The Leak . . .

We had a bothersome leak in the irrigation system.  It is in the addition we put in in the rear of the back yard.  Our good friend and at that time, neighbor, got the materials for us.  He had been in the irrigation business and was the Secretary for the Texas Irrigation Contractors Association.  So he knows what he is doing.

Unfortunately the glue he got was no good.  And over time joint and after joint in that addition has come apart.  Of course, normal expansion and contraction adds to the problem but this glue was worthless.  So I find the leaks, and reseal using newer glue.  The new stuff works.

Well I dug up the spot and found the leak,  it had nothing to do with the bad glue.  I had to use some hose to make a joint.  The two pipes crossed at less than 90 degrees, more like 70 degrees and they do not make joints like that.  So I used two nipples that screw on to the PVC connections and pushed on the hose.  It was somewhat hard to do but I got it done.  That was five years ago.

The hose was leaking where it was pushed on the nipple.  The nipple had ridges to prevent that but it leaked anyway.  Once I found it, I went and got a hose clamp, the kind that have a band that is tightened by a screw mechanism.  I threaded that around the hose on the nipple and tightened it down with a screw driver.  The leak is fixed!

That area has been a bad spot.  I had to resort to slip joints because of the expansion/contraction going on.  It has no less than two of them installed.  And of course, it has the off angle joint in the same area.  Maybe it will hold up for awhile.

I had to wait for the weather to abate a little bit.  It got to 70 degrees plus yesterday.  It was not that warm at 10 AM but it was above 45 degrees when I started the digging.  I dug down enough to see where the leak would be.  Then I turned on the well.

I knew it would take a few minutes to develop the location, so went over and filled up the bird baths.  Well I had next to no pressure.  Went and check the well and another of my neighbors glue joints had quit.  I shut down the well, uncover the plumbing (got insulation over the pipe to keep it from freezing) and there it was- a complete separation of an elbow.  The opposite end of the elbow had been fixed a month before.  Got my blue glue, and a rag; dried off the joint and slapped on the glue.  Quickly pressed the joint together.

Turned on the well 20 or so minutes later, joint fixed, leaked fixed, and pressure up everywhere.

Ready for Spring - in more ways than one.  Weather person said while we did not have any record lows and a couple of record highs, we had twice as many days with freezing temperatures occurring over night.  So yes, it was a cold winter and now it is time for it to depart.

Gotta go spray the Peach trees.