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15 April 2010

Plumbing and waiting

Well, my plumber has had a bad week.  A family emergency and a mechanical problem. 

Gave us a day to go look at shower fixtures, though.  Plumber likes Moen, Delta, and Kohler.  We don't really want to spend a whole ton of money on these things, but get decent ones at the same time.  Wife doesn't like the Delta ones that offer a separate temperature set knob...but Delta has made their products better in some regards, and offer a very wide variety of price range.  Moen... rock solid valves but I have medium confidence in the spray pattern.  Kohler has great valves, but even Kohler has some pretty cheap trim now so you have to watch what you are getting.  Anyway, if you spend a bunch of money on these things, you are essentially paying for a better, heavier piece of trim...  And since the jury is out on the actual pattern of the heads...  who knows if you will like the thing, and then you can't really change brands because the valve dictates what trim will fit it...

OH, and add the expense of a adjustable shower bar for the kids and guest...  Holy fish oil!!  I think instead we will just use normal shower systems with a simple head, and then use a drop ell extension to get the actual heads down at their altitude...

My soldering skills have improved... Check this out...



So, from left to right, the water comes up the wall in 1 inch PEX, then into the brass ProPex fitting, and through a Union-valve-filter-union around another corner, and then one last valve before turning up into the next wall to supply the entire house.



I have the copper going slightly downhill here... Why, because it just is, that's why...stop being so critical.  I tried to be really careful, because as you assemble the different parts, you have to plan ahead on which joints get soldered and in what order and in relation to the ones that need pipe dope and screwed...  I used the heavier gage copper pipe for all this mess.  It's pretty easy to see why the world is fast switching away from the use of copper... This process is a pain in the butt.  Pex is much faster, and simpler, and probably better in most regards down the road.  There will be some more copper in the house, as basically all the plumbing surrounding the 3 water tanks have the potential to get north of 200 degrees with the solar, so I am staying away from Pex there...  The supply manifolds are all copper 1/4 turn shutoff valves, and any stubouts will transition from pex back into copper.





The Bluebonnets are out all over Texas.  They are just everywhere all over the roads.  A very nice time to be in Texas and the weather has been stunning.

But, the fireants and copperheads are thick.

This is a Longhorn cow that lives over by the subdivision entrance.  My wife took this picture and he turned around to look at her, and made a face at her to indicate his disgust with her acting like a tourist with a camera...  I think he voted for Obama (cows are socialists and they want free veterinarian care, higher taxes, and a better union), but with Acorn out of the picture for the next election...watch out cows!


OK, hopefully more progress tomorrow.  If anybody has a brand name shower system that they do NOT like...chime in.  Need to get those ordered...



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