One Step Forward

Two Steps Back...


Well, yesturday I spent four hours playing "ditch digger from hell" to no avail...

The water line here was installed 27 years ago and additional driveway surface has been installed since and we have only a very general idea where it runs through the property.

I removed the St. Augustine Grass sod in chunks and dug a a ditch 15" to 18" deep along a 20' section of the drive adjacent to the leak and didn't find anything.

Today I'm going for getting another 6" of depth in some of the trench and after that it's up to the professionals to find it.

Then because I couldn't find THAT leaking pipe, just for fun I started fooling around with the water heater flushing the pressure/temperature relief valve and when I was done IT STARTED LEAKING.

Then for even more fun I tried to turn off the cold water supply valve to the water heater and it was STUCK from probably not being used in 15 or 20 years , and then when I managed to break it free it wouldn't close completely and get this...

IT STARTED LEAKING AROUND THE SHAFT!

Probably from the age of the valve and sediment building up in the valve seat and around the seal on the shaft.

So after I managed to screw the top back on the top of my head covering my exploded brain, we had to turn off the water to the whole house and make the obligatory trip to Lowe's for two valves and PVC pipe and fittings and so on and so on.

Now I have about 7 hours left after daylight to fool around in my ditch and install two valves on the water heater and get back to the airport for the return flight to Knoxtown later this afternoon.

If on FOX News you see anyone killed in a water heater explosion or drowning in a freak water pipe accident, check the name and location on the story because--the way things are going right now--there's a good possibility it might be ME.