Whole House Water Filter - The Final Chapter??

With new crimp rings in his bag, Mike arrived Friday night for the weekend. Upon arrival, he checked out the last leak on the water filter system and, though there was still one drop hanging on the edge of the unit, the towel under it was dry.  So he wiped off the water that was on the pre-filter and later that evening checked again for a leak.  There was no water coming from the connection.  He continued to check this connection throughout the weekend and it was not until Monday that he felt some water.  We are still up in the air on fixing this leak since it is so minimal, so we will continue to monitor it for awhile to see if it gets worse.  At least we have the parts we need to fix it if we need to go that route.  Since the install was essentially done, he decided to do the final step which was to remove the blue protective film and apply a wax (small bottle of car wax included) to the silver tanks.  Once the tanks were all shiny, there were two Pelican logo stickers to be applied.  Now we will wait to see what happens with the continuing leak saga.

Shiny tanks with the Pelican logo stickers - but are we really done???

Since he did not need to work on the water filter system this weekend, Mike decided to work on the water heater timer.  We put a mechanical timer on the unit not long after moving in.  We feel it controls our electric costs and have had them in most of our houses.  The trouble we have with the mechanical timer in this house is, when Laurie leaves for the weekend or longer, she has to turn off the water heater breaker to keep the timer from running while the house water is off.  Then, upon her return, she must turn the breaker back on and reset the time on the timer.  It does not seem like a lot to do, but it takes time and is not fun when it is really cold outside.  Recently when Mike was helping our nephew and niece at their new house, they found an unused digital timer in their water heater closet.  Their water heater was new and had built-in settings for controlling the unit, so it looks like the previous owner disconnected the timer and left it behind. For his help, they gave Mike the timer and we decided to give it a try.

We did not know if this timer was functional or not and the only way to tell was to install it.  So Mike took off the mechanical timer and put the new unit in place.  It has the same footprint as the current timer so the install was not difficult.  The hardest part was reaching over the water heater in the small closet to do all the work and trying to avoid dropping anything behind the water heater (already lost one screwdriver this way).  Once the new timer was in place, Mike configured the settings and tested it out.  It was keeping time and allowing a schedule to be set, but it was not opening the circuit to the water heater.  Mike tried a few things and, while pressing some of the bypass buttons (a little harder to be sure they worked), the timer started working.  But this was temporary and it shut off again.  After much work, he found that if he pressed on the front of the timer unit (did not need to be a button), it would open the circuit but once he let go, it would turn off.  He removed the unit and took it apart to see if there were some connections that needed repair and could not find anything that stood out. So much for that freebie.  Still the digital timer was a good solution, so we took a look to see what we could find at Home Depot.  They had two units that were only available online and were $100 or more (Amazon was even more expensive).  Laurie decided it was not worth the extra cost since we hopefully won't be gone many weekends in the future, so Mike put the old mechanical timer back on.

Our original and current mechanical water heater timer

The digital water heater timer we hoped would work, but was not 100% functional

After the timer was back in place, Mike looked at possible ways of disabling the timer without using the breaker.  This type of timer has a dial that keeps the time with metal set points for the on/off functions.  To set the time, the dial is pulled forward to release it from the gears and then rotated to set the correct time.  Mike decided that if the dial could be left in the pulled position, it would not rotate and therefore, not trip the on/off tabs.  So he cut a small piece of PVC pipe thick enough to go behind the dial and leave it in a pulled state.  Then the time just needs to be reset after the piece of pipe is removed.  No breaker needs to be touched.  This worked perfectly and Laurie will try it the next time she goes to the Valley for the weekend.

Sunday night a storm came to town and we started to get some rain that evening.  By Monday morning, we had a small layer of snow on the ground and it continued to snow.  The weather report predicted snow all day and Mike became concerned about getting back to the Valley for work.  He decided it was better to leave earlier in the afternoon than wait for the evening.  Most of the trip back is not at a high elevation, but there is one pass about a half hour south of Payson that has been known to require chains in really bad weather.  Thankfully the roads were all clear on his way back.

The ground just barely covered when Mike woke up around 7am

This was just about an hour later and the snow was still falling

Stats: 1 Home Depot trip; 1 Walmart trip
Remodeling expense 1/25/16-2/1/16: $0
Remodeling expense to date: $52,629

Whole House Water Filter - Part Two

When we last left the Payson house, the Pelican water system was in place but not connected to the house water. Will it be connected this weekend? Will it work? Will it have leaks? Read on to see what happens in the next episode of our filter blog.

At the beginning of each year, Mike's company has mandatory online training sessions each employee must complete to be up-to-date with company policies. And with each new year of training sessions, the company gives a deadline for when the training must be completed, which is usually the end of June or July. To be sure all managers look good to their bosses, each level then mandates when their group must complete the training. Mike's boss told his people last week that their training must be done by the end of January. Quite a change from June or July. There are 12 training sessions totaling almost eight hours of work time, so Mike decided to do the training remotely from Payson and went up Thursday night in order to make the January deadline. He spent Friday doing his training and some other work and then was done and already at the house for the weekend.

Now on with the project. We waited until Saturday to install the water connection to give us a full day in case any issues came up. We shut off the valve in the pantry and, to be safe, the main water line at the street. Mike removed the current loop line and the extra brass nipple connector that was needed for the previous loop connection. He installed the new adapters to the house lines and, once that was done, we turned on the main water line. No leaks in the current valve connection at this point - good start. Now he measured and cut the blue pex pipes that would connect to those house adapters and made the last couple of crimps. After Laurie double-checked that all the crimps were in place and secured, we turned on the pantry valve and filled the new lines. There were no jets of water spraying all over - Woohoo! So far so good.

Making the final crimps (a little blurry, Laurie wanted action shot)

The water valve turned on and no major leak issues

Our new whole house water filter system and connections

Before turning on the house water, Mike re-read the installation guide to be sure of our next step. He did not completely catch the part that the filter tank was supposed to be in bypass mode (special valves to take it out of the water flow) leaving only the conditioner on. Similar to the filter tank, it needed to be flushed for a period of time. After the water was on, Laurie re-read the steps and brought this error to Mike's attention. We don't believe we damaged anything by running the water through the filter, but we put it into bypass mode right away. Now we began the flush of the conditioner tank. Water had to be run for five minutes at a high rate using the tub faucet and then for 60 minutes at a low rate using a sink faucet. While we were doing the flush, Mike kept checking the pipe connections for leaks and about 5-10 minutes in he found one, then a few minutes later number two and awhile after that number three showed up. The good news was they were all small leaks and none of them were in the crimp connections - hurray.

So we finished the flush and took the filter out of bypass. We were slightly concerned when water from the tub and toilets was dark (similar to when the filter tank was flushed) and could only assume it was due to the tank sitting for a week with water in it. Once we ran the water for a little bit, it all cleared up. So we spent the rest of the afternoon considering our options for the leaks. Mike went to Home Depot to get some items that he hoped would solve the problems. He bought some JB Weld for underwater leaks and some pipe dope. We decided to try the JB Weld first to see if it could stop these small leaks, but after applying it around the connections and letting it sit for a few hours - the leaks remained. So he removed all the JB Weld and went to the next step.

The 2nd option was to redo the adapter connections. This would not be an easy task as all the adapter fittings will not turn due to the crimp connections, but two of the leaks were on the filter tank connections which has special fittings that can be removed from the tank side and these were what the adapters connected to. So we shut off the house water and disconnected the two connectors from the tank. After all the water drained from the pipes (with quite a bit ending up on the floor), Mike was able to undo the connections to the adapters, rewrap the threads with pipe tape and add some pipe dope on top of the tape for double protection. The connections to the adapters were made and then attached back to the filter tank.

The third leak would be more difficult as it was in a threaded adapter to the pre-filter and there was no special connector that could be undone. Mike would need to cut two crimps on the small pex pipe going to that adapter, fix the adapter as he did with the tank, replace the pipe and then redo the crimps. However, since we had used up all our 1" crimp rings and Home Depot only sold them 25 to a bag (only need two), whereas Lowes has a five count bag, we decided to leave the third leak for the following weekend and let Mike get the rings in the Valley.

With that new work done and the decision made on the 3rd leak, it was time to test the lines again. We turned on the pantry valve and filled up the pipes again. At the beginning, there were no leaks, not even where the 3rd, unrepaired leak had been. Now it would just take time. Mike checked again in a a few minutes - still no leaks. After ten minutes, he found the 3rd leak had started again, but nothing from the two he fixed. After hours of re-checking the pipes, only that one leak remained and would be saved for another day.

Where our first two leaks were, now repaired with new tape and dope

Our third leak at a pre-filter connection, to be repaired later

Mike had to return to the Valley Sunday night for work Monday and picked up the crimp rings we needed once he got into town. We are now ready for the final chapter (hopefully).

Stats: 1 Home Depot trip; 0 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 1/19/16-1/24/16: $0
Remodeling expense to date: $52,629

Whole House Water Filter - Part One

After being in the valley for close to two weeks, Laurie finally made it back to Payson just days after the biggest snow storm so far this winter. It was the third time it snowed since October and each time we were both in the Valley and Laurie had to go up to the house and deal with the aftermath.  This storm brought about a foot of snow as you can see from the photos.  The first thing Laurie had to do upon arrival was to turn on the water at the street.  Not too long ago we bought a tool used for turning on/off main water lines.  The only issue is our main line has a regular red-handled 90 degree turn valve - not the normal button type lever.  So Mike widened the head on the tool to allow it to fit over the red handle.  It would have worked for Laurie this time, but the meter box was full of water and she could not see the valve handle or feel its position.  She finally had to get a bucket and scoop out the water before she could turn on the handle.  Once that was done, she had no problem using the new tool and getting the rest of the house opened up.  She got some good pictures of the snow around the house and even found some icicles forming through our back deck.

Water valve box filled with water

Our back patio just a few days after the snow

Our other back deck and stairs

Without a cover, the car got its share snow

The last picture we had of Zena in the snow she did not have her coat on

Icicles through the deck

Just as Mike was leaving work on Friday to make the 1 1/2 hour trek to Payson, a co-worker told him a big storm was working its way through the north region.  Mike wished he had heard that sooner as this particular weekend he had to pick his mom up before hitting the road.  But even with the extra stop and extra traffic involved in getting his mom, he was able to make it to the house before the snow started to fall.  It did not last long, but was still fun to see since we had missed the others.

It is hard to see, but it really is snowing in this picture

Over the holidays, we were able to get all the parts we needed to install the water filter system and this was to be the weekend to get the job done.  As you can see from the title, it did not get completed but we did make really good progress.  As we have explained before, this is a whole house water filter system by Pelican and we got it through a special deal at Home Depot.  It is a mutli-level system with a pre-filter, filter and water conditioner.  It received really good reviews and we especially like the design because it does not require a drain and does not use salt.  We also decided to go with a pex crimp style connection for the pipes that go between the tanks and to the house lines. That being said, off we go with the install.

Before we could begin, the filter tank had to be filled with water and soaked for a period of 48 hours.  The tank is about four feet high and less than a foot in diameter.  It comes with an attachment that allows a hose to be connected to the unit for this task.  We did not want to delay the install (already had to wait until Sunday evening because of the 48 hour soak period), but the snow, cold and pending darkness did not allow us to fill the tank outside.  So we tried a couple of methods at the kitchen sink until Mike decided to cut a short hose we had and, using a funnel, fill the tank using pitchers of water.  As you can imagine, this took us quite awhile but it worked and eventually the tank was filled.  We placed the tank in a tub to allow runoff and let it stand in the kitchen for its soak period.

Hose, funnel and pitcher - a slow process but it was warm and dry in the house

The next task was making the four pipe connections: house to the pre-filter; pre-filter to the filter; filter to the conditioner; conditioner back to the house.  The first connection had to go from 3/4" (at the house) to 1" at the pre-filter and the last connection would reduce from 1" at the conditioner to 3/4" back into the house.  Mike was able to get a pex adapter that had a 3/4" pex barb with a 1" male screw fitting for the pre-filter connection, but going back into the house he had to use an inline reducer connector. Any other option was only available through online sources and we didn't want to wait for an order to be shipped.  All-in-all, we had 14 sections of pipe, eight adapters, nine elbows, one reducer and 28 crimp rings (meaning 28 crimps).  Mike decided to start easy by creating the connection between the two tanks.  Originally he thought he could use one elbow for this, but the 1" pex pipe did not flex very much, especially since the pipe lengths were so short (less than 6").  So he made a "U" using three lengths of pipe and two elbows.  The new crimp tool we had purchased online, for half the price of the one sold by Home Depot, worked very well, though each crimp took some time as the two halves of the tool need to be slowly compressed using a ratchet on the joining bolts.  But with the filter tank still soaking, Mike had time to spare.  Soon his first pipe section was complete.

Three crimps done and one more to go

The tool has two halves that compress with the bolts and crimp the copper ring

First completed pipe assembly

Crimp checker tool - to be sure the ring compressed completely

To take a break from the crimping process, Mike mounted the pre-filter on the wall in the pantry.  Normally the three units are installed in a line, but to save space, Mike decided to put the pre-filter above the two larger tanks.  After the issues he had with his older stud finder when he installed the pantry shelves, we purchased a new one at Sam's Club.  It is about 10" in length and has multiple LEDs across its top with a level.  When a stud is found, multiple LEDs light up to show the full width of the stud.  This unit made it much easier to find the stud center for two of the four screws which went in the mounting bracket.  The other two screws were attached with wall anchors.  After connecting the two male pex adapters and some partial pipe runs from those adapters, Mike mounted the pre-filter on the wall.  Once the pre-filter was up, Mike was able to measure the pipe needed to create the connection from the pre-filter to the filter as well as most of the pipe from the conditioner to the house.  These connections could not be completed until after the filter finished its soak and was put in place.

This is our new stud finder, but ours in blue.  The little squares at the top are the LEDs.

Another pipe created for the conditioner to the house

Crimping pipe connections to the pre-filter

The pre-filter attached to the wall with its partial pipe connections and the conditioner tank

The 48 hour soak completed Sunday night, but we waited until Monday to finish the process - better to work in the daylight when it was warmer.  The next step was to flush the filter with water for at least 30 minutes or until the water was clear. Due to the weight of the completely filled tank, we were unsure as to the best way to flush it out.  Using the same short hose with a pitcher at the kitchen sink was not an option as it would take way too much time.  Mike's mom suggested placing the tank on the front porch and letting the water flow over the railing.  This was a great idea especially since it was right next to an outside hose bib.  So Mike put the tank on our two-wheeled dolly and moved it to the front porch.  He then attached the hose and started the flush process.  To better see the color of the water coming out, he used a bucket to catch the output and then dumped the water in different spots in the yard.  When the flush was complete and the water was clear, the tank was put into its final resting place in the pantry.

With the tanks properly set, Mike was able to finish the rest of the pipe/crimp connections, except for those to and from the house.  This step requires the house water to be turned off in order to remove the current loop connection, screw in the new adapters and then make the final crimp connections.  As Mike completed the rest of the work, he realized it was getting later in the day and, if there was a problem with the connections to the house or in any of the connections, he would not have time to troubleshoot and make repairs before heading back to the valley which could leave Laurie without water for the week.  Laurie suggested he wait to finish the install until the following weekend and Mike liked that idea.  That is the set-up for Part Two and time for Mike to return to the Valley.

The "filter" tank in place (on left) and most of the pipe connections

The last connections will be the two blue pipes to the house pipes

Stats: 2 Home Depot trips; 0 Walmart trips

Remodeling expense 1/04/16-1/18/16: $0

Remodeling expense to date: $52,629

Two Weeks and a New Year

It has been a full month of activities both in Payson and in the Valley.  After Mike returned to Chandler on the 7th, Laurie came down to the Valley that following weekend as part of her normal monthly trip and to attend a couple of family events.  Just days before her return to Payson on the 15th, it snowed.  Our neighbors were kind enough to send us pictures of our yard and house.  When Laurie made it back up north with Mike's mom, for her monthly visit, the snow was mostly gone from the front yard but still present in the back.  Zena had fun playing in what was still on the ground.  Laurie also found that the 10x20 canopy we got from Harbor Freight to use as a temporary garage did not survive the snow.  Not because the snow was too heavy (as there was not that much) but because the canopy had big blocks of ice on it.  The car got scratched up a little from the poles when they collapsed, but nothing that cannot be buffed out.  Because she was worried about the weight of the ice resting on the convertible top, Laurie removed the snow/ice off the canopy, but was unable to push the canopy off the car. Mike told her not to worry about it until he arrived for the weekend, but Laurie's sister and brother-in-law happened to stop by during the week and helped her move it.  That makes us zero for two on the temporary shed/garage parking solution.

First good snowfall while we were away

Zena in the snow for the first time this year

Canopy down - Part I

Canopy down - Part II

And Part III

The Saturday before Christmas, Mike had a party to attend in the Valley and then he was going to drive to Payson on Sunday for the two holiday weeks.  He only had two days of work he had to do during those two weeks and got permission from his boss to work remotely.  The plans changed slightly when Mike's mom started having back pains and Laurie had to bring her back to the Valley late Saturday.  So we were able to drive up together on Sunday.

During our two weeks in Payson, we accomplished a few tasks, nothing major.  However, we did decide on an installation method for the whole house water filter system.  We settled on the pex crimp style of connections as it was the cheaper solution and we could get all of the parts at Home Depot, but we still needed the crimp tool and did not want to pay $120 for it.  We found a a crimp tool that does 3/8", 1/2", 3/4" and 1" connections for about $60 online and it included 20 crimp rings.  We made the purchase in hopes we would receive the tool in time to complete the filter install during the holiday break.  Just before Christmas, the tool arrived but had the wrong size crimp rings from what we ordered (asked for 1" and got 1/2").  We contacted the seller and he said he would ship out the correct parts.  Due to the holidays, those did not arrive until after New Year's Day, too late to start the project. So the filter install is on hold until the next time we are at the house.

Another project we were able to complete was the pantry shelving.  We previously added a support to one set of shelves due to them bowing when Laurie stocked the pantry.  This time we added a support to the set of shelves on the short wall.  To make the task easier, we removed all the items from the shelves, esp. since these shelves had appliances and other heavier items.  This allowed us to remove the shelves for easier access to the support system and we could also attach the brackets to the removed shelves.  Once the extra vertical support was in place, all the shelves were returned along with all the items that were on them.  The last couple of additions Laurie requested for the pantry included a hanger support for brooms and mops and a shelf unit for the inside of the pantry door.  This is a set of lipped shelves almost the full height of the door.  Both were available at Home Depot and were easy to install with some wall anchors and a bit of leveling.  Now Laurie can alleviate some clutter from the laundry room and have even more storage in the pantry.

The middle support in place and shelves restored

The pantry put back together

Our full door length shelving unit - lots of pantry storage

Good way to store 7-8 handled items

To better organize our water heater closet, Laurie wanted to add similar shelves to the inside of its door.  Due to some built-in shelving in that closet, we had to settle for some smaller wire shelves for the door and they had to be placed quite a bit off-center.  We moved the dog leash holder that was on the door to the wall inside the closet and up went the new shelves. Now we have more ways to store items in this small closet.

Laurie still wanted this hanger, so placed it on  the wall inside

Wire shelves for the water heater closet door

Laurie has been looking for a small table to use on the entry wall next to the den double doors.  It had to be small enough to not only fit the wall space, but also not stick out too far into the walkway and it needed to have closed storage space (we are all about extra storage space).  She found such a cabinet through Kohls and had it shipped to the house.  The bonus to using Kohls is she always has coupons for them, plus they have a very generous return policy and you can take items back to the store if you decide, for any reason, that you don't want them.  Mike put the table together and, when we placed it on the wall, we felt it was too deep for that area.  So we decided to swap the new cabinet with a smaller cabinet we brought from Gilbert.  This layout worked much better.

A little too deep for where it was supposed to go, but fits good here

This table fit better on the den wall

While Laurie was looking at the Kohls' site for the entry table, she found a cabinet that she liked better than the one we currently have in our master bath.  Her searching was motivated by a purchase our niece/nephew had just made for their bathroom.  The item she bought was one that stands on its own over the toilet.  After Mike got the unit together, Laurie decided she did not completely care for the way it fit in the bathroom with the legs.  Mike found he could remove the legs and attach the unit to the wall just like the current cabinet - she was happy with that plan.  Mike used the existing wall anchors for the top of the unit and added more support with one more screw through the lower part of the cabinet that went directly into a stud.  With the left over pieces from the legs, Mike was able to make a couple more shelves for Laurie to use in the cabinet - again, more storage is always better.

New and improved cabinet for the master bathroom. The middle shelf used to be a leg.

One other storage issue we have had is for the pellets we keep in the house for our stove.  Our hopper will store a full bag, but it is nice to have a backup bag available in the house in case it is not convenient to get one from the shed when needed.  Mike had the idea of getting a dog food container like we have for Zena's food storage (seals well to keep bugs out), but once we got it, Laurie did not like having it out in the room because it is plastic and white and oddly shaped so it could not be covered.  So we have been searching for other possibilities.  She found that one of our ottomans which we've been using to store blankets was big enough for the extra bag.  While having dinner with one of our neighbors over the holidays, we found they have the same pellet stove we have and they were using a black metal coal hod (AKA ash bucket) to store pellets next to the stove.  We did some research and found a hod that would hold about 1/2 of a 40lb. bag.  This will help Laurie so that she doesn't have to lift the 40lb bag over the stove as she can now pour 1/2 the bag into the hod and store the other half in the basket.  The hod looks nice on the hearth next to the stove and is easy to lift and pour from when we need more pellets.  A very good solution and we are thinking of maybe getting a 2nd hod so Laurie can have the ottoman back for her blankets.

Our stove with a coal hod to store half our pellet bag

The rest of our two weeks was quiet and relaxing.  We did not get any snow apart from a little flurry on Christmas that did not stick and by the end of the two weeks, the previous snow was all gone.  We were supposed to have a Christmas dinner at our home the Saturday after Christmas, but the location was changed to Laurie's dad's house in Mesa so we made a round trip to the Valley that day.  We met more neighbors at an annual New Year's Eve party down the street and then left there for another party with our friends Bob and Denise.  They had quite a few people over along with some friends Denise is in a band with and they were playing tunes for the party.  Mike started to feel sick and we ended up leaving the party before midnight, but we were still able to stay awake until the New Year. We took down all our Christmas decorations the day before leaving for the Valley and the house was back to normal.  We had more family events happening in the Valley, so Laurie drove back with Mike.  It was a great couple of weeks being together in the house and really feels more like home.  Cannot wait until we can do that all the time.

Stats: 3 Home Depot trips; 5 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 12/8/15-1/03/16: $143
Remodeling expense to date: $52,629