Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

In case you folks have been wondering where I have been, I will provide you with a description of the fun I have had over the past several days dealing with my water line. I will break up the description into several posts so that you won't feel overwhelmed.

Day 1, Wednesday, May 27 - picking up the excavator

I decided I needed to rent an excavator to try to locate where the leak(s) in the water line was/were, so I drove to Conway, AR (about 2.5 hours away) to the Home Depot there to rent the same excavator I rented last year. On the way there, I ran into some road construction just north of Danville, AR. It took about 30 minutes to go about 4 miles. I noticed once I got past the construction that AR 307 joined AR 27 north of the construction, as well as joined AR 10 west of Danville. That meant that I could take AR 307 around the construction. Since I would be pulling a trailer, I decided that would be a smart thing to do.

On the way back, I did turn onto AR 307 to avoid the construction. Big mistake. About 50 yards onto AR 307, I noticed a sign which read "Spring Lake 8 mi, Pavement ends 4 mi". Since it had rained pretty hard while I was in Conway, I did not want to risk getting stuck, so I decided to turn around. I turned into a driveway that seemed long enough, but I only noticed the tree in the middle of the driveway after I had pulled in. I pulled up the left side of the tree, just far enough to get off the road. I should have pulled into the driveway on the right side, but it didn't occur to me at the time what a big mistake that was. I tried to curve the trailer so that I could turn around but did not have enough room without the truck's left rear wheels going into the ditch on the left side. I tried to back across the road, having the trailer's wheels off of the pavement and almost into the ditch on the other side, hoping I would have enough room to turn onto the road to the left. The mailbox at the end of the driveway was in the way for that approach.

Next I decided to try pulling the truck onto the grass to my left of the driveway, hoping that would give me enough room to back the trailer out so I could get turned around. Another big mistake. Once I pulled onto the grass there, the ground was so soft and slippery that the front of the truck slid to the left, making the angle on the trailer even worse to try backing up. I tried many times to get enough room to angle the trailer so I could back onto the road, but every time I did that the truck's left rear tires would go into the ditch. Finally, I tried again but then the trailer's left rear tires went into the ditch! I was stuck! Despite putting the truck into 4 wheel drive, the truck and trailer would not budge! Now I would have to unload the excavator from the trailer.

I unchained the excavator from the trailer and SLOWLY backed the excavator off of the trailer. Because the trailer's left tires were in the ditch, the trailer and excavator were tilted to the left, enough so that I was afraid that the excavator would tip over. I backed up and in the process managed to bang the fenders on the left side of the trailer with the bucket of the excavator, partially dislodging them from the brackets that held them on. Once I got the excavator off of the trailer and safely parked out of the way, I tried getting the truck and trailer unstuck. They still would not budge! This whole time I was thinking that if Mr. @CntryBoy777 were here he'd be rolling on the ground laughing.

While I was studying what to do next, a couple drove by. Noticing the situation, the man asked if I would like some help. I told him I could always use some adult supervision. So he parked his truck on the side of the road and came and looked over the situation. At first he thought we could lift the rear of the trailer out of the ditch using the excavator, but then came up with unhooking the trailer from the truck and using the excavator to move the trailer out of the way. So that was what we did. With him using the excavator to lift the trailer and move it out of the way, I was able to get the truck unstuck and turned around. He was able to get the trailer turned around so that I could back the truck into the driveway and hook onto the trailer. I thanked him for his help, reloaded the excavator, and finally pulled onto AR 307 to get back onto AR 27 and drive through the road construction. Ironically, the road crew had left for the day and opened the road back up so there was no blockage on the highway. I had gone through all of the trouble for nothing!

Trailer ruts on other side of the road:

Ditch where I got stuck:

Side of driveway that was so soft and slick:

Truck, trailer, and excavator after getting ready to leave:

Close-up of dislocated fender:

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Day 2, Thursday, May 28 - digging trenches

Because the weather forecast was for a 60% chance of rain, I decided not to work on the water line but instead dug a trench just east of the driveway near the creek with plans to put in a french drain later (not knowing what the week had in store).

Day 3, Friday, May 29 - running errands and "Oops!"

On Friday my Beautiful Gal and I had appointments for haircuts at 9 AM. When it was time to pay, I discovered that I had left my wallet at home. We went back home, got the wallet, went back to town, and paid for the haircuts. Then my Beautiful Gal said that she should get her driver's license switched over while we were in town. Since her Texas driver license was going to expire at the end of June, I agreed. The Arkansas driver license office is next door to the hair salon, so we went in there to get her Arkansas driver license. The clerk there said that she would need to present her birth certificate to get her license. So we went back home a second time and got her birth certificate. When she went in with the birth certificate, the clerk told her that she needed to also present a copy of her marriage license. So we went back home a third time to get our marriage license, which my Beautiful Gal had framed hanging on the wall with pictures of our wedding and other pictures of our married life. (I think of it as the wall of Love -- god, I love that woman!) When she went in a third time with the marriage license, the clerk told her that she would need to remove the license from the frame, as it had to be scanned and emailed to the state capitol. She came back to the truck very upset (understandably so) and told me we had to remove the license from the frame. Using my pocket knife I cut off the backing from the frame, bent the retainer clips up, removed the cardboard insert, and removed the license, which my wife then took into the office. She finally managed to get her driver license. Because it was somewhat late in the day (~ 12:30), we decided to do some grocery shopping. We finally got home and ate lunch.

By the time we were finished with our errands and eating lunch, it was around 2:15. I did not want to start digging on the pipe right then, but I hated to waste that time not using the excavator. I decided I would try to remove the dirt above the pipe in the field where the pipe appeared to be leaking so that I would have less to do the next day. I carefully dug the dirt across pipe, removing a small layer at a time, trying not to dig too deeply and thereby cut the pipe. Then I noticed water bubbling up from the ground to my left toward the house. I looked to the right and water was bubbling up from the ground as well. I lifted up the bucket and noticed that I had snagged the water line with the bucket! I went to the water meter and shut off the water. I thought, "Oh, well, I guess I will start repairing the water line now." While I was at Home Depot getting the excavator I had bought 20' of 1" PVC pipe along with several water cutoff valves (1" was the size of the pipe near the house). But it wasn't until I looked at the pipe and discovered that the pipe was 1 1/2" that I knew I could not use the pipe that I had bought. By that time the hardware stores in the area had closed, so my repair would need to wait until the next day. I decided to go ahead and dig up the line so as to be ready to repair it early the next morning. But that night we had no running water and so had to clean off using wash rags.

Pipe after lifting the bucket:

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Day 4, Saturday, May 30 - first attempt at repair.

On Saturday I went to the hardware store and bought 40 feet (20 feet as spare) of PVC pipe, a cutoff valve, and couplers. To keep the fittings from coming loose, I also bought 3 3' steel rods to place around the 3 joints I would have, along with clamps to hold them to the PVC pipe. I put everything together, taking about 1/2 of the day to do it all. I then turned on the water and checked for leaks. No leaks. We were able to take a shower that night.

Trench before getting started with repair:

Repairs in place:

Day 5, Sunday, May 31 - second attempt at repair, part 1

On Sunday I went to the trench to see if it was leaking. The trench was half full of water. Because the water level was over the pipes and fittings, I assumed that the fittings were leaking somehow. With it being Sunday, the local hardware stores were closed. I headed to Lowe's in Fort Smith to buy additional PVC pipe and fittings. I also bought 2 10' galvanized pipe, as it was clear the steel rods were not stiff enough. On the way through the gate, I checked the water meter and confirmed that there was a leak, as the meter was turning, so I turned off the water. Once I got back from Lowe's and started to install the new PVC pipe to replace the pipe I installed on Saturday, I discovered that the PVC appeared not to be leaking. Instead, because the new PVC pipe bowed, the old PVC to which I had tied the new PVC on the east end had slid forward and come loose from its neighbor! So now, instead of having 20 feet of pipe to repair, I had 40' to repair! Because I had some extra PVC pipe and couplings, I went ahead and dug up the additional 20' and replaced the old PVC and the now bent new PVC with 40' of new pipe. But because I only had 20 feet of galvanized pipe, I dared not turn the water back on for fear that the unbraced PVC would bow again. So no water that night.

Trench with water:

Trench after baling out some of the water. Notice bowed pipes:

Day 6, Monday, June 01 - second attempt at repair, part 2

On Monday I went to the Booneville hardware store to buy new clamps and additional galvanized pipe. I learned that the hardware store did not sell 10' sections of pipe, only 21'. Since I could not carry 21' sections of pipe using only my truck but instead would have to get my 16' trailer, I decided instead to buy 4 6' sections of rebar, overlapping one end of the rebar with another, along with numerous clamps to hold them in place. While there I also bought 10 8"x8"x16" and 5 4"x16"x16" concrete blocks to use for bracing the pipe. Once I got home I clamped the rebar along the side of the pipe. After letting the glue dry long enough, I turned on the water. No leaks. But later that evening, before going to bed, I went to check on the pipes reinforced by the rebar. They had bowed just like my earlier attempt. I went to the water meter to see if there was a leak. There was. So I turned off the water, leaving us with no running water for a second night in a row.

bowed pipes:

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Day 7, Tuesday, June 02 - third attempt at repair

I removed the bowed section of PVC pipe, discovering in the process that an additional section of old PVC pipe had come loose. So instead of 40' to repair, I now had 60'! I decided to go to the hardware store taking my trailer so I could get the longer sections of pipe. Before going, I decided to unload the concrete blocks so they wouldn't be in the way. As I unloaded the blocks, I injured my back while picking up one of the 4"x16"x16" concrete blocks (which probably weigh around 100 lbs). I knew that injury would not be good, but I was determined get the water line repaired. At the hardware store I bought 3 21' sections of pipe (I wanted a spare section), along with more PVC pipe and couplings. I got everything installed by mid afternoon. After letting the glue dry, I turned on the water. No leaks. I waited another 2 hours and checked again. Still no leaks. Because the excavator was due back at Home Depot by 3 PM the next day, I decided that this time the repair had worked and started filling dirt back in. Ordinarily I would not fill the dirt back in until I had given it 24 hours, but because the excavator was due back the next day and because I thought that having the dirt in place would help hold the pipes in place, I decided to go ahead. I got about 10' of dirt filled back in when I got a call from the repair shop telling me my tractor was repaired. It was 4:30 and they closed at 5. I decided I wanted the tractor here right away; besides, the tractor could move dirt faster than the excavator.

So I went and got the tractor and brought it home. I put the mower on the back to serve as ballast and put the loader bucket on the front and went down to continue moving dirt into the trench, this time starting at the other end, getting about 15' moved. It was going so much faster, but I noticed that the engine was getting louder and louder. Finally, it got so loud that I decided to head to the shop with it. I got about 1/3 the way when the engine died, leaving the tractor stranded in the field (where it still sits). If loudness is any indication, the tractor's engine died a painful death. I decided to stop for the night. At least we had running water.

Day 8, Wednesday, June 03 - oh, no! more leaks!

The next morning I checked to see if there were any leaks. The trench was about 1/2 full of water, but there wasn't anything obvious. I hoped that it was just ground water that had soaked in. I went to the water meter to check, and it was just barely turning. I decided that everything was fixed. But as my Beautiful Gal drove me down to where the excavator was with me intending to drive it back to the house, as we got out I noticed water coming out of trench where I had piled the dirt at the east end. Another stupid leak! With 35' of pipe in the trench still uncovered, one would hope that the leak would happen there, where it would be easy to access. Instead, it was right at the end of the trench where I had connected the new pipe to the old, where I had put 10' of dirt. This meant that I would have to dig out the dirt again. Hours later I had dug out the dirt, cut off the old parts of pipe, cleaned it up, put in a new section, and reglued everything. After waiting 2 hours for the glue to dry, around 2:30 I turned on the water again. There was another leak, but this time at the other end of the trench, under the dirt! Again I dug out the dirt, and around 4:30 went and got more glue and clamps. By this time my back was really hurting and I was so tired I didn't even want to try to repair the leak. I went to bed early (even by my standards). No running water.

Leak #1:

Leak #2:

Day 9, Thursday, June 04 - finally!

The next morning my back was still hurting. Before I got started with fixing the pipe, my Beautiful Gal laid down the law and said that if the repair didn't work then we were going to call a plumber/construction company. I agreed, as I didn't think my back would hold out much longer. But I cut the pipe, spliced in a new section and glued it, then clamped the PVC pipe to the steel pipe. After waiting for the glue to dry, I turned on the water again. No leaks. But after thinking the repairs were finalized only to be proven wrong, I did not want to take the excavator back that day. So I left the trench open and waited to see if there were any more leaks. I cleaned up my tools for the first time in over a week. They were filthy. We had running water and could take a hot shower. Yay!

dirty tools:

Day 10, Friday, June 05 - returning the excavator

The next morning, I checked the trench to see if there was water in it. There was only a small amount, much lower than the pipes. I went to the water meter to see if it was moving. It was not moving at all. So it appeared that where I started digging may have been where it was leaking before I started the repairs. I then cleaned up the excavator and trailer and took it back. I got home around 4 PM.

My back is still hurting, though not as bad. I am just glad I got the water line fixed before my back gave out! But I don't think I want to rent an excavator any time soon.

 

[CntryBoy777]

Well @Senile_Texas_Aggie ....I surely ain't "rolling" at ya...believe-you-me.....it's just that I've been there and done that....I've put tandem-jacked ruts in sand....somewhere on Cape Cod...turning around with a 53' trailer..... .....bout 2am one morning I turned around on a very small private runway with a very narrow drive....the outside tires on all 4 tandems were off pavement to make the turn.......that was in NC....so, my hand is on your shoulder....but, one thing I learned....a transmission has a reverse gear in it and it can sure come in handy...........ya said ya was 50yards on the road....ya could backup real slow and saved time....but, ya would've missed out on the "Adventure".....

 

[CntryBoy777]

Did ya use schedule 40 pvc?.....if ya have to get the 21' sticks and aren't pulling the trlr to get it....ya can always buy a connector and cut it in half....course something to cut it with is on the truck...right?....glad ya found the problem.....sure hope the tractor is okay...........and hope ya ain't too stove up from the work.....

 

[Bruce]

Wow, you have some serious fortitude STA. I think I would be pondering the possibility of sleeping face down in the trench after the 4th leak. I guess that on the plus side you didn't need to dig up the pipe in a lot of places, install shutoffs and repeat until you found the leak. I sure hope that is the last one you have in this lifetime!

And I really hope your tractor is OK!!!!

 

[farmerjan]

Call the people that repaired the tractor and tell them to come get it. It is on them because even if your luck is not that good, you did not have it back long enough for anything to have gone wrong...

Hate to say it but it sounds like my subaru saga......

 

[Mike CHS]

Your adventures do give everyone a laugh but it is only because we have all been there.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

I'm glad you fixed the leak and I hope your tractor can be fixed! You had a very busy week.