Author: Rae

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No Hot Water

I haven’t had any hot water mentioning since I ‘fixed’ the bypass last night. It was as if I had a tap open somewhere and the cold and hot were mixing. The obvious cause of the problem came to me as I went to bed, but I was not going to test my theory when I was ready to pass out from exhaustion.

This morning, I reexamined the valve that I had cut out and my suspicion was pretty much confirmed, but I still wanted one more piece of evidence. I really wished that I had a water bypass installation diagram to confirm it before I took anything apart. Guess what I found way at the back of my water heater cabinet, located in such a way that I was only able to read it by shoving my camera down the side of the cabinet and blindly snapping pictures until I got a clear one? I really want to have Words with the guy who installed my water heater!

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All right. You’ve had a moment to study the diagram and you can see my problem, right?

The bypass valve I cut out had to be closed for me to have hot water. The tube I installed is open. So I need to remove the tube and find a way to cap the two ends. Copper caps are obviously not going to work here because of the grey conduit over top. So it looks like I need some sort of plastic or rubber cap with plumbing glue. I have the valve I cut off with some of the grey conduit sticking out, so I can bring that to all the different home stores until I find something suitable. But I’m really not due to go back to town any time soon, so it’s no hot water for me for a bit. 🙁

I did have the thought that I could somehow clamp the hose as a temporary fix, but it is very rigid, so I don’t think that’s going to work. I am going to pull out some clamps later and try this anyway.

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Not Quite Enough Paint

Between work spurts, I finished up the painting in the shed this afternoon. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough paint to do the peaks and ceiling, as well as a few spots on the walls. But finishing the job isn’t worth $40 me since the objective of the exercise has been accomplished: being able to walk in there without immediately feeling like I need a shower!

It looks so bright in clean inside now!

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The wall to the right of the door (looking outside) is going to have a window, so I didn’t put too much effort into getting all the bare spots covered, saving the paint for the walls that are going to be more visible.

Now, I can start using the building! I’m not sure yet what I’m going to put in for storage. I will start by corralling everything I want to put into the shed and that will help me determine what I need. I’m trolling the classifieds for something that I will be able to use as a workbench and for tool storage.

Next little project will be to build a ramp into the shed so that I can more easily take out the lawnmower. I think I will be able to recycle pallets for that use!

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Bypass Valve Good Enough Fix

I woke up to quite a lot of water in the bucket below my bypass valve, so the tape really didn’t work (I knew it was a very long shot!). There is literally no water pressure if I hook up to city water, so I’m always living off the holding tank, which I turn off at night. So the valve leaking this badly with the system not being pressurized really lit a fire under my butt to get this fixed somehow, even if it wasn’t going to be elegant, because obviously the leak was getting worse.

Way back yonder, I used to own a very old mobile house. It was so old that none of its plumbing parts fit existing parts. Minor fixes would involve tearing out large sections and starting from scratch. It was really good plumbing education and I learned a lot about various fixes, some not so orthodox, and what can hold out over time. I got a lot of experience soldering copper pipes, too, and am very good at it! The mobile home park owner would often have me do repair jobs for it and deduct the time I spent from my monthly pad rent!

Miranda’s plumbing is in some respects much easier to deal with. She is plumbed with entirely household materials, not RV-specific parts. But all of her plumbing is squeezed into tight spots and obviously not intended for repair. Because the valve was installed backwards, there was no way it could be fixed. So it had to come out.

I have a little copper pipe cutter, but there was no room for it to swing the full 360 degrees it needs to. It was tricky cut because the whole area was put together so tightly. There was a brass connector on both sides of the valve that I needed to avoid, the copper pipe was covered with a soft grey plastic conduit, over that was a welded steel clamp, and I had to leave myself something with which to join my replacement material.

I estimated where the brass connectors ended and used a steak knife to cut through the soft grey conduit. Thankfully, there was no copper on the side of the valve closest to the wall and the knife sliced through the conduit like it was butter! Even though the water system wasn’t pressurized and I’d bled the line, I still got sprayed. What a mess!

The other side was trickier because there was copper under the plastic conduit. I painstakingly sawed at it with a for-metal jigsaw blade held with pliers, which took me almost an hour with only a short break. Thankfully, it was very small diameter pipe and I didn’t have much to get through!

So now, the valve was out, but I needed to close out my system or be without water. I had decided before bringing myself to the point of no return to use a piece of hose with a couple of clamps. I needed a hose with a diameter big enough to fit over piece of garden hose. I went out to my MacGyver pile, rummaged around, and found a length of hose that looked perfect — rubber, thick, reasonably flexible, and with the right diameter. I found clamps in my plumbing parts bin. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough pipe onto which I could fit the hose to double clamp.

It took a bit of effort and bleeding (but no swearing, surprisingly enough) to get the hose positioned in such a way that the clamps could form the necessary seal. I turned the pump on about four times and got sprayed as many times before the leaks stopped.

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Cautiously optimistic, I left the pump on and dragged out the dehumidfier.

It’s been eight hours and the repair has held. Will it keep doing so? Only time will tell. I do know that I’ll need to tighten my clamps every so often and that the system not being constantly under pressure will work in my favour.

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The Day That Time Stood Still

It’s been one of those days where I have no idea what time I got up, but it must have been early because every time I look at the clock it’s a full two hours earlier than I feel it rightly should be based on how much I’ve gotten done!

Today was a Town Day. There were a bunch of really good sales starting and a number of items that have been on my to buy list were heavily discounted. So the first thing I did this morning was revise my shopping lists and make sure I had everything in the truck that I needed to bring to town. This included a 5-gallon water jug and a couple of packages for the post office that I spent quite some time preparing.

I would have been ready to leave by about 7:45, but I wanted to wait for the post since I was expecting a cheque. Thankfully, the cheque was in my box at 9:30 and I was able to leave at 9:45.

I wanted to go to Assiniboia by way of Willow Bunch because my Co-Op equity cheque would be waiting for me there. It was obviously a detour (an extra 30KM), but the Assiniboia pick up date was on Wednesday, when I didn’t need to go to town. It was much cheaper fuel-wise to detour to Willow Bunch this morning than to just go to Assiniboia for the cheque and no other purpose on Wednesday. Plus, it would give me a chance to take highways 36 and 13, which I don’t often have an excuse to travel and they are scenic!

The detour was really worthwhile since there was a $101 cheque waiting for me! I get a refund based on the previous year’s purchases and I bought a lot of building materials (my roofs) as well as propane in the colder months.

I got to Assiniboia around 10:45 and my first stop was obviously the bank. Then, I went to Peavey Mart to pick up paint for the interior of my shed ($29.99 for 10L instead of $39.99), a paint tray ($0.99 instead of $1.49), a fluorescent light fixture ($19.99 instead of $29.99), and two cans of Rustoleum Leak Seal ($8.99 each instead of $12.99).

Next stop was for fuel so I wouldn’t get caught like last time! Fuel is at $1.08 right now, which is better than the $1.30 I was paying in the fall! We were apparently below a dollar while I was away!

After fuel, I popped into the Co-Op home store since they were advertising a 75′ 14-gauge extension cord for just $34.57, about 55% lower than the best price I’ve ever seen for that product! Small hiccup when I came in, their 14-gauge 75′ extension cords were marked at $54.57. They didn’t come up in the computer as being the product advertised on sale, even though they clearly were. No worries, we’re all part owners of the Co-Op, so the manager tends to rule in the customer’s favour. She figured that the one on the shelf was equivalent and gave me the discount after looking at a few other products on the shelf. She was very impressed that I could correctly identify all the cord gauges from 20′ away. 🙂

14-gauge is still a little light, but I can string two 75′ sections and have no voltage drop on a full 20A load, so that’s good enough for my needs. I don’t have power to my outbuildings yet, so I rely on extension cords. I have one running to the cabin for the freezer and washer and I need two to get to the shed and the front part of the property for the mower. So I’ve been needing an extra 14-gauge cord since I got the freezer and have been cautiously making do with a 16-gauge one.

Next, I dropped my truck between Home Hardware and the post office. I went to the latter to mail my packages and found the prices surprisingly reasonable, although it was twice as expensive to get a tracking number for a US parcel as it was to send it without one (I took a chance and opted for the cheaper option).

Home Hardware was my next stop for some self-sealing silicone tape for a plumbing repair. When I came out, it was only 11:40!!! I was ravenous by this point and decided to just go to Andy’s for the buffet. At $11.50, it’s really the best value in town and I knew I could get in and out quickly. I pretty much just had pizza and broccoli. The server remembered how much I love their broccoli and told me as I sat down that it would be right out. I can’t believe she remembered that! They put sesame oil on it. I should try that at home.

My final stop of the day was the food store since they were having their 10 for 10 canned good sales. Those are always super good value, but you have to buy 10 to get the deal. I have enough beans, chickpeas, ham, and spaghetti sauce to get me through the summer! I’m eating a lot of spaghetti sauce again now that I’m doing the zucchini ‘noodles’ I discovered last year. At $1 for a large tin (Hunt’s brand, which is excellent!), it’s just not worth making my own sauce anymore (something I used to spend a day slaving over the stove doing).

Groceries packed into the truck, I headed home, where I pulled in at just past 1:00, just a little over three hours since I left! I’m telling you, time stopped at some point today!

First project when I got home was to get on the roof and apply another very generous layer of Rustoleum. I used up the whole can and sprayed over a wider area. While I was up there, I trimmed back some branches that were rubbing against my front window last night and actually woke me up at one point.

The next project was to install the light fixture in the shed. This was really easy, to my immense surprise. I just had to install two eye hooks into the ceiling (thankfully, I had some), attach chains to them, insert the fluorescent bulbs in the fixture, and then hang the fixture from the chains.

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It’s so great to finally have a decent light source in that dank and mousy cave! My friend Charles is going to install a window for me in a bit, but I know that natural light won’t be enough. The fixture plugs into an extension cord and there is a string for turning it on and off that I can easily reach.

I knew that painting was going to be a huge job because of the rough wood and all the nooks and crannies, so I just wanted to start today. I don’t care about a nice well-feathered paint job and any runs.

I used EcoCoat paint, a recycled product made in Alberta. It’s a low VOC paint, so it doesn’t have strong fumes, but it smells terrible. I am very impressed with the coverage, however, although I don’t think I’m going to have enough! 🙁 The label says $34.99, but there was a sign saying that the price has increased to $39.99.

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I started with the roller to get as much on as fast as I could and then followed up with the brush until I ran out of steam.

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The difference is already phenomenal! They had several colours and I decided that lighter would be better than darker, but that I didn’t want white or an actual colour. So this beigey ‘birch’ was perfect. I have a lot of work to do this weekend, but I want to try to get in a couple of hours each day of painting in the late afternoon.

Then, it was time for one last project. I have a small leak in a shut off valve for my water heater that is turning into a dramatic issue (mould starting). Normally, I would try to fix the bad valve and if that failed, I would cut it out and replace it. But there is literally no room to work and the IDIOT who put it in did so backwards so there is no hope of getting at it to try to at least repair it!

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The valve is a bypass that separates the water heater from the rest of the water system. This way, you don’t have to fill the water heater with potable antifreeze in the winter. I blow out my lines now, so I decided that I didn’t care if I couldn’t use my valve and I wrapped the whole thing in a giant wodge of self sealing tape. Don’t try this at home folks, it was desperate measures!

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I have no idea if this will be enough. It was very hard to get the right tension on the tape. I have half of the roll left to add more if needed. We shall see.

Something I bought last year made this job a wee bit easier. I can’t believe I waited this long in my life to get one!

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Then, it was time for a shower, a beer, and a break. Now, I’m thinking about dinner. It’s Friday and so I may be having a hot dog… in a corn tortilla. 🙂

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Mexico Visitors (Well, Really From Kelowna)

Colin and Contessa dropped by for a visit on Monday night! I was waiting for Contessa’s post about the visit before publishing my own.

I was still in Mexico when we started to plan this stopover and it’s a little surreal for it to have happened! They have been on a grand tour of western Canada for a couple of weeks and I was their next stop after Winnipeg, a couple hours detour versus taking the Transcanada straight through to Calgary.

Now that I have my own place, it’s really important for me to start paying back all the hospitality I have received over the years and I’m pleased that they accepted my invitation.

I thought that they could just park on the street in front of the property so they wouldn’t have to unhook, but Colin is particular about no trees touching the RV at all and there were a few low lying wispy branches that he was concerned about, so he decided to unhook and back into my driveway. They both felt more comfortable letting the slides out that way, even though I knew they would have been fine with the slides open on the street since we don’t get traffic worth mentioning overnight. All FYI for future guests of RV Park Chez Rae!

Two RVs and two toads fit comfortably on my driveway!

Two RVs and two toads fit comfortably on my driveway!

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Lots of room to move around even with the slides out.

I had run them two extension cords for 20A service and they hooked up to it. I spent the 2012 summer hooked up to 20A with these exact two cords and had done all the testing to check for voltage drop when running heavy appliances like the AC and there was no voltage drop worth mentioning. So the cords are well rated for this application. Colin had the necessary adapters to drop from 50A to 15A.

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This might look scary, but it’s perfectly electrically sound. 🙂

I let them get set up and take care of their dogs and then we sat outside with wine so we could catch up. It was the most beautiful day we’ve had since I got here and HOT. They’d just come from endless grey and wet, so this was a real blessing.

Once everyone was relaxed and a little lubricated, we got hungry, so I went in to cook. I don’t know how many times I’ve landed somewhere exhausted and been treated to a meal, so making dinner for us was really important to me. They eat very similarly to how I do, so coming up with a menu was super easy. I wanted something for which I could do all the prep ahead of time and then cook in under 20 minutes. So on the menu was zucchini ‘pasta’, a fresh tomato sauce, sautéd garlic shrimp, grated real Parmesan cheese, and a corn tortilla each. Contessa contributed a wonderful Caesar salad and wine! Dinner came together fast and was well received. 🙂

After dinner, I did the washing up while Contessa sat at my desk and wrote a blog post (since the internet signal doesn’t go beyond my office). She was several days behind, hence why this post is so late as I promised I wouldn’t blog about their visit until she did. 🙂

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This is a first, someone else sitting at my desk!

I lounged on the bed in the study with my own wine and my Chaco Canyon book while she wrote, just enjoying the end to a very full and lovely day.

We all went to bed fairly early and slept well. Like me, they appreciated the quiet and freshness of the air here.

Morning was very quick. Colin moved the motorhome onto the street and hooked up. They signed some paperwork that I had printed the night before and then I witnessed it before scanning it and emailing it. They left around 8:00. Seeing them drive off, I had a realisation and yelled out to Contessa’s waving arm, “See you in Mexico!” Don’t we have amazing lives?! 🙂