Water Or The Lack Thereof

Water Or The Lack Thereof was Originally Posted on September 20, 2011 by lavarock

I went with Sandra across the island to Hilo today on an errand. She has a female chocolate Labrador who will not breed with her male companion Lab. She also seems to have an odd cycle so we took bothj dogs to the Vet in Hilo who specializes in canine reproduction issues.

On the way back we stopped at the Hilo Bay Cafe and had a nice lunch.

After arriving in Holualoa, I got in my truck and went into Kona to get a few dollars back on an item I was overchared with. I also looked for a canopy/garage (a 10′ by 20′ item) which I can dry my coffee under. You have to have airflow yet keep the rain off the drying parchment beans. I opted for the $119 one rather than $200 one. I would have prefered aluminum poles instead of steel, but it would have cost me about $200 and another trip into town. Those trips cost me about $15-$20 in gas or so each trip and take hours of my time. I just cannot afford to not pick coffee yet another day and have to process the stuff I have picked.

I got home at 7:30pm, let the dogs out for a few minutes and came in to fix them dinner. Tonight they had skirt meat (side meat from a cow). When I went to wash my hands, I found my water was off again. I used the alcohol hand sanitizer I have and jumped in the truck. My water meter is about a mile away, up the driveway, to the main road, down to the next street and then along that about 10 houses. I found the meter not spinning bu the valve was off. This emans my neighbor turned it off becauuse either it broke, or he broke it. I turned it on (being late in the evening and figuring he fixed the pipe and was letting it dry. The meter spun for 5 minutes, which meant that it is still broken and not pressurizing. I turned it back off.

My water runs from the meter through a anti-siphon backflow preventer then the PVC runs along the poperty live of my neighbors below me and up to my house. My property lines are staggered from the ones below me.

Here we use lots of PVC for water pipes and it is all above ground. Back where I used to live in Georgia, the pipes are buried like everywhere else. When my pipe broke back there, I had to hire a ditch witch (a ditch digger) to dig up the pipe and fix it. Now I don’t have to do that.

My water lines for the irrigation system are all Driscoll pipes or what is called HDPE, a plack plastic somewhat flexible pipe. SInce I would not need much (and it can be 3/4″, I may just buy a big roll and have it run from my house t othe meter and eliminate the PVC. It would lessen the chance of water problems again.

Because this pipe is somewhat hidden and goes through the neighbors property, I am tempted to put a pressure alarm on it. If there is water pressure the alarm is off, but if the pressure drops, I would get an alarm or phone call. Even while traveling I could tell that I had lost pressure and call my neighbor to check on it.

Another idea would be to run a pair of wires to the meter. If pressure dropped at the house, the valve at the street could be turned off automatically. This would help in the event the pipe breaks on its own and I am away all day or longer. The cost of the valve is fairly cheap and I have various valves already here as replacements for the irrigation system. These are similar to ones you may have for your yard sprinkler system.

In the meantime, the dogs have water in their dish and I have some bottled spring water for brushing my teeth. If I have to wash my hands, I can also use that bottled water.

As for flushing the toilet, I do have 20,000 gallons of water just a short walk away from the house in a big catchment tank, so I think I’m covered on that front. I can even use it to pulp my coffee but I’m sure the neighbor will have my pipe fixed by then.