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catching up on important household tasks
Jul. 3rd, 2020 07:11 pmThe bathroom shower has been having issues draining for some weeks now, but I haven't felt like I had the time/energy to do anything about it till early this evening, when I finally dragged it forward, so I could pull out the plastic pipes that connect the drain to the hole in the floor, and clean out the blockage of hair, magnesium sediment and stinky organic matter. According to my logs I last did this in September. Nine months between cleaning that out is a bit much, I think I should do it at least twice a year.
Since I was already doing wet/messy tasks I also decided to not only change the water filters (we are on well water, which has LOTS of manganese sediment in it), but also shock-clean the pipe coming into the house. This is a really messy task that I last did 10 months ago, because it is so messy. The approach is to turn off the incoming water, remove the water filter, put the filter housing back into place, open the hose that drains the line between the first and second water filters, aim it into the floor drain, then quickly open the water line and let the sudden in rush of water carry out the thick black Mn sediment from between the well holding tank and the house. Needless to say, this normally results in icky black water splashing everywhere, and the incoming water without the filter there is too fast for the floor drain to carry it away at the same rate that it arrives.
This time though, we hit upon a cunning plan. David reminded me that he had bought a second hand barrel some time back, and perhaps it is a good height to stand under where the first water filter casing attaches, and then we could just let the black water drain directly into the barrel instead of having to use the hole into the floor drain.
This sounded like a hypothesis worth testing, so he went to the shed and found the barrel for me, and, after I finished dealing with the shower and cleaning up the evidence, I went outside and did a preliminary washing of the barrel with a hose so that it would be clean enough to carry to the basement and give it a proper scrubbing in the downstairs shower. Once it was clean I took it to the the water filters, and determined that it is a decent height, for the project, especially after I fetched a block of wood from the shop to stand it on.
So I took off both water filter casings, and removed both filters. Put the second casing back into place, in case any water made it that far, and set the barrel in place under the opening for the first casing. Then I opened the incoming water line to full blast, and lots of icky black water started pouring into the barrel. It completely filled the barrel, and was still running just as black as when it started. That barrel is second hand, and has a small hole in the side, so then I had a very full, rather heavy barrel that is leaking very black water. I managed to drain the barrel into the floor drain (only sometimes pouring too fast for the drain getting black water all over the floor).
Then I put the barrel back in place, and, having learned, turned on the water for only enough time to fill it about 1/4 full, which is below the leak. Dump it. Filled it 1/4 full. Dumped it. Filled it 1/4 full. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I lost count of how many time, but it was lots. At first I wondered if it would ever run clean, or if all of the water in the holding tank is just black and icky. Eventually it started coming out only grey instead of black. Some number more of filling and dumping, and finally the water started running clear.
Then I set the barrel aside, put fresh water filters back into place, cleaned the wall and floor, washed the bucket, rinsed the towel in the bathroom sink, which wasn't draining that fast, so, while I was at it, I emptied and cleaned its under drain trap, too.
Then I started a load of laundry, including the towel that had been used to dry the floor.
Now that I have the trick of how best to use the barrel for the pipe shock cleaning I think I will be doing this more often. If I do it every week, when I change the first (washable) filter then incoming pipe will, hopefully, stay cleaner, not take as long before the water runs clean, and the second, charcoal filter might not need replacing as often. (Normally the second filter gets replaced every one to two months, but this time it had only been two weeks and it was already so full that our water pressure was getting really low, and now it is every so much better pressure.)
Since I was already doing wet/messy tasks I also decided to not only change the water filters (we are on well water, which has LOTS of manganese sediment in it), but also shock-clean the pipe coming into the house. This is a really messy task that I last did 10 months ago, because it is so messy. The approach is to turn off the incoming water, remove the water filter, put the filter housing back into place, open the hose that drains the line between the first and second water filters, aim it into the floor drain, then quickly open the water line and let the sudden in rush of water carry out the thick black Mn sediment from between the well holding tank and the house. Needless to say, this normally results in icky black water splashing everywhere, and the incoming water without the filter there is too fast for the floor drain to carry it away at the same rate that it arrives.
This time though, we hit upon a cunning plan. David reminded me that he had bought a second hand barrel some time back, and perhaps it is a good height to stand under where the first water filter casing attaches, and then we could just let the black water drain directly into the barrel instead of having to use the hole into the floor drain.
This sounded like a hypothesis worth testing, so he went to the shed and found the barrel for me, and, after I finished dealing with the shower and cleaning up the evidence, I went outside and did a preliminary washing of the barrel with a hose so that it would be clean enough to carry to the basement and give it a proper scrubbing in the downstairs shower. Once it was clean I took it to the the water filters, and determined that it is a decent height, for the project, especially after I fetched a block of wood from the shop to stand it on.
So I took off both water filter casings, and removed both filters. Put the second casing back into place, in case any water made it that far, and set the barrel in place under the opening for the first casing. Then I opened the incoming water line to full blast, and lots of icky black water started pouring into the barrel. It completely filled the barrel, and was still running just as black as when it started. That barrel is second hand, and has a small hole in the side, so then I had a very full, rather heavy barrel that is leaking very black water. I managed to drain the barrel into the floor drain (only sometimes pouring too fast for the drain getting black water all over the floor).
Then I put the barrel back in place, and, having learned, turned on the water for only enough time to fill it about 1/4 full, which is below the leak. Dump it. Filled it 1/4 full. Dumped it. Filled it 1/4 full. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I lost count of how many time, but it was lots. At first I wondered if it would ever run clean, or if all of the water in the holding tank is just black and icky. Eventually it started coming out only grey instead of black. Some number more of filling and dumping, and finally the water started running clear.
Then I set the barrel aside, put fresh water filters back into place, cleaned the wall and floor, washed the bucket, rinsed the towel in the bathroom sink, which wasn't draining that fast, so, while I was at it, I emptied and cleaned its under drain trap, too.
Then I started a load of laundry, including the towel that had been used to dry the floor.
Now that I have the trick of how best to use the barrel for the pipe shock cleaning I think I will be doing this more often. If I do it every week, when I change the first (washable) filter then incoming pipe will, hopefully, stay cleaner, not take as long before the water runs clean, and the second, charcoal filter might not need replacing as often. (Normally the second filter gets replaced every one to two months, but this time it had only been two weeks and it was already so full that our water pressure was getting really low, and now it is every so much better pressure.)
