I’ve swapped out primer and glue for just red hot blue glue which can be used without primer on most joins and still be up to code where I am. The number of times I just accidentally dumped out a nearly full can of primer is too damn high. Sitting on your knees in a pile of dirt trying to wrangle two separate cans in the limited time you have to make a join and then immediately having to have your hands locked up holding the parts together means having a couple cans sitting with their lids off. It sucks.
If you want to run silicone on the can I’d first make sure that they don’t react.
Yeah, having to hold and connect everything so I did get dirt on anything was a minor challenge. I’m kind of amazed I didn’t make a complete mess.
Though I almost messed it all up in the final step when I started to screw on the metal NPT to garden hose connector upside down. Fortunately I realized it before damaging the threads on the pvc part.
PVC repair almost always requires a trip to the hardware store because the glue I used the last time has gone bad. I usually have enough parts from previous work but I always need more glue.
After having to reconnect the PVC MNPT part to the hose adapter with extra teflon tape finally everything is together and leak free! But of course as soon as I turned on the system I discovered that just in the few days since I last turned things on squirrels or rats or something chewed through two of the spaghetti lines that go to drippers. It never ends. Fortunately I have a variety of drippers from prior repairs.
I’ve got everything on my home automation system now, including a water meter. I know from the meter data that the biggest line uses a little under 3gpm while on. I set things up to alert me if flow exceeds 4gpm for more than 5 minutes so that in case another line gets chewed through or my repair fails so I can shut off either the irrigation or the water main as necessary should things go wrong when I’m away.
I’ve got a zwave based home automation system using Homeseer software. I can program whatever logic I like.
The water meter is a typical big brass water meter that has a wire coming off it the registers a tick every X gallons of flow through. There’s a little box attached to it that has the zwave chip and sends the flow rate wirelessly to the system. “Fortrezz” is the manufactrer. I’m on a well so it’s mounted after the pressure tank and main stop.
On the water main I’ve got a mechanized arm that turns the stop. It clamps on to the pipe. There are stops made with internal motors too but obviously for a retrofit the clamp on was preferable to cutting pipe. It’s also zwave controlled. Ecobee is the maker of that unit.
The homeseer software has “event” logic you can set up to trigger actions. The logic can be complex with multiple conditions. For example I set an event for leak detection while I’m away. It triggers if I’ve told the system I’m not currently home, and if it is not a regular watering time, and if the flow rate has just changed and become nonzero. While currently I just send an email I could make it so it immediately turns off the water main (which I’ll likely do after a few weeks of observation to make sure I haven’t forgotten something in the logic and it doesn’t generate false positives).
You know I’m surprised there isn’t an active home automation thread given the population of the forum.
Good point, we have those conversations but it seems to run around different thread topics. Several of us have lighting and HVAC/furnace automation going on but for really all-around stuff there isn’t just one topic.
The options on your homeseer sound pretty extensive. Speaking of ecobee I use their smart thermostat and love it. What I wish is if there were one someone brand agnostic home control software. Like a manager of managers software so to speak. We have many things connected at this point but multiple systems to log in to to use them.
Homeseer is that. It works with a number of standards of which zwave is just one. The UI is kind of terrible and was clearly designed by engineers, but it is wonderfully capable and expandable so it’s perfect for the techno-savvy hobbyist like myself. Plus these days with voice control it doesn’t matter as much that the UI isn’t great. There’s a new version coming out soon that is supposed to have greatly improved UI but I haven’t taken a look at it yet.
I started with home automation a little more than 10 years ago when options were rather sparse. Z-wave was pretty new then and there weren’t tons of options in the controller software. A lot of a the packages back then like Control 4 were super expensive. It was a bit of a risk investing some thousands of dollars on fancy switches using a new technology that could easily disappear but it worked out well. Now home automation is mainstream and z-wave is a strong standard. I’ve now outfitted two houses with full HA systems.
As I related here last month, I fixed the leaking sillcock that goes to my irrigation, and the leaking input to said irrigation, so logically the next thing to fail was an irrigation valve. Recently one of the them wouldn’t shut off completely. I could hear a faint sound of running water coming from the box the valves are contained in. I could also see evident of the small leak in the usage data my water meter gives me.
Fortunately it turns out these things are really easy to repair. I’ve got “jar top” valves which are basically just a diaphragm, a spring, and a solenoid all contained in a screw top housing. I opened the thing up to clean it out and there was some debris in there that was probably keeping the valve open. Unfortunately after cleaning everything out and replacing the diaphragm it would not form a water tight seal. All this was installed at least 20 years ago the diaphragm was just too deteriorated from age. Fortunately it seems the design of these things hasn’t changed at all in decades and I was able to find a replacement for a few bucks. Took only a few minutes to open things up again and put in the new part. Nothing leaked when I turned the water on and after cycling the valve a few times it all seems good!
I am feeling more and more the irrigation expert. I’ve now repaired or replaced every type of part in the system.
Seriously. The, ‘weakest link in the chain,’ principle applies to everything, even hardware where I work. Especially so with water and power issues, if taking a look at one, may as well look at them all.
That’s some good experience but I’m sorry you’ve had issues, man. Hopefully that means you’ll be mostly trouble free for a while.
I already have a replacement for the other valve on the way, and a spare to keep on hand.
I’m moving on to the next phase of my landscape rehabilitation. I’m covering some areas adjacent to the house that are now just weed ridden with landscape fabric and lava rock. Before the heat drove me inside I got it all weeded and raked out and half the fabric down. Shouldn’t take long in the morning to do the rest. Then I’ve got to see when I can get 3 cubic yards of rock delivered. I’m going to lose my shelter in place weight by moving a ton and a half of rock one shovel at a time.
My dishwasher started making a horrible noise last week when it was running. Sounded like the motor was about to die. Did some investigation and it was definitely the pump motor that was sounding like it was about to go.
Ordered a replacement motor, and arrived today. Pulled out the dishwasher out from underneath the cabinet and flipped it upside down. Swapping the motor was pretty easy (just needed to grab a torx bit from my computer repair kit) and we were good to go!
The only annoying thing was, though, was that the previous home owner put in these concrete counter tops. And as such, the top of the dishwasher wasn’t secured to the underside of the counter with screws, but with epoxy. I had to pry the epoxy off and will have to re-do the epoxy later since I don’t have any handy :|
So a few weeks a go a bird nested in the vent for my bathroom fan. My wife wouldn’t let me do anything about it until the chicks were gone, so nothing was done.
The peeping finally stopped so I climbed up on the ladder to remove the nest, but I was extremely disappointed to see that the vent duct goes back about 2’ then takes a right turn. Apparently the nest is back there and I can’t reach it.
I tried going in through the fan side, but the fan is some weird turbine style and it looks like the drywall ceiling was put in after the fan. It didn’t look to be in a “can.” Removing the fan was deemed to be too risky and difficult.
I called one bird-removal place and they pretty much laughed at me. If I can’t reach the nest how are they supposed to be able to? Thanks for your help, guys.
Any ideas? The second floor bathroom is above the vent, so I can’t get to the duct through a crawlspace or something.
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 states that removal of any active bird’s nest is illegal without a permit, no matter the location of the nest.
You can obtain a permit from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service to remove an active nest with baby birds nestled inside.
You should also check to see if your area has any specific rules and regulations in place for wildlife.
They’re gone or dead. They were very loud, peeping all day.
Yeah I’m thinking about trying the shop vac route, but I’m doubtful I can get the hose or any attachments around the corner. I don’t know what you mean by fish tape?
