Water Pressure Problem

[Marcel R. Cyr]

Glad to here that Larry, and don't worry, not much changes up here in twenty years.

[Brian E. Kelly]

Originally Posted by lrollins

All this pressure vs. volume flow rate talk has reminded me of a situation I had back in the 80"s. This was pre-HI for me as I owned a hardware store in the boonies of northern NH. I designed a water system for a customer and sold the product to him. His own plumber did the install. It involved an open well with pump and x-trol tank at the well, approx.1200 feet of 2inch black plastic water pipe to the house, and another x-trol tank there at the house.
The system was installed using 2-600 foot rolls of 2" pipe buried 6 feet deep while the house was being built and all seemed well until the family moved in. The owner started complaining that the water pressure fluctuated wildly and at times they could get very little water. At other times all was well.
I spent a half day testing the pumping end and the recieving ends of the system.... all was well! However, I did note that the when the house used water the house tank lost pressure rapidly and the pump end of the system could not make it up fast enough. Something was wrong with the 1200 feet of pipe. I surmised that a rock had been laid on the pipe while backfilling and had crimped the pipe. I had seen it many times before on smaller systems. But where? Would we have to dig up the entire pipe to find it. And, who would pay for all the digging and replacement of the pipe.
There was alot of arguing, blaming, and finger pointing over the next couple of weeks, including towards the manufacturer of the pipe. It was settled that it would be dug up and whoever was responsible for the fault, including the manufacturer, would pay. And, all of us would pay if no fault was found at all.
The morning of the "big dig" I awoke about 4:00 am and kept thinking "what could it be if not a rock crimping the pipe. I arrived on site at 6:30 am and by the time the two backhoes arrived I had an idea. I asked one backhoe driver to start in the middle of the pipe and dig up the only connection in the entire 1200 feet. It took about 1/2 hour and up came the center pipe connection. Except, what should have been a 2 inch coupling(double clamped on both sides) was a gomme of reducing couplings and about three feet of 3/8 inch soft copper tubing. The plumbers crew had come up three feet short (on a friday afternoon) and instead of taking the time to get the right fittings and pipe, they had used whatever they could find on the truck. Starting in the middle had saved alot of money that day. And once the plumber saw the jury-rig he wrote a check on the spot and took care to repair the piping himself (mud and all).
The day ended on a very happy note with plenty of beer to go around(purchased by the plumber, of course) and not a lawyer in sight. Today, in Metro Nashville, I long for those days, out in the country of Northern New Hampshire, where Men might argue, even piss and moan at each other, but all the while knowing that, in the end, if the problem was to be solved, everyone involved had to come together to solve it. The only ones that didn't make out so well, were the guys on the crew that had come up with that friday afternoon jury-rig in the first place!

I must have missed something??

You long for the days where A Holes install half assed crap??

Or you long for the days where the guys that installed the crap won't come forward and tell someone what they did and save everyone the time and aggravation to correct it?

Ahhh the good old days.

[Wayne B. Wilson]

Check the shut off valves also if they are older ones they can be installed backwards , Look for a arrow

[Larry F. Rollins]

Originally Posted by bkelly2

I must have missed something??

You long for the days where A Holes install half assed crap??

Or you long for the days where the guys that installed the crap won't come forward and tell someone what they did and save everyone the time and aggravation to correct it?

Ahhh the good old days.

You missed the point my good man. If you had ever had employees you would know that the situation you took as the point above will exist until the end of time. The by gone days that "are missed" by me are those days when in the end we stopped caring who was right and who was wrong and came together to solve the problem. Today we have "progressed" to a point where it is more important than anything else to be "right". Bring on the lawyers boys.... we will prove ourselves correct or take everyone around us down too.... screw the problem!

Or maybe, you didn't miss the point and just enjoy seeing the negative side. Who knows? Each to his own......!
"Not everyone follows the same path"

[Brian E. Kelly]

The point being a couple of lazy "Plumbers" screwed up a simple pipe run, and then weeks later an entire crew had to correct the problem wasting everyones time and energy. Happens everyday at jobstes everwhere, without lawyers, to this day.

Ya, I miss those days too. And those "Plumbers".