Some outdoor work done.

Didn't do anything on the water heater on Sunday, but it turned out to be a decent day after some early storms so I did some outdoor work.

I noticed on Sunday when I was out walking around that my well was leaking.  It isn't supposed to do this.  You can see the stream if you look over by the hose.


I am not sure why it has a screen on it (probably to keep rodents out) but it appears that it was plugged.  There was one tiny stream coming out of the drainoff pipe.


I took a rock and scraped all the crap off it, and then it started spraying everywhere.  There was obviously some pressure built up. 


I also took the cargo unloader apart and sure enough, it is just the bar that came apart.  The fabric is torn, but it should be mendable and usable. 


I also took some time to raise my mailbox up and bring it a little closer to the road.  I got note last week that said my mailbox was too short.  It is now a 4x4 taller.  It was on the short side before they repaved the road, and now that the road is more than a quarter inch thick, it is really too short.  I am also thinking I didn't use enough concrete, I only put 80lbs in, but the post wobbles notably.


So I made sure that was the only wobbly part.  These are 6" 3/8 shank bolts.  They should hold it.  I also put a couple of corner braces on it since I had them lying around.


I picked up some rocks out of the yard until the bugs started to get to me, bug season is definitely here.

I also went and reclaimed some of my unused fittings.


I also went and hooked up the emergency drain for the water heater.  I decided to tee it in with the water filtration system drain, since I already have two pipes draining into the laundry drain, and can't really fit a third well.  I cut the water filtration drain, and had a panic moment when I realized that it wasn't actually 3/4 PEX like I thought.


At this point it was too late to get to Home Depot.  They used 3/4 PEX on the upper end though, so I assembled it anyways since the system was supposed to do a flush today while I was at work.


Just in case there was issues, I wrapped a towel around it in case it leaks a little. 


The top where it connects to the unit is also a standard PEX fitting, so I am hopeful it will work.


In theory, I should have used check valves to prevent backfeeding, but I don't think it will be an issue, the water heater has a PRV that should prevent backfeeding, and the only way the water heater will drain into the line is if something very bad is happening, so I think for a first step this will be fine.  I may want to rebuild it anyways, since the tubing I spliced it into is thin walled and might not take the heat well if the hot water heater does blow its PRV.


Those were the final PEX connections in the entire house, so truly just a vent a water heater left and then everything should be fully functional, just organization and furniture improvements. 

Getting close on the water heater.

I took Friday off because I had worked over 40 hours before lunch on Thursday and got some work done on the water heater.  I got a lot of the plumbing done until I naturally ran out of clamps. 


I also found out too late that this was all the CSST I had left.  It wasn't enough.


I unfortunately slipped when I was putting one of the clamps on, and the tee leaked.  This is the only leak in all the plumbing that I did so far.


Today, after yet another Home Depot run, I replaced the line going to the tee.


The water heater is now all plumbed up except for the emergency release.  It looks like a clusterfuck because everything came out of the floor the opposite way it goes into the water heater, and I didn't have a lot of space.  There was a minor leak on the cold inlet valve which just needed a little additional tightening. 


The remote is installed.  The directions didn't say how to wire it up, so hopefully I figured it out correctly.


Another design flaw in my tiny home: because I ended up using black iron to do the leg up to the top of the pressure tank, the valve is now blocking the bottom outlet.  D'oh!


I ran another pressure test on the gas work done and it all checked out good.  45 minutes and 0 pressure drop.


The only thing missing is the vent work.  I will need to borrow a ladder to do it, I can't really set the step ladder in the muck out side to do it. 

Yard weekend

The weekend didn't quite go as planned, which sadly seems to be common of late.  Saturday I put my dump cart to work, hauling out a cart of trash and another cart of rocks, and only getting a fraction of the yard done.  I bagged some of the trash, then remembered I need a dumpster anyways for the stuff in the back yard, so I dumped the rest of it where the septic guy left the pile of crap.


The rocks I dumped in one of the holes that will require fill. 


While it was a nice day, everything is still soggy.  Removing the rocks led to water filling the holes quickly.


I also got the drag set up.


Some of the spots with ridges it did ok.


On the whole, notsomuch.  It needs more weight on it, but more weight on it mean s my tractor won't pull it going uphill.


I didn't even touch this part of the yard. 


As you can see by the tractor tires, it is just too muddy.  I either need a real tractor, or for it to dry out. 


I did manage to get the car all the way up, but it scraped.  Disappointingly the places it scraped were where the gravel was already put down.  I guess my eyeball isn't as good at smoothing as I thought. 


Sunday wasn't as nice so while I did a little work outside, not much.  I tried using a bo rake for smoothing, which actually worked pretty well, but it would take me weeks to rake smooth the whole yard manually.  Sigh.

I did get the service valves installed.  The rest of the parts haven't come in yet. 


We also got some surprise snow last night.  It didn't really stick much, but still annoying halfway through May.

A rocky day.

It was nice out yesterday so I got another load of gravel.  That turned out to be the death knell for my unloader.  It had started to do this a couple of loads ago (not nearly this bad though), but it never seemed to affect its operation.  Today it did.


I kept going though and it pretty much broke the bar.



I had to unload it the old fashioned way using a shovel.  It takes longer that way (an hour and a half versus half hour).  Though I was being careful not to tear up the fabric, in case I can fix it.  Normally I would just take the tailgate off and kick it out, which would be only a little bit slower than it was.


I don't think it is worth buying another one, given that it only lasted 6 loads.  The bar does have a joint in the middle, so I might take it apart and try to get it fixed.  We shall see.

Getting ready for yard work.

Instead of getting gravel on Tuesday, I ran out and got some yard materials.  I stopped by Barry's and got something I can use as a drag, and also stopped at Home Depot after trivia and got a dump cart.  It is just a cheap metal one, the newer model of the one that Dad used to have. 


It took longer than expected (some of the time was spent trying to find tools, my ratchet wasn't where it was supposed to be), and I had to finish it in the dark, but it is complete.


The front seems weird; the lip faces into the dump cart, but that was the only possible way it would go together.  They have definitely gotten cheaper in build too.  I could bend the sheet metal with just a few fingers.  A couple of the pieces were already bent and scraped out of the box, but the first time I really use it you won't be able to tell. 


At least I didn't get gipped parts like frequently happens with them based on reviews.  I actually had enough leftovers that I double checked and made sure everything was bolted together.


They did the first round of paving.  It is the larger rock pavement, so they might do another layer. 


They didn't do a great job at meeting the apron either.  There is a noticeable drop.


They didn't fix the scrapes they put in my apron when cleaning up for the paving either.  It isn't worth making a stink about though.


They also didn't do as far to the sides as I expected.


While the yard work needs to be done and very soon, weeks are already filling in, it isn't on the checklist, though the checklist might need to be revisited soon.  The parts for the water heater are supposed to come in tomorrow for the valves and early next week for the exhaust vent, so I might get to work on it some this weekend, but it won't be complete this weekend.  Hopefully this weekend I can complete the other in progress items, most of which are 95% complete, and just need a little bit left to be truly complete.  For tonight though, there is another load of gravel in my truck.

1. Install bathroom fixtures.
2. Get hot water heater installed.
3. Install some form of cabinets in the kitchen.
4. Install kitchen sink.
5. Install kitchen appliances.
6. Get propane installed.
7. Build bed frame.
8. Build closets.
9. Install table.
10. Smooth driveway enough to plow/clear
11. Fix snowblower.  
12. Winterize equipment (mower, undercoat the truck, etc).
13. Clear slab
14. Shed work
1. Extend roof to prevent snow pushing on the side.
2. Fix pilings

Frustrating lack of parts.

The weekend was frustrating.  I got started on the hot water heater, and didn't get very far.  The unit is mounted at least.


There are other parts needed to install it (at least if I want to do it properly).  It came with a PRV (pressure relief valve) but no service valves.  Unfortunately Home Depot doesn't carry them either.  Neither does Ace, nor does FW Webb.  So I will order some online.  Along with the exhaust vent, since it isn't standard.  I did at least pick up the parts needed for the pex and the gas lines.  I think I might just use the CSST gas lines until I get to the sediment trap.  I believe I have enough leftover.   am going to spend as much on fittings as the real hot water heater itself.


Yesterday was gorgeous outside, so I got another load of gravel.  The car would probably make it up now, as long as I am very careful.  Probably won't try until after the next few loads.  The deep ruts are mostly done, so the gravel should start going a little further with each load. 


I also got my prototype up for the blinds.  I am using a dowel in the shelving brackets.  They look fancy, I get free shelf space, and have a curtain rod for the window.  Win-win.  Though I eyeballed this one and the right brace is too high.  Doh.


No update to the checklist.  I noticed that they have started rebuilding the road though, so I think they might be getting ready to repave the road.  They dug down the ends of the road (so that they meet the mating road flush) yesterday.