Farm Project 25-1: Opening up for Summer

 Farm Project 25-1:  Opening up for Summer

I needed a break from Madison and the weather was supposed to be nice, so Monday night I drove up to the farm to open up for the summer.  If I vacuum up all the Japanese beetles from inside the window sills and off the floors, and get all the water up and running, Cathy can hit the ground running when she and I come up together next time.  Otherwise she has to sit by or work with no water while I solve all the issues.

I hit the water first.  I had fixed the dishwasher and installed it, but needed to hook the water supply and the drain back up.  I put a short line from the shutoff valve so that I can now shut off the feed to the dishwasher without having to shut off the hot water to the sink, if the dishwasher develops a leak as it did a few years ago.  I had just capped off the feed, but now I put a short line to it and tightened the feed tube to the DW to the other end of the valve.  We do not really ever use the DW anyway, so I left the valve turned off.  If we don't use it this summer, I won't have to drain it or put anti-freeze in it.

That done, I did the list of opening up the water.  Once all was well, I turned on the pump and started filling the system.  I immediately got a leak in the downstairs bathroom.  Thinking it must be the toilet feed, I sat down to inspect it and saw nothing amiss.  Then I realized my butt was getting wet from behind!

The cold feed tube and valve under the vanity had had a little water come sliding down the line after I blew it all out last fall.  The pressure fitting was not crimped down tight enough and the ice just pushed the valve off the copper pipe.  There was no deformation in the pipe, so I got a new female pressure nut and a new compression ring, slid them on and tightened it down to the old valve.  Good and tight!  

After that the water came on with no additional problems.  Did dishes, laundry, and bathed to make sure all systems were go.

Now it was just vacuuming up the beetles in the windows and on the floor around doors where they crawled in thinking this was a nice cave to hibernate in for the winter.  These things and a little shopping for essentials and to put a lot of ballast in the fridge and freezer, and I was pretty much done with my responsibilities.