What did you do today?

[Chestnut]

10 hours ago, Coop said:

We give folks a soft drink and a hug to take them.

No that is an excellent deal i'm on my way.

[Beechwood Chip]

On 4/16/2024 at 11:48 AM, Chestnut said:

This is why i like the top of my fridge.

I was taught to mount fire extinguishers next to the door.  You don't want someone to have to choose between going for the fire extinguisher or going for the exit.  Go to the exit, and then, if you think it's safe, fight the fire with your back to the exit.

But some people have pointed out that you can get trapped in a room with a fire between you and the exit.  Putting the extinguisher opposite the exit means if you are trapped you can use the extinguisher to put out the fire, or at least clear a path to the exit.

I realize that I'm over-thinking this, but what fun is having a brain if you can't over-use it?

Any thoughts or personal experience?  (On fire extinguisher placement, not the brain thing)

[legenddc]

The new extinguisher came in today. For now I'm going to leave it on the floor of my office which is right outside of the galley kitchen. My office is next to our front door. There are also two sliding glass doors at the back of the house for quick exits if needed.

[Botch]

Tried a new cook method for "Smash-grilled-Cheese" today, using brioche buns instead of bread, then flattening it with a brick.  Brioche is sweet with sugars in it, which browned nicely in the pan.  A slice of pepperjack, a slice of cheddar, two of Black Forest ham, plus pickles & mustard for a "sorta" Cuban:

Homemade tomato soup and a Grillo's pickle made for a good lunch on a rainy day.  

Edited April 18 by Botch
cleanup/format

[Chestnut]

4 hours ago, Beechwood Chip said:

I realize that I'm over-thinking this, but what fun is having a brain if you can't over-use it?

I have to over use mine for my career so it becomes a bad habit outside of work sometimes.

4 hours ago, Beechwood Chip said:

I was taught to mount fire extinguishers next to the door.  Y

Conveniently my fridge is on the way to the door from most places in my house. Otherwise your going out a window. Is really nice when i want to grab a drink on my way out of the housetoo.

[wtnhighlander]

No experience with an over-used brain. Why not just buy 2 extinguishers? 

[Coop]

@Botch, I’m gonna try that sandwich recipe! I’m not much on tomato soup but yours looks darn good. If it’s not a secret recipe, can you pm it to me please? 

[wtnhighlander]

@Coop, you could preheat a small cast iron pan while prepping the ingredients, then use it in place of the brick to cook in half the time! 

[gee-dub]

Our youngest Grandson has been staying with us for a bit.  We put off doing the fire pit and marshmallows last night due to an uncontrollable urge for sweet and sour chicken from the local joint which is a favorite for us all. So, tonight it is time to burn some scraps . . .

In the words of my four year old grandson . . . "Bring it on, leprechaun".  A good time and s'mores were had by all.

[legenddc]

Forgot something outside last night and when I went to go get it I noticed our walkway lights weren't on. I guess when they did the insulation in our outdoor storage closet ceiling they messed up the wiring. Really hoping they just hooked it up wrong in the electrical box for the light. Another thing added to the list.

@Coop I'm not a fan of tomato soup. Our friend had us over for dinner and made this and I liked it so much I had seconds.

[Botch]

On 4/17/2024 at 7:39 PM, Coop said:

@Botch, I’m gonna try that sandwich recipe! I’m not much on tomato soup but yours looks darn good. If it’s not a secret recipe, can you pm it to me please? 

Here you go:

https://youtu.be/WpXPyPyTA90?si=5D45VN5EXYs_wjSB

(note, I did use the wrong kinds of cheese, plus added Kewpie, but I usually riff on recipes)

[Chet]

On 4/17/2024 at 6:39 PM, Coop said:

I’m not much on tomato soup

Mister Tomatoes doesn't like tomato soup???

[JohnG]

Bad news from my grading guy. He cleared the trees where I’m wanting to put up a building and when he started to cut into the dirt to grade it, he found an underground spring. Tried going a bit further up the hill and it was also bad. 

He did run a trench for me so I can take power and water up to our garden. I was going to have our well guy run the water and install the hydrant, but now he’s non-responsive. So I’ll just do it now, should be pretty simple. I know @Tom King recommended the Wodford Y, so I’ll pick one up and whatever type of water line is good for direct bury. Throw in a few fittings and a bag of concrete.

[Tom King]

Get a Woodford Y34 for 1 foot bury.  They come in a bunch of lengths for different freeze depths.

It is pretty simple.  You can rent a trencher for half a day, dig the trench and carry the trencher back, then take your time hooking everything up and use your tractor loader to fill it back in.  That's what I do when I need to run a waterline.  ALWAYS dig your trench first, and then measure for pipe or wire.

I never use a plastic female threaded adapter for anything.  I use a brass street elbow at the bottom, and a male threaded PVC adapter into that.

Use 1" PVC schedule 40 pipe and fittings.  The past couple of years I've been able to buy it cheaper from Lowes than from my long time plumbing supplier. 

Get 20 foot lengths with bell ends if you can.  Otherwise you'll need to buy couplings and do double the number of glued joints.

Use disposable gloves for handling the primer and glue.  The primer is much more liquid than water, and you'll get it all over everything including your hands.

If you have an auger for your tractor, I did a hole where the hydrant goes and put a vertical 8" cinder block under the bottom with river rock to fill the rest of the hole up.  The bottom of the hydrant has to drain as quickly as possible to be freezeproof.  I just buy a couple of bags of river rocks from the landscape department in Lowes or Home Depot.

Leave plenty of room around it to swing a couple of long pipe wrenches.  You screw the top off to replace any of the parts.  I've rebuilt them that were over 50 years old and they work like new. Once I had to screw the top off of one right after install because there was something in the new pipe that wouldn't flush out the faucet.  It shot out the open top of the pipe with water though, so easier than having to dig it back up.

I'll find some links:

https://www.amazon.com/Woodford-Y34-1-HC-Freezeless-Hydrant-Finder/dp/B008N3ITK4/ref=sr_1_2?crid=16GWVK1V5QKIW&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.7hPySlqIgyhIbkeK2-GM1S8bX14kNRrRe4rCzK5dCsfEK1xW08MjbupyXwP3EHL9HChq9n0gu_8uyy6wyYED-rAXqKno7P7eIjTXfRA9YqmaSm10CfmnStISQ_sDFfgwF4gxrl8OthPFztf_2hYcv3NOJUY6YOumeIE1NH30jL-TotoJTLggk5Yvs_LpJMkgG4S2zClAW-JMjST2yHcSAO6_zCCNMow7-O1thNH7EOZD82nFi6XNdej-KiMU0vOjKTnrQmc75E7aazuWaH98vmgeMd60zO9puGt5TkUxTyI.lPInvOQ-RCNzaBmofK9vnC94JchXBNitcwqjzLspJxQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=woodford+y34+yard+hydrant&qid=1713912781&sprefix=y34+h%2Caps%2C107&sr=8-2

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQY9K0/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01986ADEY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

This should have everything you need to know about the hydrants.

https://www.woodfordmfg.com/Woodford/Yard_Hydrant_Pages/Model-y34.html

 

The Y has a linkage that pulls the rod through the seal straight up.  The W doesn't pull it straight up.

[JohnG]

Thanks Tom! I was looking at the Y34. Looks like the supply houses around here only carry the 2-5’ bury depths. My grading guy already cut the trenches since he had his equipment out here. At the hydrant end it is about 2’ deep, so I’m thinking I’ll just pick up a Y34-2 and dig a bit by hand if needed. 
I’ll do brass or stainless for the fittings. 
I was originally thinking I would just run 3/4” all the way, but it’s probably better to go ahead and do 1” to the hydrant. 
Is PVC better than the flexible tubing from my the well head to my house? Or Pex? I saw that Pex B can be direct buried and it sure would be nice to just roll out a coil of tubing and not have any joints to do. Not that PVC would take very long.

There is a spigot on top of my well head (there’s a tee straight out of the well cap, one connects to the line heading to my house and the spigot is on the other. I might just tie my line into that (either using the spigot as a shut-off or replacing the spigot with a valve) rather than splicing into the main line heading to the house. We never use the spigot, we have one on the house relatively close to the well head.  Thoughts?

[Tom King]

The 2' bury will work fine.  The freeze depth may be different there than here anyway, especially since no one stocks the one foot bury.  The bury depth is not critical.  They just have different length pipes and it doesn't really matter exactly how much sticks out above ground other than for comfort of use.

I would only use ball valves for cutoffs and not a regular faucet.  

There is some loss in flow from length, so better to go with 1" pipe.  Any fitting smaller than that is a restriction and will slow flow.  The hydrant fittings are 3/4" but that's so close to the end that there is no noticeable restriction.

I put a Y1 at our garden instead of a Y34 and it can flow so much water that our well pump can't keep up.  The Y34 is 3/4".

I think the PEX would be fine.  I have Lots of PVC in the ground here that's 44 years old and has been trouble free.  Black poly is probably okay too, but I just don't like that the fittings go inside the pipe and restrict flow.  Black poly is nowhere near as strong as PVC or Pex. 

PVC will flex a lot, but for sharper turns you just use different fittings.

I have a PVC union at my well head so I can pull the pump if I need to without having to redo piping.  I park the loader over the well head with a pulley on a chain attached to the bucket up in the air over the well and use the truck going backwards so I can see when the pump comes out of the well to pull it.  I have the pump hanging on a stainless steel cable that goes through the block (pulley).  The cable is through that pulley on a chain inside the well cover, ready to go.  I can have the pump out of the well in five minutes including setup.  I get Pam to handle the pipe as it comes out and back in.

[gee-dub]

Received a welcome shipment. 

I used up the last of my last can a couple days ago.

[JohnG]

My yard hydrant installation was pretty smooth through 95% of the job. Unfortunately I’m stuck for the moment. I got the Y34 placed, ~100ft of PVC run, but then I tried to remove the spigot from the tee at my well head so I could attach the PVC ball valve and tie into my line to the field. It’s been installed for ~30 years and does not want to budge. I pulled out my 36” pipe wrench to assist, but I’m a bit worried that I’ll snap it off before it unscrews. I don’t have much room to tie into my house supply line without a lot of careful digging, so I’d rather not tap off of that. 

I’m now thinking that in the short term I’ll use a 6-12” piece of 3/4” garden hose to connect my 1” pvc to the spigot. That way I can at least confirm my PVC joints are solid before I fill in the trench. 

[Tom King]

Garden hose threads are different than anything else.  Often labeled as 3/4 WH.  Ace sells a bunch of different adapters in their brass fittings cabinet.  I keep a washing machine hose for emergency hookups as well as various adapters.  The washing machine hose is the only short one I know of with female WH ends on both ends.

What type of pipe is that faucet screwed onto?  Picture would be good.

edited:   Sometimes GHT for garden hose threads instead of WH for water hose.  I see them both ways.  Here's an example of the kind of thing you'll need to hook a hose to PVC

https://www.amazon.com/Sanpaint-Connector-Garden-Fitting-Adapter/dp/B08FSY4DQT/ref=sr_1_2?

[JohnG]

Seems to be a galvanized fitting.

I’m fairly certain I’ll need about 3 adapters to get the temporary hookup done, but I’ll figure something out. It doesn’t help that almost nobody puts plumbing fittings back in the correct bin.

[Tom King]

What type of pipe in the well, and how far down is the pump?

You could just put a tee in that flex line to the house.  I'd want a stainless union out of that tee, then a couple of ball valves as cutoffs going either direction.

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Bluefin-SLU100-T304-1-Stainless-Steel-Union?

 

[Mark J]

2 hours ago, JohnG said:

doesn’t help that almost nobody puts plumbing fittings back in the correct bin.

Yeah, I agree!  I'm one of the few customers that tries to leave the store with less entropy than when I walked in. 

[Mark J]

2 hours ago, JohnG said:

Seems to be a galvanized fitting

That's gonna take a way lot of Liquid Wrench.

[Tom King]

In the real plumbing supply stores here, the parts bins are behind the counter.  No one goes in them that doesn't work there.  You have to ask for what you want.  Any time I leave the box store aisles, they're ever so slightly better than when I got there.

I'd put a nipple in the side outlet of that tee long enough for the union to be outside the diameter of the well cap so it won't interfere whenever the pump needs to be pulled.  Then do everything new to the different directions.  Put the side of the union with the nut on the house side so it will be easier to clean things up whenever it needs to come apart.

At least that faucet can be rebuilt with a new washer when needed, but I would probably never use it.

[wtnhighlander]

The Nashville Steam Preservation Society held their semi-annual open house today, at the Tennessee Central Railway museum.

We got to see the the in-progress restoration of N.C.&St. L #576, the last steam locomotive its class in existence.

This locomotive will eventually return to service, pulling the excursion train that is the actual museum. We toured through the rail cars as well.

To be 70-year old rolling stock,these cars are in amazing condition. The domed observation car shown above was particularly interesting. The TCR operates 25 - 30 excursions per year, between Nashville and Watertown TN.