We didn’t get it fixed today, dang it.
Got the old one out, which was an adventure. Took out the other pressure tank, which wasn’t as much an adventure. Left the other old pump in place because we were not wanting that much adventure at once.
We had to take the new pump in and out of place several times, trying to get it at the right height for the pipe going to the pressure tank. Then, on one of its trips back into place, I broke the water line. We were having to lift the pump up and over it and I didn’t lift high enough. Broke it even with the ground which meant we have to dig it out and replace about two foot of it. Aaarrrgggh!
Then, of course, getting the parts before all this was yet another adventure. If you’ve never tried to do plumbing, you just can’t truly understand. The key thing to remember when putting in retrofit piping is: In plumbing, you can’t get there from here.
The outlet on the pump is a female 3/4″ metal opening. We got a male 3/4″ elbow joint to make the turn toward the tank. Problem 1: the primer plug for the pump is in the way. You can’t put it all the way in, cause you gotta prime the pump once everything was ready. But, you can’t prime the pump until all the pipe is on. Follow so far? Problem 2: in taking the plastic part off and on trying to find a solution, the plastic threads were stripped against the metal threads of the pump.
So you’d think we could just get a piece to make the elbow up higher, say a male/female piece. No, you can’t. What we wound up with, and it was the only way we could do it without pitching a hissy fit right there in Home Depot’s plumbing aisle, is: 3/4″ male adapter that goes to 1″ that is connected to a 1″ ‘T’ that is connected to a cap on the horizontal end and another adapter on the other which is connected to the elbow which will need a coupler if the old pipe isn’t long enough.
Which is to say, we didn’t get it done today. We are determined to get it done tomorrow before the Super Bowl. And that means we’ll be out there before the frost is gone. brrr!
But I did manage to get some writing in tonight. I dropped in on some word wars in the FM chat room. I got 1104 words as I worked on the February Challenge also on the FM site. I like how it went and maybe it will be yet another book about the community of High Pond.
Well, time to get this aching bod into bed. Or at least into a more comfortabler position in order to play Zoo Tycoon 2! 😀