Tuesday, June 23, 2009

...fixing the hose



ah...the lovely flower boxes...almost filled-in...
and then... the drip/soakerhose system crashed...
no water was coming through, though I had just repaired it...
exploring further, I found the reason...



a weak spot in the 30 year-old hose had sprung a huge leak...
and my duct tape application wasn't working anymore...
[when I found the leak, it was due to the sound of water...
spewing everywhere...& there was a large lake...]



the hose also leaked at the faucet...



and who knows how many other places...
as it had become buried over the years...
snaking its way around the boxes...
to provide water for the southwestern part of the yard...
as well as the fence flower boxes...

I prefer the drip/soaker to just hand watering...
because it takes less of my time & attention...
and seems to water more completely & thoroughly..



so I gave myself a massive sneezing attack...
by digging in the dusty drip parts boxes in the garage...
coming up with 3/4-1/2" connection parts...
that I needed for this project...
[I had lots of 1/4"...too small...]



as well as 100' of 1/2" drip hose...
that was NOT pre drilled for drip attachments...
seen here with the faucet connector installed...
the pre-drilled will come to leak over time...



and here, connected to the faucet...
complete with filter, anti-syphon valve & pressure regulator..



of course there were "issues"...
and literal "kinks" in the hose to work out...
due to my dearth of digits, I used the pliers to squeeze out the kinks...



I followed a "higher" level of the original hose path...
the reasons should be obvious...



though there was a benefit, in that the kinks were visible...
and the sun should relax the plastic, allowing the kinks to disappear...



this is the 2nd attempt to tighten the connection...
between the hose coupling & the valve...
the shattered bits of blue plastic were the 1st...
I turned it too tight with the pliers & it shattered...
luckily, there was another the right size...



here you see the now working [!] new hose...
and the old green one beside it...
all accomplished with the parts I had on hand...
sometimes, being a packrat can be a good thing...

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