Hobo Jungle

[healey36]

I'm pretty sure I couldn't even tread water for 54 hours...I admire her persistence (this was her fifth attempt). Further evidence that, given the skill, one can accomplish pretty much anything. Hat's off to Ms. Nyad.

Wayne - does this mean your place is currently without water until you replace that pipe?

[webenda]

Healy,

I have cold water, it was the hot water pipe leaking. I closed the valve and shut off power to the electric water heater.

Whoever plumbed the house ran the hot and cold water pipes out side to the bathroom and laundry room to avoid having to dig up the concrete floors inside the house should a leak ever occur.

I do have to be very careful digging up the pipes so as to not break the cold water pipe. Being without any water would be very inconvenient.

This project is going slower than I expected. Thunderstorm going on outside, so I am inside waiting it out. Hope I can hit the "Submit" button before neighborhood power gets zapped by the lightning again.

[jw_clarke54]

Wayne,check out the thermal properties of the CPVC Before installing on Hot water. Just a heads up. there may be another type of plastic piping that is used in Commercial plumbing ie hospitals, though it may not be cheap. James TX

[webenda]

Thank you James. Everyone seems to have a different rating for their CPVC. The stuff at Lowe's is rated for 180 °F, 100 PSI and costs $0.50/foot. I'm gonna need about 30 feet so say $15 for tubing and about the same for fittings. Estimate $30 in materials and $3,000 in labor digging through these cussed tree roots that have covered the pipes in the last 30 years. My labor is free, but I have to go slow to avoid heat stroke in 106 degree weather between thunder storms.

As I noted above we had a thunder storm during my last post. It struck the power pole behind my house, took out power in my entire neighborhood and surrounding areas as well. The computer kept going on battery power, but the internet connection went out with the power. Haven't these Internet Service Providers (ISP's) ever heard of battery backup?

The power surge from lightning took out my evaporative cooler. I thought it was just the fuse, but a new fuse blew while I was putting it in.

---NOTE to myself--- Turn off main power when replacing a fuse, it might be less exciting that way.

I think I see part of the damage to the cooler. This is the power plug to the water pump in the cooler.

[rogruth]

That does look like a problem.

[v8vega]

Webenda is your cooler up on the roof? Mine is and at my age I'm no fan of going up there each spring to clean it out, put in new pads, put water in and hope it doesn't leak. And then in the fall drain the water and shut the water off. In 5 years I'll be 75 and then really not thrilled to go up there.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Haven't these Internet Service Providers (ISP's) ever heard of battery backup?

My router and hardware from mine does have battery back-up. Of course, if the problem is between the house and wherever, then all bets are off.

---NOTE to myself--- Turn off main power when replacing a fuse, it might be less exciting that way.

I've heard that that might be true and it sounds like you may have tested that hypothesis already,

I think I see part of the damage to the cooler. This is the power plug to the water pump in the cooler.

Well, that certainly may have a bit of impact on functionality. Hopefully, you don't have electrical damage after the plug....

[webenda]

My neighbors assure me Comcast's router does not work when the power goes down. I did not know because I just got a UPS two weeks ago. I called Comcast to see if it were true about the ISP router and was told to disconnect power to my modem for 15 seconds then plug it in to reboot. I told her my modem has five hour internal battery back-up and unplugging it for 15 seconds does nothing except cause the "Power" light to flash. Did she want me to take it apart and pull the battery (Comcast rents it to me.) No, she said, don't take it apart, I will send out a service technician to do that. When I assured her the modem was working just fine, she then wanted me to go outside and make sure the cable connections to my service box were tight. I told her I was not going to check my connections just because Comcast service went down with the power outage last night, I want to know if Comcast has battery backup during power failures. She said she would contact technical service and they should get back to me within 48 hours.

My house has plug fuses. The 1 6/10 amp pump fuse was blown. As I screwed a new one in I heard arcing, then the fuse vibrated, lit up inside and said, "Phffft." That would have been fun if I was an adrenaline junkie.

After replacing the plug on pump and socket in cooler, I Ohmed it out. Plug to motor coil, two ohms. Center pin short to motor frame. Other two plug pins open to motor frame. The pump tested fine when plugged into a kitchen socket. Put pump back in cooler, turned cooler on, welded the switch into permanent on position and blew the 20 amp cooler fuse. There is no way I miss wired the new plug… is there? I mean, white to white, black to black, green to green, red to red, brown to… wait, there are two brown wires. I decided to look at the unnecessary wiring diagram. Doh!!! I connected the smooth brown wire (hot) to the white wires (neutral.) The ribbed brown wire should have gone to neutral.

OK, swapped smooth and ribbed brown wires, installed new switch, new 20 amp fuse and now I am freezing here in Tucson. Better turn cooler to low for a while.

[rogruth]

When in trouble/doubt,read the directions.

OOPS

I like yours better anyway.

This won't make sense since I edited spelling after Wayne posted his answer below.

[webenda]

I thought that was, "When in trouble, when in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout!"

[webenda]

Webenda is your cooler up on the roof? Mine is and at my age I'm no fan of going up there each spring to clean it out, put in new pads, put water in and hope it doesn't leak. And then in the fall drain the water and shut the water off. In 5 years I'll be 75 and then really not thrilled to go up there.

Yes, but I have a very uncommon 1 pitch roof, so it is easy to work on the cooler, almost like being on a deck.

My cooler on roof.

Cooler on Roof 600.jpg (192.91 KiB) Viewed 2330 times

My neighbor fell trying to make the transition from a ladder to his 6 pitch roof. He was in the hospital for a long time with back injuries. He moved his cooler to
a platform on the ground so he does not have to risk another fall. It ties into his existing ductwork.

Neighbor's cooler on side of house.

Cooler on side of house 600.jpg (231.37 KiB) Viewed 2296 times

[webenda]

Popper
Popping Pod
Desert Petunia
Purple Mexican Petunia
Ruellia brittoniana
http://www.floridata.com/ref/r/ruellia.cfm

Another weed invasion in my cactus garden. I thought they were pretty, the plant being three feet tall with 1.5 inch purple flowers, so I watered it.
Now I have thousands and can't see my cactus. Locals call them "Poppers" because when you water them the seed pods make a popping sound as they
throw their seeds. Mexican petunia is listed as a Category I invasive species by the Florida Exotic Pest Plant Council. Well, I've got news for The Arizona
Invasive Species Advisory Council (AISAC), it is invading my yard in Tucson. I pull one plant and two more appear. I cut them down so I can see the
cactus and they grow back taller. Yet... I feel sorry for them when there is not enough rain and they start wilting, so I water them. I must be crazy.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Love that intense color - maybe a nuisance weed, but that's some flower. Maybe putting some into a captive concrete pot and the wiping the rest out with glyphosate? Guess being careful about the cacti may be a challenge though.

[v8vega]

Los Angeles taxpayers are giving a i Pad to every elementary school kid. They cost $678 each because of instructional software on them, the cost is one billion total includes wireless network to every school.650,000 will be given out by 2015, a few schools have them now. The taxpayers were sold on a bond measure to repair schools, and were deceived, this money is being used. There is no concern about broken, lost and stolen i Pads.
Los Angeles schools, city, county and state are completely controlled by Democrats, they do anything they want, its mob rule.

[v8vega]

Brakie on the Model Railroader forum sees O gauge as a tin sheathed model train set whistling and clattering its way around the tree. As I read the Model Railroader forum a lot of HO'ers see us that way. Now that MTH is producing HO they will criticize them any and every way they can think of obvious because of their O gauge beginning and so it cant be up to their high standards of exact scale and must be scorned no matter how good.
Drivers license for illegal aliens and a $10 minimum wage for everyone is near certain to pass in California. They have been trying for license for illegals for years. The illegals vote for Democrats so they will do anything to accommodate them. They are a protected class.Calif is wholly controlled by Democrats.