I was amazed at the traffic for valentine’s day- not on the highway, but attempting to get near a shopping center/mall was near impossible. Did everyone forget about valentine’s day and rush out at the last moment to find a special gift?
Fry’s was pretty busy and I returned a NDAS I purchased the day prior. I picked up some closeout memory card readers (MicroSD is also known as T-Flash?) and stopped by a few more places while waiting for Diana to have some free time (GameStop, BestBuy, Target- plus about 30 minutes on Lenox Road waiting for traffic).
At 4:00ish she still needed to go home and shower so she would not be ready until 5:30ish; I decided to go home and take care of some downloads and work on listing my Treo 800w and HTC touch on eBay.
When I got home I remembered that we have a leaky pipe under the kitchen. A quick look into the crawlspace confirmed it was spraying water over the floor beams and sub-floor. It looked like an in-line CPVC pipe leak so I went to Ace hardware and picked up some 1/2″ and 3/4″ CPVC compression fittings.
Ace was out of the ‘ratchet’ PVC cutters, so I found an old multi-saw in the attic. I also had to purchase a shovel as all the old ones we had around our house appear to have disappeared.
I grabbed a small LED flashlight, turned off the water main, dug out the access area and slowly pulled myself into the small alcove under the house- filled with red clay mud, air ducts, unused pipe configurations (but still used as a ground four our electric meter) and refuse from the initial build of the house.
After pulling myself on my back for several feet I finally found the leak- and- of course- it was a CPVC elbow that had failed; so the parts I have are useless (at least for this task).
I managed to turn myself around and crawl out of the crawl space. The red clay over my back and jeans prompted me to my clothes for a trip to Lowes. I did not go back to Ace- albiet it is much closer- as I felt a real PVC cutter would save me much time and annoyance.
I found a PVC ratchet cutter at Lowe’s for $10; I also picked up a 5′ length of 1/2″ CPVC, several 1/” elbows, several 1/2″ couplers, a few 45’s, a can of purple PVC primer/cleaner, and a can of CPVC cement. Back at the house I grabbed some addtional LED flashlights and re-entered the crawlspace.
Cutting, cleaning and replacing the elbow took about 10 minutes (once the remaining water pressure had drained out) and ininital clean-up took another 10 minues. I waited another 10 mines for the glue to set (overkill as the glue is ready in about 15 mintues) and turned the water back on.
No obvious leaks, so I re-set the dirt aound the crawlspace entry and finished cleaning up (another 20 mintutes).
CPVC glue and the dye from the primer are near impssible to remove with soap and water; i peeled off the largest glue reminents and took a shower. The remaining glue is pretty much gone this morning…
Today I again realize that no matter how often you work out, you will never hit all the muscles you use when you really work.
I also think that normal ‘clear’ PVC cleaner may be about as voliate as the PC Board Flux cleaner I purchased a few weeks back- and much less expensive!