HISSSSSSSSSS!

[Lightspeed]

Typical! New cold water coffin tank was ordered yesterday, and twin 1000L reservoirs are due for delivery and installation this weekend. That means that today is possibly the last chance in the immediate future for the house make any further mischief for us with the water supply...and of course it did just that.........

On flushing the loo after first call of duty in the early hours this morning, I was greeted with the all too familiar HISSSSSSSSSSSS! of air being sucked into the cistern plumbing indicating yet another failure in the supply. On bleary-eyed autopilot I groped around quickly locating and winding down the cistern stop cock. Dark thoughts directed at the spirit of this old place were going through my head. Why does the water supply always choose the most inconvenient time to go FUBAR?! Always when we have guests, when I'm half way through a shower, and particularly excellently when its time to clean up the tools after cementing or plastering. This morning was no exception: In a bugger-it moment I realised that the water filter was empty ( I'd stripped it down and washed it out last night and had not yet re-built it) so no water there. In fact no water in the house at all, only the emergency 50l in an outbuilding... and just to make the event as memorable as possible, it was throwing it down with rain outside. Perfect start to my day..... Thank you house! Bloody, bloody, bloody!

I was dying for my kick start cup of tea and for some reason decided to try a tap in the kitchen, knowing full well that it'd be dry. But surprise, surprise it was still pressurised. I got a full kettle's worth out of it! Result ;-)

Water's still off, rain continues, but water filter rebuilt, refilled with water from the outbuilding and dripping away happily.. just like me and the dog, except we're not so happy. But now I know that the elasticity of the new Polyprop plumbing will squeeze a final 1L of water out of the kitchen tap before the system draws back. We're back on stream. not a major disaster, but a major PITA inconvenience that I could have done without.

What's the point of this thread?
Water is one of those preps that although we recognise as essential, we've always avoided tackling seriously. Its big, its bulky, its awkward and messy too. For years we've been in denial that our 100l or so stored in various bottles and containers would be sufficient. Its not. Unreliable water supply has really focussed our attention on the issue

Finally inconvenience and disruption have driven us to see the inadequacy of preparedness. The arrival and installation of the new tank and reservoirs cannot come soon enough. We are looking forward to an end to reliance on the whims of the water main once and for all!

[Scythe13]

Nice planning, sorry it screwed up, glad you're breaking from the grid!!!

[Skean Dhude]

This is one of those situations where it works out OK because there was never a real risk but goes to show what happens when you leave things undone, your tired, or its just too much for one day and you leave it. Next thing something gets trodden on, it breaks and you are screwed.

[Lightspeed]

(26 September 2013, 11:38)Skean Dhude Wrote: This is one of those situations where it works out OK because there was never a real risk but goes to show what happens when you leave things undone, your tired, or its just too much for one day and you leave it. Next thing something gets trodden on, it breaks and you are screwed.

Exactly SD

Sods law is always there trying to catch you out.

On this occasion, I'm focussed on the water issue and in particular the installation this weekend. That drove me to do a clean of the water filter, which was left incomplete as a result of a hard day.

If the world had gone TU this morning it would have been, how shall I say it... inconvenient! Not immediately life threatening but challenging.

Thinking it through:
50 L stored, a further 50L in various bottles among the stores, Min 60L recoverable from the pipework and hot water tank. Total 160L . On my own I can eek that out for nearly three months in lock down mode, during that time I will be able to rainwater harvest, filter and sterilise to top up. So without leaving the property I'd probably have had sufficient to get me through to next spring.. but I'd come out the end of this rather smelly!

Using the same math, but excluding rainwater harvesting, were the planned system in place this morning at the time of water cut-off, I'd have had a reserve of 2,300L ....enough for a year or so, and a little left over for my six-monthly bath!