Leaky little connector and a basement full of water!
Well - for the 2nd time in three weeks we've had to wet vac out my unfinished basement! I'm getting pretty good at it now so I move through the dry out process with the unfortunate ease and efficiency of a skilled, experienced, albeit somewhat tired professional.
My setup: I have a 65 gallon water storage barrel (food grade barrel) in the basement of my New England colonial. I have a clearwater submersible pump in the storage barrel, a clear hose running up to the ceiling of the basement where I have a cpvc fiting securely attached and then cpvc running about 15 feet across the cieling to the the top of the stairs. I cut a hole in the drywall at the top of the stairs and recess mounted a spigot in an oversize electrical box. I have a remote controlled power unit in the basement into which my submersible pump is plugged. Additionally, since I have heavy metals in my well water - I run a hose from the bottom release spigot on my well bladder up to a HMA filter (heavy metal axe; search BIDKA if you're really interested in this) - basically carbon and carbon resin blocks - that is connected to a float valve shutoff in my storage barrel. So the well water flows from the well bladder housing connector up through the HMA filter into my storage barrel. When I need it, I connect a white RV hose to the faucet at the top of my stairs, hang a home made pcv "water distribution unit" (ie pipe with holes drilled into it... come on - I'm X-military - I love acronyms..) - then hit the button on my handheld remote control and I have clean fresh water running into my tanks whilst I watch TV. Life is good.
First disaster: After I changed out the remote control unit because the first one I had stopped working, I found that someone, has something, within range, that works on the same frequency as my remote. Kind of a surprise when I found the pump turned on one morning just cavitating in the holding barrel - water temp was 92! That's some heat it gave off! It didn't burn it up though. I had the valve on the spigot turned off at the top of the stairs out of habit so no water - and all the joints held without leaking (very proud of myself). From then on I just unplug the remote plug when I'm done with water changes - so no worries. When I went on vacation a few weeks ago - my 17 year old son was doing water changes for me. He forgot to unplug the remote AND forgot to close the valve at the top of the stairs (written instructions and several supervised water changes prior to my departure not withstanding...). Luckily he was watching TV one night and suddenly heard water running - after looking around in all the normal places for a few minutes, he opened the basement door to find a nice waterfall of clean, aerated, 85 degree water cascading down the stairs! He shut everything down and got out the wet vac. It took about two weeks for the throw carpets to completely dry. Just in time for the next disaster...
Second disaster: So my son comes home from the gym last night and yells down from the second floor that there is only a trickle of water flowing for his "after my workout and I might see a girl - shower" - so I get up to go downstairs and see if we've flipped a breaker or something on the well. I open the basement door and I'm greeted by about 1/2 and inch of water on the floor down their. I run down the stairs, wade through the water and find the the hose connector (home depot green plastic kind) at the well bladder housing has sprung a leak and a 7 foot steady stream of water is arcing up from there and creating a nice shower all over the place - and no rainbow! I shut everything off and broke out the wet vac. I must have pumped 50 gallons of water out of the basement. Off to the hardware store to buy brass connectors - fixed it all up and flawlessly executed the evening water changes. What a night.
So I'll leave this thread open so I can catalog my next basement flooding - bound to happen again...
Adam
Re: Leaky little connector and a basement full of water!
Lol i'm sorry Adam, i'm not laughing at what happened I hope you know i'm only laughing because we've all had our tastes of disaster. I have to be So careful in my fish room since there is a while condo (that isn't mine) right below it. Which as we all know is a huge risk because there WILL be flooding in our systems. Hope not too much damage was done my friend and while i'm sure this won't be the end of it, at last one additional small error was found and now your one step closer to a flawless system.
Re: Leaky little connector and a basement full of water!
Sorry to here about your bad luck and hopefully it will be the last for a while . I use a HMA filter into a storage barrel the same as you , add air & heat 8 hours later good to go. Here is a link to the HMA filter I use from mark on BIDKA . http://www.devotedly-discus.co.uk/ac..._HMA_80-C.html
Re: Leaky little connector and a basement full of water!
Get yourself one of these. http://www.amazon.com/GE-45129-Choic...words=ge+45142
I have extra water sensor that I can send you. http://www.amazon.com/GE-45133-Choic...t+water+sensor
I hear you regarding the frequency of those remote. Mine would change the channel of my old TV once a while.
Re: Leaky little connector and a basement full of water!
Oh it was pretty funny - no real damage just a PITA to clean up -- again. A "flawless system" - dude you're going to jinx me...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DiscusDrew
Lol i'm sorry Adam, i'm not laughing at what happened I hope you know i'm only laughing because we've all had our tastes of disaster. I have to be So careful in my fish room since there is a while condo (that isn't mine) right below it. Which as we all know is a huge risk because there WILL be flooding in our systems. Hope not too much damage was done my friend and while i'm sure this won't be the end of it, at last one additional small error was found and now your one step closer to a flawless system.
Re: Leaky little connector and a basement full of water!
Ya its real funny too other people like my daughter when I flooded the kicthen 2 weeks ago.
Re: Leaky little connector and a basement full of water!
Great idea - I looked around a bit and found several units that connect to your phone lines and will actually call you if there is water, power failure or too cold a temperature. They are pricey - about $100 give or take. I decided to go with a cheaper solution - just a sensor you put on the floor that will alarm pretty loud. Good for when we're home. Really need to find something reasonable that will make a phone call.
Thanks!
Adam
Quote:
Originally Posted by
DiscusOnly
