Rain and ice followed by 1 1/2” of snow overnight.  Low around 28.  Up to 45 today.  A little melting is starting.  Tonight’s forecast is 18.

On Saturday we worked on another tank plumbing project.  Replaced the PVC butterfly values with brass ball values that have a lever type handle.  When we thaw out the  PVC butterfly with the heat-gun, the PVC expands and causes the value to stick.  Its a challenge to open.   The brass should respond better to the heat and the handle is a lever.

But we did not follow the golden rule:  measure twice, cut one.  The piping is shaped like a big Y with the joint abutting the outside wall.  The new bass values add about 5 1/4” more length on the outside.  Without thinking or measuring we cut off that 5 1/4” from the stem pipe inside the building.    The ends of the Y outside now extended past the tank fittings.

Today we fixed that.  The pipes had an unneeded drain value.  We wanted to remove them anyway.  As it turns out, those values were about 5 1/4” on the outside.  We disassembled the pipes to remove the values.  Checked the fit.  We should be good.  We need to replace the inside stem pipe because its too short.  Planning to get PVC for that in place of the iron pipe that was used.