Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[Bruce]

You are getting there Joe! Really enjoyed @Devonviolet 's pictures of you and Mel. I can see the

Might be worth getting one of those combination valves for the washer. Single lever turns both hot and cold on or off. I sure do hope you find a CONVENIENTLY located whole house shut off valve. I wouldn't consider under the house convenient. I suppose is possible one wasn't installed but that is really bad work if true.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Are you om a well or county water ?
If you are on a well then turn the power off

 

[Bruce]

Since he said he went out to the street to look for a shut off it must be county water.

 

[OneFineAcre]

Well then there should be a meter and a shut off

 

[Bruce]

True but sometimes those things are buried. The shutoffs in my old neighborhood were. But then I live in Vermont where the frost can go down 4+ feet and the waterline to the house better be lower than that

Could be there is a shutoff at the street and no one thought to tell Joe where it is. I figure this is just a small bump in the road

 

[babsbag]

If it's county water I would think that that means a water meter and a convenient shut off valve. I have a shut off at my well and one in my house but I also have one at every set of sprinkler valves and auto waterer. I am a little fanatic about not going far to shut off water in a hurry.

 

[Mike CHS]

Meter location aren't always in a logical place. Both of my neighbors meters are located with mine but the lines that run to their houses go through our pasture and are almost a half mile from their houses.

 

[Mini Horses]

I'm spoiled, my well water cut-offs I had put in the garage. One whole house, another at the run from the tank to the barn, so only out of house cuts off. Winter can create a break out there! I also had one installed in the house coat closet where the pipes run to upstairs bath. That way, I could drain & stop more input up there.

Since I installed all the underground to the farm from barn down to all pastures, I have a cut off at point of barn, so still water there but nothing to fields. Then, at each underground run where pipes rise up for easy spigot use, have another set of spigots & cut offs which allow me to stop water going to upper pipes, then drain & shut those off but, run water from a spigot at under ground level. Yep.....nuts but have water all winter at all locations! I have little "water stations" dug, lined, built up & insulated housing at my piped up watering locations.

Hoses can be a problem in winter. I purchase one of those expandable ones -- VERY flexible. Can put into tight places, cut on water...use, then stop flow, drain and take a much, much smaller hose to garage to dry. It weighs almost nothing, decompresses nicely, handles easily.


So, back to Latestarters problem. Does seller have obligation to fix that leak? Depends on all your contracts, etc. But, I would have a plumber do this job....for ease of issues and corrections of any others while there. Like, do I need another cut-off installed???

 

[Latestarter]

So, I lucked out and the owner stopped by today around lunch time. Got a lot of questions answered. I now know the general area where the septic tank is, and that it was pumped about three years ago. I also now know where the leach field is. Both good things to know. The leaky valve on the cold water line to the washer was a surprise to him as he said it was working fine when they disconnected theirs to move. He did show me where the street cut off was for the city water... It's all the way down at the other end of the neighbor's property on the other side of his driveway. Got a replacement faucet and torched the old one off, soldered the new one on. Only minor plastic melting of the washer pipe "box".

So I now have clean clothes and decided it was past due to get that spa filled and operational. Well, I got 1/2 that mission accomplished... It's filled... Called the owner and asked how to turn the danged thing on. He said the control panel should light up and come on as soon as the breaker is set and power is applied. Sorry, no lights, no power, despite several re-sets of the breaker. Opened the side panel, the 30 amp fuse is still good. No burnt electronics smell. Lots of huge mud dauber wasp nests in there. removed those. Still no power and no re-set circuit inside there either. So this time he came with his wife. The spa was hers for her severe RA. Needless to say, they can't get it to turn on either. He made some calls and said someone would be out Wednesday to get 'er right. I asked would I need to be there as I planned to go do some manual labor with the @Devonviolet crew and he said no. He'd go out there with the repair person. YAY!

So while waiting for them to arrive, I cleaned my grill and made her pretty. Looks like new again. Would hardly guess it's 5 years old or so. Had hoped to grill up a steak and soak tonight. No such luck there... instead I'm back up at the best western. So I called about internet service today and signed up for satellite internet. Got the basic 10 gig plan for $70/mo (60 + 10 for modem rental). Was told speed would be in the 15 meg range till I hit cap, then would be throttled back to 1-2 meg speed but no further cap and no overage charges. Was told it's unlimited between like midnight and 8am or maybe that was 2am to 8 am... something like that. Anyway I have no install date for that as he needed to see when the installers would be in my area. Tomorrow DirecTV should be there to install my TV capability.

There's a furniture store here going out of biz... everything must go sort of thing. Turns out I went in the day the sale started and saw a nice 3 piece reclining sofa/loveseat/recliner set. It was marked like $3,600, and when I told the sales guy I could see paying about 1500, he said that wouldn't happen. I waffled and didn't start wheeling and dealing to buy it right then. Thought better on it but when I got back it was sold and gone Danged it all! Knew I should have gone with my gut. So on the way here to post I noticed another furniture store. I'll swing in there and see what they've got. I went in to a lazy boy place and for being lazy they really charge through the back side!

So, woke up to voices in the yard and turns out the surveyors arrived this morning and started. They said will take 2 days, possibly 3 to get it done. Depends on how much trouble they have locating the markers at the back of the property. They were back there this afternoon but I was knee deep in a filling spa when they left, so I never got a chance to ask them how far along they got. They did say that the side fences were pretty much exactly on the lines. It's the back line that comes in 8' in two places onto my property and then 21' out in another place onto the neighboring property.

So things seem to be working along. Oh I asked the owner while he was there earlier what he wanted to do about rent since I had only paid through the 4th. He said don't worry about it. YAY! Might have to stall closing for a few more months... So life goes on. Hopefully I'll be back more regular shortly without siting at BW.Have the danged aptop plugged in but it's not charging for some reason. so gonna call it quits here for now. Hope y'all are doing well!

 

[Bruce]

Wow, sounds like your seller is a nice stand up guy. Lucky you! We bought from a liar and a cheat.

About that modem. How much does a satellite modem cost? We paid $10/month for YEARS for a cable modem. Stupid thing only costs about $80. Bought one at BB and have more than paid for it already. Unless the satellite people REQUIRE you to use their leased modem, get out of that part now before you waste any money. I do not think they can legally require that.