What did you do in your garden today?

[Esther Knapicius]

@Sean Regan , wow you got some nice fluffy snow. Pretty. Just a good frost over here. see what the sun does. hoping some drying ----take the ridding mower out to mulch and remove some more leaves. But looking good. Should get camera shots of the huge hills of leaves in the woods, but just trust me---they are huge.

 

[Sean Regan]

It was a good job a couple of days ago, I'd turned off the water supply to the garage from the tap below the kitchen window.

After I'd cleared all the leaves from the patio this afternoon, as it was a bit warmer, I decided to clear the ice and put fresh water in the two bird baths. So I turned on the tap below the kitchen window. I walked down to the side door of the garage and when I opened it to fill a jug from the tap over the basin, I found a jet of water coming from the joint that connects the water to the water heater's tap. So I quickly turned it all off again.
Had I not turned off the main supply tap when I did, that burst could have happened 24 hours ago and I wouldn't have been aware of it until today. In the event, there was no damage as not a lot of water escaped and the "freezer room" which has a decking floor will soon dry out.
Tomorrow I'll visit my local plumber's wholesaler and get a new control valve. The Santon water heater was second-hand when I acquired it in the late seventies, but they are pretty much "bulletproof." The valves are of a pretty common type, so they should have a suitable replacement.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

again raining. we have two shut off water valves on the pipes that directly go to the outside faucets. one in the back and one is the front of the house. Guess you @Sean Regan probably do also. Also, as we have a well pump. prior to going on any vacation we turn the whole house off at the pump area so no water issues. Over time had to replace all the copper pipping as well water can eat up the copper and cause little pin holes of spray (in the basement). So today, sitting at desk still working on a large file in anticipation for taxes next year. Fun.

 

[Sean Regan]

again raining. we have two shut off water valves on the pipes that directly go to the outside faucets. one in the back and one is the front of the house. Guess you @Sean Regan probably do also. Also, as we have a well pump. prior to going on any vacation we turn the whole house off at the pump area so no water issues. Over time had to replace all the copper pipping as well water can eat up the copper and cause little pin holes of spray (in the basement). So today, sitting at desk still working on a large file in anticipation for taxes next year. Fun.

I may have mentioned before, but for months we'd had a tiny leak in our central heating system which was impossible to find. It meant I was having to put in nearly half a pint of water into the system every couple of weeks, as to not do so, the pressure would eventually drop enough to trip out the boiler and it wouldn't come on again until it had been topped up with water.

It wasn't coming from the radiators, the usual suspects and I didn't fancy pulling up carpets and floorboards to check the pipework as there was no guarantee that I'd ever find it.
Anyway, I found this stuff called "Sentinel" on the internet, it looked very popular given the amount being sold by several vendors.
It's like "Radweld for central heating systems."
Adding a litre of this stuff to the system has cured the week and it's been three months since I did it.
Sixteen quid well spent!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Wish I had been as prudent, I had all the outside pipes well lagged, but came home from brother in law's today to find a jet of water shooting through the lagging. Soon got it turned off, and it is only a ten or twelve inch section of pipe that I can soon replace, but I am wondering how long it had been going, and what the water bill will be like. I resent paying the water company anyway, they pump huge amounts of sewage into the sea because it is cheaper to pay the fines than process it, do nothing about building much needed reservoirs and pay their directors massive bonuses from their huge profits.

 

[Sean Regan]

This is the replacement available for the faulty valve for my water heater.

But it's £55 plus postage. I could get a new water heater for that.

I found this on eBay for £10.39 It'll fit with "a bit of fettling."

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Well worth the fettling, Sean.
The valve for my outside tap is an in line tap turned with a screwdriver. It is under the sink which was fitted later and there is a hole in the back of the cabinet to access it, unfortunately that is level with the shelf in the under-sink cupboard. That was full of bottles of dish washer, water softener, etc. , very full, and I had to take them all out to get the shelf out to access the hole. That was up against the cupboard wall so I had to balance a torch to shine through it while I turned the tap using a screw driver in my left hand. Why are these things never simple? Oh, and only having one eye made judging the distance to get the driver in the slot difficult, I have mostly got used to it now, but there are odd things like that that still make life difficult.

 

[Sean Regan]

Tell me about it, to get at anything in our house, I have to move a load of my wife's stuff first.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

@Sean Regan , copper pipping and well water is always a bad mix. overtime many pipes will develop pin holes to just spray water about the basement. Lucky for us, my husband and his brother are good at that, so just the cost of the materials. And folks want to buy copper piping.

 

[Sean Regan]

Traditionally, we in the UK have always used copper piping. It took over from Victorian lead pipe. Our water comes from reservoirs in the Lake District. There's little well water used anywhere. For the last twenty years, copper has been replaced by "speed-fit" systems, which are suitable for hot or cold water. It's plastic pipe, so it doesn't burst if it freezes. The connections are just "push on and turn."
But it isn't worth changing the copper to it in the garage.
It's all, "speed-fit" in our bathroom which was re-done ten years ago and I used it 12 years ago when I installed a couple of sprinklers in our lawn.

This was a "dry run".. well "....wet run," when I connected it all to make sure it worked before I buried it.
In warm weather, I can turn it on at any time and it always works.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

27 F here this morning. Added more suet to the bird feeders. Have a lot of blue birds, those pretty kind with the beautiful blue backs and orange bellies. Some small black and white wood peckers, once in a while a large bird wood pecker with a red top will appear. They are also still cleaning off the calicarpia berries on the shrub just beside the house. Imagine the two other calicarpia down by the gazebo are all cleaned off by now. Have to order up some bird seeds for the feeder and more suet.
@Sean Regan ---as far as well water, lots of folks about sit over wells. In my area we have under us what is called an aquafer, meaning its tons of water. On the back boarder of my property runs a creek, the water just bubbles up from the earth up stream. We also have a septic tank, and many of us do also in this area, knock wood, these 38 years no issues.
Says it will get up to 36F later, maybe I can rake a couple areas later. But Christmas baking plans are on my list also, need more butter.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Our last house had a well in the back garden, we were the middle one of three pairs of farm cottages which were only connected to the mains water in the mid 1950's. Where we live now is the end of a cul-de-sac that runs down hill slightly. The houses uphill from us are connected to the main sewer, but we are too low down and share a septic tank with the house next door. It always surprises me a bit that things are still like this on the edge of a village in civilised, populated Southern England.

Today I cleared some snow and moved wood into the garage where it is accessible. Not a day for gardening, though I will top up the heater in the greenhouse in a bit.

 

[Amateur Gardener]

The gusts of wind and heavy rain caused my Calamansi tree to come crashing down. I needed my neighbor's help to prop it back up again.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

It's a nasty combination, the rain loosens the roots. Hope it recovers okay.

 

[Esther Knapicius]

Today shrubs are covered with a thin layer of ice, pretty drip forms. and it continues to rain and ice. So inside work for me.