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Zanne when I told you check valves I meant backflow vacuum breakers. Here's a picture. Sorry for the confusion. That set screw has
to be broken off for the plumbing inspector to see and then the vacuum breaker can't be taken off by someone else.View attachment 17529
That sucks to have to put those on. It's not like the washer is going to fill up and siphon to the into the supply.

Those vacuum breakers leak. If I had to put them on I'll be sending the building depart the bill for the water damage.
 
IMG_5618.JPG IMG_5622.JPG IMG_5611.JPG I finally had AC installed in my house. learned a few trick from these guys who installed it.
I tore out all the old metal duct work and the old heater. 2 guys installed the new heater/AC unit and new duct work in 6.5 hrs.
The duct work , they pieced it all together on the patio before the dragged the whole thing up into the attic.
But 1st they fired up the new AC and blew cold air into the attic while they installed the ducts.
 
I still do air conditioning along with heating and plumbing it can get anywhere from 130 to 140 degrees up in those attics the one thing about my job I do not like is an attic in the summertime
 
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Before I was a plumber, I apprenticed in HVAC/R.

We had a summer project that would involve lot of attic work in 131 townhouses. Well, after the first day of sweating to death I knew I wasn't gonna survive the summer, so I spent a few hours in the sheet metal shop and fabricated a boot that fit over the vents of my van. I parked the van outside and left it running all day with the boot over the vents and 100' of 4" flex running into the attic. It actually made the attic comfortable to work in!

Only downside, my van was chipped so the boss could see where I was, how fast I was going, and when my motor was running. So I got s phone call asking "umm, why has your van been ideling for 7 straight hours!?".....then I told him.

He didn't really mind when I told him we worked all day in the attic without having to come down to have a break and cool off!
 
I hate the super dusty blown in insulation. That reminds me about a job where the attic access was in another unit in a multi unit building.
had to cut a hole in the ceiling to get to a water line leaking in attic. there was almost 3 ft of that pink shredded blown in insulation that rained down through my new access hole.
WHAT A FREAKIN' mess that was.
 
Boss hired his coked up brother as a slasman years back. Sells a whole house central job. When we get to the job... nothing but vaulted and cathedral ceilings. No joke. The homeowners were very old so they didnt know better. Ended up putting in a couple of ductless units. Wouldnt be the end of the coke heads ****.
 
Aaah. Ok. Vacuum breaker makes sense. Where exactly would it attach? Just below the water supply valves?

I've been busy taking care of my oldest dog. She's not doing well. Her back legs are going out on her and I found her in the yard unable to walk. I got her to the vet, got her some medicine, and brought her home. She had no bladder and bowel control but had a good appetite. Kept peeing all over herself and then getting upset bc she couldn't move. Eventually she got enough strength to stand up on her own, but she kept slipping in her urine and falling. She completely ruined the kitchen floor (puppy pads we put under her didn't catch it all). Eventually she moved to the carpeted hallway. She's been moving back and forth between my room and the hallway and now I have her in doggy diapers. They have stripes down the back that change color when it's time for a diaper change. Friday I thought she was not going to make it bc she stopped eating and just slept all day. Turns out she got some sort of infection in her front leg. Once I started cleaning it and it drained, she regained her appetite. Walking is still difficult for her, but she still eats and drinks and likes to be petted. She spent a long time sleeping in my room near my bed.

My fluffy black cat must be jealous of me talking about the dog because he keeps stepping on my keyboard. He hit the + sign a bunch of times. LOL.

Speaking of the kitties, we ordered a cat tree from Wish (some big sale or something) and assembled it for the kittens in the front room. They were super excited about the box it came in and about the pieces it was in as we were trying to assemble. They grabbed at the allen wrenches, kept clinging to the parts, and they actually use it now that it's assembled. They like to get on the highest part and leap onto us as we walk through the room. There are 3 upper platforms and each has a toy mouse hanging from an elastic string.
 
I would not be able to deal with being in a hot attic. It was in the 90s outside today and I nearly got heat exhaustion just walking to and from my truck at the grocery store.

My dog is doing better today. Took her to the vet and got her wound cleaned, antibiotics, and some advice from the vet. I'd pretty much been doing everything she suggested-- the wound cleaning, flipping the dog over so she doesn't lay on one side too long, etc. She was in the truck with my brother and the AC blowing full while I went into the store. The dog's bandage already came off so I had to put a new one on.
 
I had a new 5 ton A/C unit installed last year, and they shoved the entire unit in my attic, allowing me to make a pantry where the old unit closet use to be. 20151111_090347_resized.jpg 20151111_090400_resized.jpg 20151111_133302_resized.jpg 20161130_184232.jpg
 
Havasu, that looks cool (no pun intended). I love that little pantry. Was the floor in the pantry like that already or did you add that in once the AC was moved? It's a very nice floor. 70 is a nice temperature.

I used to like it colder- back in Singapore, each bedroom & the living room had their own air conditioners with remote controls for the temperature. Mine was set at 60 degrees. People called my room the ice cave. The kitchen had no AC so the garlic was temporarily stored in my room. I also kept a small travel bottle of chardonnay in my room (I think it was from an airline) on a shelf as sort of a souvenir. One day my father (who rarely drank) felt like having a glass of wine but we generally didn't have any in the house-- would only buy when we were going to cook with it. I went and brought him the bottle and he thought it had been in the fridge.

We had to replace our AC a few years back-- I'm thinking it was 2010. The main AC guy in town is called "Cotton". His son was mystified by our old unit. He said he'd never seen one that old before. His father then said that the company that made it had gone out of business in 1973 and he was pretty sure that particular model was older. His uncle used to own this house and he thinks it was put in sometime in the 40s or 50s. Since the old unit was barely working, it was drawing a ton of power. The newer unit had such a power draw difference that the power company sent people out to make sure our meter wasn't malfunctioning.

But, since our house is poorly insulated and our windows need to be upgraded, it's been a bit warmer than we'd like in the house. My poor sick dog was on the floor panting. I tried moving her to different spots, but she wasn't comfortable. I also had trouble changing her diapers and bandages when she was on the floor, so I came up with a solution for both problems: I put a waterproof mattress pad over my covers at the foot of my bed and set her on it. I cleaned her up, changed her bandage & diaper, fed her medicine, got her to drink some water, and then I set one of the desk fans to rotate so it blows on her and then pivots to blow on me and so forth. She seems much more comfortable with this arrangement and has her head toward the fan and is resting peacefully.

I'll probably have to set her back on the floor temporarily for the next time I need to run to the store (so she doesn't fall and hurt herself while I'm gone). I need to get more medical supplies for her. The gauze wrap from the vet's office is horrible.

Tom, so the vacuum breaker has the male end screw in to the base of the hose and the female end screws on to the faucet/hose bibb?
 
Once the A/C was out of the closet, I gutted an adjoining broom closet on one side of the hallway, and gutted a towel closet on the other side of the hallway, and made one big walk in and was able to get rid of two extra doors, making things look cleaner. As far as the wood, my neighbor donated it from his whole house flooring, and was very easy to install. Here is a pic of two of the 3 doors, which were eliminated and now have just one door in the hallway, and a better pic of the shelving installed before I added the floor.

The vacuum breakers I've used is screwed into the spigot, and you tighten the set screws until they break off, and then you just attach the hose to it. I have a pic of it installed on my Lake Havasu house. Look at the beginning of the hose and you can see the set screws, which I had yet to tighten and snap off. Havasu pics (48).jpg 20161115_140636.jpg 20161122_184103.jpg
 
Thanks for the picture and explanation!
Those must have been some very small closets so I think it was a great idea to merge them and only have a single door. It looks awesome!

I need to clean my pantry and get some pictures.

My dog is doing better. Her leg wounds closed up and she was walking around more after a nice long nap on her dog bed. If we get some decent weather that isn't so hot and she gets feeling even better, I might take her outside and let her roam around without a diaper to enjoy the fresh air. Other than during thunderstorms and extreme heat, she's always preferred being outside.

I found out that my brother's former boss wasn't done slandering/defaming him. The boss failed to do some mandatory paperwork in the manager's book & was going to get in trouble, but seeing as how he already blamed stuff on my brother & my brother isn't there to defend himself, he ripped the paperwork out of the manager's book and then blamed my brother. He was telling all of the employees that my brother did it as retaliation for being fired-- except my brother immediately left and never went back so he didn't have the opportunity to do it. Furthermore, the employees all know my brother wouldn't do that and knew he was lying. Some of them did message him on FB to alert him of the accusations though. But, the good news is, one of the newer shift-leads who just transferred in had no tolerance for this guy's BS. She discovered he was cutting employees' hours in the system (the thing where he went in and changed the hours to say they worked less than they actually) to screw them out of pay. So she reported him to corporate. She apparently also reported him for other violations and it was enough for the district manager to come in and announce that the jerk is probably going to be fired soon & he asked a couple employees if they would step up and take the job. I shouldn't be happy about someone losing their longtime job, but frankly, I feel my schadenfreude is justified in this case. Someone who steals from the company, lies, and screws minimum wage employees out of hard-earned pay does not need to keep that job.
 
Today I get up at 6:40, and then go to work at 7:00.
I reply my client's email and post product for my website:
 
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Well, I am back from the drum circle now, so I will tell you.

It is a gathering where people get together and play drums. Sometimes people will also play digeridoos, rattles, shakers, recorders, etc as well. Normally the players form a circle so that everyone can see everyone else. Most of the drums are hand drums, played without drumsticks, by hitting them with your hand.

Most, though not necessarily all of the drums are of an African style called djembe, pronounced gem-bay. There are also African drums called boogeraboos (not sure of the spelling), and doondoons (?spelling again). Then there are a couple of Middle Eastern styles called doombeks, and tablas. Let's not forget the good ol' bongos, congas, baliphones, and several others that I don't know the name of.

Now.... are you sorry you asked?

Drum circles can run the gamut from crazy jam sessions with everybody playing different rhythms, to very structured affairs with something akin to a director calling in certain drummers at particular times to play their individual parts. The two different ones that myself and my son go to are somewhere in between, with a rhythm being agreed upon, but everyone is free to play whatever they want that still fits with that rhythm. The one we went to tonight is a very family oriented situation, with little kids running around and such.
I played my Cajon, by Fat Cajons, (thats a wooden box that one pounds/taps on). My suggestion is if anyone has not been to a drum circle, go to a few and experience one. Some can be less energy, others more, but a very good experience. It's not all about dreadlocks and Bob Marley, and pot, any more than all rock music is about debauchery and noise. A drum circle reflects the crowd at that moment and is a learning experience....

Not that Phishfood did not do a very good job of describing a drum circle... just chimed in as if this were a drum circle.... ba doom be doom ba doom...
 
Drove 500+ miles, visited with family, got on line to say HI to YOU.
 
I drove 3 miles to Costco, came back, and cranked down the A/C because it was 101 today. I just got done mowing the lawn when it was so dark I could barely see, then jumped into the pool. Ahhh, California does have some perks.
 
Havasu, that looks cool (no pun intended). I love that little pantry. Was the floor in the pantry like that already or did you add that in once the AC was moved? It's a very nice floor. 70 is a nice temperature.

I used to like it colder- back in Singapore, each bedroom & the living room had their own air conditioners with remote controls for the temperature. Mine was set at 60 degrees. People called my room the ice cave. The kitchen had no AC so the garlic was temporarily stored in my room. I also kept a small travel bottle of chardonnay in my room (I think it was from an airline) on a shelf as sort of a souvenir. One day my father (who rarely drank) felt like having a glass of wine but we generally didn't have any in the house-- would only buy when we were going to cook with it. I went and brought him the bottle and he thought it had been in the fridge.

We had to replace our AC a few years back-- I'm thinking it was 2010. The main AC guy in town is called "Cotton". His son was mystified by our old unit. He said he'd never seen one that old before. His father then said that the company that made it had gone out of business in 1973 and he was pretty sure that particular model was older. His uncle used to own this house and he thinks it was put in sometime in the 40s or 50s. Since the old unit was barely working, it was drawing a ton of power. The newer unit had such a power draw difference that the power company sent people out to make sure our meter wasn't malfunctioning.

But, since our house is poorly insulated and our windows need to be upgraded, it's been a bit warmer than we'd like in the house. My poor sick dog was on the floor panting. I tried moving her to different spots, but she wasn't comfortable. I also had trouble changing her diapers and bandages when she was on the floor, so I came up with a solution for both problems: I put a waterproof mattress pad over my covers at the foot of my bed and set her on it. I cleaned her up, changed her bandage & diaper, fed her medicine, got her to drink some water, and then I set one of the desk fans to rotate so it blows on her and then pivots to blow on me and so forth. She seems much more comfortable with this arrangement and has her head toward the fan and is resting peacefully.

I'll probably have to set her back on the floor temporarily for the next time I need to run to the store (so she doesn't fall and hurt herself while I'm gone). I need to get more medical supplies for her. The gauze wrap from the vet's office is horrible.

Tom, so the vacuum breaker has the male end screw in to the base of the hose and the female end screws on to the faucet/hose bibb?

Sorry Zanne, didn't realize you asked me a question. The female end hooks to the hose bibb and your hose hooks to the male end. Here
is a picture of one.hose vaccum breaker.png
 
Suck in’ down a Belching Beaver Peanut Butter Milk Stout. It’s the only beer I know that makes a great ice cream float.IMG_6021.jpg
 

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