Flexible water main., metal

[Tekkie©]

On Mon, 20 Sep 2021 16:47:08 -0700 (PDT), Marilyn Manson posted for all of us to digest...

All the heavy metals & carcinogens in one frankenfish.

[Tekkie©]

On Mon, 20 Sep 2021 20:00:32 -0400, [e-mail] posted for all of us to digest...

We had 'a guy', Freddie that would show up with his backhoe and gas line tools

*mysteriously*. He was not available that day?? He was not a member and did good deeds. Unfortunately he moved away.

[gfretwell]

They have water and a force main on the main drag at the entrance to our community but when they put that in 30 years ago we said no. We would still need a lift station there. Water is easy but that is not what they are concerned with. They want everyone on sewer. We are a low priority tho. I am ambivalent about it. The water is going to be the same as I get from my well and I just freshened up my leach field. There is an advantage to getting rid of the pumps but I would still have most of my water treatment stuff. The sewer hookup will involve tearing up some floor in the house. It just depends on which way I go. When we remodeled the bathroom I had it in mind and all I will lose there is the generic mosaic tile in the shower. That is <$100. The rest will go through rooms with 30 year old carpet on the floor that could be replaced with something else anyway. Cutting concrete isn't hard, it is just dirty. I think I will go through my computer room if it happens. That is the least disruptive. It just involves moving a lot of stuff.

[angelica...]

We had an advantage there. Everything goes out (drain) and comes in (water supply) the basement wall at the front of the house.

When we installed the drain line, which runs from the back of the house (more convenient to the septic tank) to the front along the interior basement walls, we providently put in a cleanout a few feet from the front wall penetration. Later, when we added an illicit toilet, we used that cleanout for its drain, as it was pretty close to the floor. Had to build a platform for the toilet. It looks like a throne on a dais.

Cindy Hamilton

[Marilyn Manson]

I have a similar situation, but with a sink. The water comes in and the waste go out at the front wall, in a basement bathroom. When we moved in, the bathroom was about as rustic as you can imagine. Cheap shower stall and a big ole 5 gallon toilet, no sink. Exposed stud walls with the studs being whatever scraps of wood the installer had available. The wall board was some kind of 1/2" thick cardboard material. It was one sad looking room.

The shower stall had no base. You stood right on the slab. The drain was a hole drilled in the slab, sized to fit one of those drop in kitchen sink strainers. There was proper plumbing was under the slab, so I think this was original to the 1950's built house.

There is a cleanout right outside the shower. When I remodeled, I jack hammered the slab to put in a proper shower base and drain, but connecting a sink drain to the cast iron pipes would have been a major job. Instead, I replaced the cleanout cap with a PVC reducer and ran the 1.5" sink drain into that. Since it's not under pressure, I didn't glue the drain pipe into the reducer, so it can be removed in a matter of seconds. After that, I can unscrew the reducer and have full access to the 4" cleanout.

My neighbor has a similar setup, except that his cleanout is *inside* the shower stall. As far as I know, he's never added a proper shower base because of that.

[gfretwell]

No basement here so I am either piping around the house or under the slab. It is about 14 feet so no huge deal. I just need to get my computer room cleared out and get a concrete saw. I will rough it out to the outside of the wall and let a guy with a back hoe go from there. I will bring the water in there and pipe it through the attic to my water room where the water heater, R/O and softener is.

[angelica...]

Cool. Because the ground freezes up here, I think we had to trench down 13 feet to meet the water main and sewerage.

Cindy Hamilton

[gfretwell]

Water generally doesn't freeze here and a lot of piping is above ground.

[Phil Kangas]

How about Flin Flon Manitoba. All the water and sewer lines are above ground. Why? It's all rock up there. The water and sewer lines are above ground in a square box-like manifold with a steam line too that is hooked up to the mine smelter to keep it all thawed out ! It sure gets cold up there !

[Marilyn Manson]

13 feet? Where do you live, Kotzebue? ;-)

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Kotzebue,+AK+99752/@54.9937025,-148.8232208,4z I've been there. Friendly folks.

[angelica...]

Michigan. The frost line is about 4 feet. I don't know why the utilities are so far down.

Cindy Hamilton

[Marilyn Manson]

Same 4' where I live. Not sure where the actual utilities are, but 13' seems just a tad deep. ;-)

I had to have my water shut off last winter. Here's how they do it around here...

Full disclosure: The valve box was rusted shut so he had to cut the box off and replace it. I poured him a big mug of coffee for his troubles.

[gfretwell]

The location of the sewer is determined by gravity until you hit the first pump station and I guess they drop the water in the same hole a discrete distance away. Some of those gravity mains can get pretty deep.

[angelica...]

Hell, it was 20 years ago. I remember a ginormous hole in the front yard where they put the directional drill rig. We ought to have pictures, but I think we were still using film at that time, so they'd be the devil to find.

The drain exits the house at about 7 feet below grade, and there's a pretty brisk slope down to where it meets the municipal sewer.

There's about 9 feet of clay down to the next layer, which is sand. We were well into the sand before the pipe turned to cross under the street.

13 feet sticks in my brain, but so do a lot of things.

Cindy Hamilton

[Scott Lurndal]

1) so homeowners and street crews don't accidentally dig into them 2) To maintain the appropriate drainage slope for sewer lines.

[gfretwell]

I never really knew that much about sewers but I talk to our public works director about lots of things. I usually speak for about 100 homeowners when I talk to them so they do answer my calls. I got a real good rundown on the sewer plan here, learned about lift stations, gravity lines and force mains. They will be running the sewer down the center of the road. That surprised me but he says that is common. The depth in front of a particular house is based on the fall from the highest entry to the top of the lift station sump. Our lift station will be about 3/4ths of a mile from the first house so that is quite a drop. The line coming out of my house will be about 24" down and like you, the drop to the street will be steep. He told me that as long as your floor is higher than the road you should not have the sewer backing up into your house. It should blow out of the manhole cover. Unfortunately some of my neighbors are below the road. That would not have me sleeping well at night.

[Marilyn Manson]

"Steep" is not a good word to use when talking about sewers.

Too much slope is sometimes a bad thing. The liquids may move so fast that the solids get left behind. Obviously a well designed drain system would account for that.

I'm pretty sure that my pipes are not 13' underground. If you've ever heard the saying "It's all down hill from here", that's where I live.

It's down hill in every direction. To the east and south it's essentially a cliff. My neighbor was dumping some leaves down the hill and stepped on a small branch. The branch rolled backwards and he pitched forward, head first down the hill. When he showed up on my doorstep in some serious pain, he said he did 3 or 4 somersaults before he began to roll sideways. He didn't stop until he rolled into a tree and cracked 4 rips. He wanted me to help him back to his house to lie down. I opted to call an ambulance, which turned out to be a good idea. I (and he) are not really sure how he managed to crawl up the hill and make his way to my house.

[angelica...]

I figured it was something like that.

Cindy Hamilton

[angelica...]

I'm pretty sure my basement is below the road. The sewer's first egress point is the basement toilet.

On the plus side, a lot of people would have their sewers back up before me, since we're at the end of the line.

Cindy Hamilton

[Marilyn Manson]

The end of the line?

Do you live at the treatment plant? ;-)