Partly cloudy, sunny right now and faint tiny snow flakes floating around. First "snow" of the season. 37ºF right now with 41ºF forecast. Might turn to rain before it gets here. Or even dry up.
Have a friend that put two Mr cool DIY units this spring in but wondering how they do in the real cold. I have hot air heat in the house and wood heat in the shop. I'm putting Frost King plastic on my house windows this afternoon.
You can hear it. Sound like a fan or air purifier sounds. Very soft sound. We have about 1000 sq ft. Keeps it very cool or warm depending on your needs. As for cost. You can get one for about $4 grand. Our state has a 1000 dollar rebate. we used our stimulus checks and with the rebate only had $100 out of pocket. My son put one in for his "herbs" . He did a self install and only has about $1000 in it. Bought a self install kit on line. it cools like nothing else and only sips electricity. Several of my friends have them. Not one of them has regrets. If you try for rebates, make sure your installer is registered for the rebate program with the state and make sure he uses a unit that qualifies for the rebate.
Water still not fixed. I have over 1000 foot of water line. Installed a shutoff at 600 feet to the road, still leaking. Then installed shutoff at 300 foot to the road. Leak is in between the road shutoff and 300 ft shut off. Either that or the meter is bad, ( doubtful.) Debating whether to call a plumber to locate or just rent a machine to dig the whole thing up. With the impending cold I am running out of time.
Yeah those meters can go bad, but not read when there is no flow, so its going somewhere. So water must not be coming to the surface? I know with rocky/sandy ground that can happen easily...even with our clay heavy soil around here there can be a layer of shale beneath...when water hits that its gone! Do you have plastic or metal line (plastic is my guess at that distance) There are leak location services out there (use a VERY sensitive listening device) but they are not cheap, nor in every town. Might could start digging if you know where the line runs, just dig part way down, look for a wet spot? Another option (especially if its a plastic line, but it works with metal too) is to hire a plumber that can pull the new line through the old...they shove a cable through the old line, hook it onto a tool that both splits the old line open and pulls the new line through with it as it goes...its pulled through with a backhoe or excavator...works pretty darn well.
The leak is approximately a tenth of a gallon every 30 seconds, or 12 gallons an hour. I don't see any wet spots anywhere, the ground is extremely thick clay. The water line is plastic. I'm going to call a plumber tomorrow. I don't know if listening equipment would work with the thick clay soil. I might cut my distance in half again and put in one more shutoff. Its a potential failure point added but I'm up a creek. I appreciate the help and suggestions, luckily I took the next two days off to deer hunt but I have bigger fish to fry. If the water line would not potentially burst I would just run it all winter and pay the high bill. Then take care of it when it warms up.
You could dowse to find the leak location. Or find an experienced local dowser. Dowsers | American Society of Dowsers | ASD - American Society of Dowsers | Dowsing | Dowsers | ASD
That would find the line...never seen it used on a small leak though...and I work with guys that do it. The other trick that works when you have clay or a road surface that is stopping the water from coming to the surface, or coming up at the leak, is to drill down along the line every so many feet and see where the water comes up first, or the highest...just don't go deep enough to hit the line...you'll find another leak then! You'd probably want to weld an extension (round stock) onto a long masonry bit...maybe a 1" x 18" those are pretty easy to find, and not terrible expensive. Would take a good cordless drill in low gear to turn that probably...and a few batteries. Just throwing out ideas...
I think you can dowse for leaks as well as pipes, but I'm not sure of the technique. An experienced dowser would probably know? A lot of people dismiss dowsing but it does work.
Yes it does...seen it with my own eyes...I've done it some too, but not very good at it compared to some.
Contractor right down the road from me does it. I was doing some work here and having him haul some materials in. We were taking and he grabbed some bent clothes hangers out of his pickup. Never seen it done and I knew where my septic lines were but didn’t tell him. He was spot on hitting them. I guess it works.
Had that same thing happen to me earlier this year. We hired the trench dug and replaced the line. Salvation in my case was it was only a short distance from the well to the house. Maybe about 30 feet. Was put down in 1975. Only thing we could think of was maybe a rock and frost. No frost deep down last year so really no real understanding why it cracked, but it did. There was a heck of a lot of water where it was found Down about 4 feet.
It definitely works. I have a couple dowsing rods hanging in the garage. Never know when you'll need them.
I've used wire, like an old coat hanger and can usually find a water or drain line but I'm not real good like some. I remember when Judy and I put in a well. After 2 tries (kept hitting rock) we went to an uncle to come find water for us. He cut a branch and within a couple minutes told me to move about 10' or something like that. It worked!
Gramps dosed with a willow branch, he was good his father, he said was better. He put it this way, if you have 100 head of cows and farm with horses. It less work to find water than carry it
