Leaky lines and electrical sins

It really finally feels like it's warming up to be a proper summer. ...and now it feels like it just jumped from perfect temperatures to scorching heat in no time at all. Well, that bodes well for the first week of June, right?

It's just been another good life in the week. Paying bills, buying thing to fix the house, and watching money go faster than it comes. One of my big projects this week was a leak in my sprinkler line. I've dealt with many of these in my life- but never one that went under a rockbed driveway. So, I sort of spent a week trying to actually trace, within a rough square foot or two, where the leak was coming from. I finally traced it, finding a big old hollowed out dirt hole, which was naturally right next to the pinhole leak. After digging it out and putting a patch connector in the poly tube, I went to fire things back up, only to discover that the connector I put in, however well I did, was seeping water rapidly out between its gaps.

Frustrated, I turned things back off, cut out more line, inserted a patch piece, and two connectors to mend it together. So now it worked, right? Nope; turns out that pinhole leak must've been there so long it flared out some of that plastic, or something- in any case, I had to try one or two more times before it finally held properly. It was a real trifle... guess it's just preparing me for what to expect when I lay down some sprinklers in my back yard, here, soon.

The other big thing wasn't one thing- it was a number of small things- all electrical in nature. I installed an additional outlet in my furnace room; I also installed a light and switch in a closet of that same room; I replaced two bad receptacles with new ones. Easily the most notable of these projects was replacing the last 12 feet of wire going to my dryer. Whoever last worked with that wiring job did not one but two terrible things. Firstly, in the junction box, they connected the wires- not with wire nuts, like any normal person would do, but by twisting the wires together in opposite directions, and then covering the absolute heck out of it with electrical tape- which had very badly aged.

Although, as bad as that was to undo and then do right (seriously, it was WAY more work to do it the wrong way, why do it like that?!), it wasn't half as bad as the worse sin I had to undo. The last 12 feet of wire going to the dryer- a 220V appliance, was using 120V wiring. How? Oh, by simply using the ground wire as neutral, of course. Oh, did I mention the box where the plug terminates is also secured in place by a nice, convenient metal conduit, too? Well, I see nothing wrong with that, do you? I mean, of course, besides the fact that it's a miracle no one has burned this house down and died of electrical shock in the process. Just. wow.

I'm sure, of course that there's a host of electricians out there who would read this, smile, and tell me what a nice tea party of a problem that is, compared to some of the crap they've dealt with. And I'd believe it.

But that's pretty much been the meat of my spare time this week- small and simple fixes, and some that I had to do over and over until it worked right. Nothing too poetic about it, it's just another good but busy week in the life, really. Until next time, see ya!

Leaky lines and electrical sins

Adminisk8or

06/10/2024