I finally got around to replacing the outside hose spigots next to the front porch. Used metal spigots instead of PVC. Threaded the spigots in to the adapters (crossthreaded one and had to redo it), cut a scrap PVC pipe in half, glued them to the adapters then glued those to a tee, cut the rising pipe to length, cut off the old pipe just below the old shutoff, cleaned it the pipe off, put on the shutoff (making sure it was in off position), attached the tee to the vertical pipe, plunked it in to the shutoff, then waited two hours for the cement to set while the water was off. Turned main line back on but haven't tested to see if it's working just yet. I didn't like how wobbly it was-- the previous one had been tethered to a fence post but since the tree took out the whole fence & brought the post down with it, I needed something else. I googled for ideas & saw a hose stand w/ a spigot that could be used as an extender & then found a related item-- a hose stand with a cross-piece to stabilize it (but no spigot). Ones with spigots had bad reviews for leaking & such. The blackberry bushes did a number on my hands & arms while I was working so I made a trip to HD to pick up a new machete (I think a neighbor snuck over and stole my old one bc it's missing), pipe insulation, & the hose stand. I brought my brother along (he helped me look for stuff bc my vision is getting worse & he helped carry things since I didn't grab a cart). We stopped to eat at the Chinese place & then Walmart for some groceries before heading home. Once everything was unloaded & put away I went out & wrapped the pipe in insulation. Turns out I think they had the 1/2" insulation in the 3/4" bin because it didn't fit all the way around. At least the tee insulation fit (they had some specifically for 3/4" tees & it was the right size). Taped it up with all weather tape-- which I ended up bleeding on bc a thorn got stuck in my thumb. The guy at HD who helped us find stuff gave me some free zip ties from an opened bag-- I think he's used to dealing with stupid customers bc he asked if I was going to insulate the pipe before tethering it. I was thinking "Why would I try to tether it first? That wouldn't make sense". He then commented that it would be hard to insulate if I tethered first. I was thinking "No s**** Sherlock" but chalked it up to him dealing with a lot of dumbos in the past. Anyway, after getting the pipe insulated (not exactly happy with the fit-- might need to add more insulation around it later but for now it's summer so it's not a big deal) I crammed the hose stand into the ground with it's spike & found the zip ties wouldn't quite reach bc of parts on the stand that stuck out-- so I just used the tape. After I went inside & the rain started I thought of a way to get it to fit better-- when it stops raining I'll go out and adjust the hose stand position so I can use the zip ties. I will probably add extra reinforcement at a later date. But for now, I have it installed. I will have to test it later.
I did notice that the pipes in the well-house are leaking but not badly enough for air to be getting in to the lines. I'll have to figure out how to seal them up. The check valve the guy installed is useless since it's on the wrong side & I still want a foot valve instead. I wonder if the check valve could be re-used on someone else's well. I wish I could just return it. Once my phoneline is fixed (which is on the agenda for today if it will stop raining) I'll try to set up a time for him to come out and fix it properly.