W]
Stu Offline
I am not a P.P.o.W.
Old Hand

Registered: 05/16/05
Posts: 1058
Loc: Finger Lakes of NY State
When you kill the power, open a low level faucet the relieve the water pressure and drain the lines.
_________________________
Our most important survival tool is our brain, and for many, that tool is way underused! SBRaider
Head Cat Herder

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#167435 - 02/20/09 04:06 PM Re: My SHTF yesterday afternoon!! [Re: Stu]
Todd W Offline
Product Tester
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/14/04
Posts: 1928
Loc: Mountains of CA
Originally Posted By: SBRaider
When you kill the power, open a low level faucet the relieve the water pressure and drain the lines.


I used to do this before all plumbing was fixed.
Now I just kill the power and leave the tank primed so I don't have to re-prime the well when I get here again... apparently I was wrong about the all being fixed... drip drip drip killed me!

Going go to check EVERYTHING again this morning to look for any leaks, and then kill power to well tonight and check for any drop in pressure tomorrow to be double sure.

I found a link under my kitchen sink (new) the white pipe that goes to the drain under the sink leaks around the white pipe that's tightened to the drain.... no gasket leak, no leak from stuff that I had to put together just this darn thing that I have NO idea why it's leaking.. tightened down with a wrench too.
_________________________
Self Sufficient Home - Our journey to self sufficiency.

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#167445 - 02/20/09 07:41 PM Re: My SHTF yesterday afternoon!! [Re: Todd W]
Dan_McI Offline
Old Hand

Registered: 12/10/07
Posts: 844
Loc: NYC
Can you add a valve to the tank to keep something in it to keep it primed, while you cut the water to the rest of the house? Maybe you could put a heating coil in it to keep it from freezing?

Before we gutted our house (due to be finished in three weeks), I showed up one weekend and discovered I had a wading pool in the basement, due of course to a frozen and burst pipe. It burst in a room that we thought was heated. Anyway, instead of replacing the pipe, because it was just going to get ripped out for the renovation, we simply put two valves on the ends of the pipes. When I'd leave each time, I would cut all the water to the house, then drain everything through those two valves. Now, we have a spigot at a fairly low point, and better heating in the basement, so I'm much less worried.

Can you cement the joint at which there is a leak?

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#167446 - 02/20/09 07:55 PM Re: My SHTF yesterday afternoon!! [Re: Dan_McI]
Todd W Offline
Product Tester
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/14/04
Posts: 1928
Loc: Mountains of CA
There is a valve at my house to turn water off for the entire house. I haven't tested it but if it's like any of the other ones it probably would drip drip too!!!

If I had thought any leak was possible I would have turned off the water and emptied but I was wrong : (

New valve in place, checked last night, and this AM so far so good smile

Pressure drop test tonight.

_________________________
Self Sufficient Home - Our journey to self sufficiency.

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#167635 - 02/23/09 08:12 AM Re: My SHTF yesterday afternoon!! [Re: Todd W]
Todd W Offline
Product Tester
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 11/14/04
Posts: 1928
Loc: Mountains of CA
So, I discovered a drip every ~2-5minute in the SAME spot as my last problem. The sewer line joint that goes up into the bathroom is not sealed 100% !! I would have NEVER found this (well until my ceiling saturated and collapsed) had I not cleared out the drywall from my other leak.

Also, what's interesting is that it's coming from the sewer pipe but there is NOTHING on the 2nd story that drains into it yet. No shower, no toilet, no sink. So, the only thing I can think of is that since it's been RAINING TONS the few drips that get in the vent pipe (which is also above the sink on the 2nd story out the roof) are dripping down the pipe and out this joint that's not sealed.

Talk about bad luck, good luck and timing!

Had my other water leak from the sink not caused a seriously wet ceiling / insulation problem I would have never torn it out. Had I never done that I would have never opened up the ceiling where the sewage pipe was. Had it not rained all night last night I would not have known there was a problem with that sewer pipe. Had my wood floors been new / sealed properly I wouldn't have noticed the SMALL (50cent piece?) STAIN on the floor. A tiny puddle on a gloss/finished wood in a very cluttered under construction house would have been near impossible. In fact I think the puddle would have been there Thursday, Friday or Saturday had there not been a chair there with a towel on it I was drying in front of the fireplace (where this was).

So, I got SUPER lucky I even found this slight sewer leak!!

I also fixed the leak under my kitchen sink, all 3 of them. 1 of them my own fault for not glueing a piece in the p-trap!! REplaced a hose for another, and tightened the CRAP out of another hose.

Also found a puddle in the basement under my new shower... shower head pipe in the wall did not have thread sealant. Luckily we were only 2 showers into this and the floor under the shower will hopefully dry soon.

Water has been an issue!!!!! First our roof problems and now this.

OH, and to top off my ceiling damage leak... my backyard spigot that I turned off and turned off in the basement (secondary valve for cold weather) was not turned off, in fact it was leaking a STEADY STREAM of water (This was under 6ft of snow so I was not able to check.. I turned it off tight from under the deck and in the basement and never checked the flow as it was outside and it had turned off for me in the past just fine.) The snow was SO DEEEP because well we got 3ft in under 5 days and each time I shoveled it off the deck it went where this was as this was along the side of my deck.

SO, in the end if this hadn't leaked SO MUCH my ceiling would have probably been about 5x worse and I probably would have had to replace 10'+ of ceiling drywall insulation.

So, while so many problems were discovered in the last week they were kind of all for good reason in the end.

My outside spigot has a new valve on it.
Once I get some free time I`ll replace the valve in the basement. (Multiple ones I need to do actually the others are capped).

The well is off.
Current pressure 30psi.
No water leaks for last couple days.
I hope it's like that when I check again smile

_________________________
Self Sufficient Home - Our journey to self sufficiency.

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#167637 - 02/23/09 10:58 AM Re: My SHTF yesterday afternoon!! [Re: Todd W]
scafool Offline
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 12/18/08
Posts: 1534
Loc: Muskoka
You are not letting water freeze in the pipes are you Todd?
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May set off to explore without any sense of direction or how to return.

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