My first track loader!

[CavinJim]

Oh, and congratulations and good luck with the new house! That is always very exciting--we did the new house thing nearly two years ago. Of course, a "data line" is not available here. We have one choice--a wireless ISP which charges an arm and a leg for slow-speed internet. Sigh.

 

[boone]

Jim, finally have internet again. Going from cable to DSL. So far so good. It was kinda nice without inet for awhile, but it's hard to imagine life without it. We're moved in and have most of the boxes emptied. We bought an older home (built in '94) but is in good shape. Found two surprises the inspector missed. First load of laundry drains into the utility room, garage and basement. Field line is plugged with roots. I was able to snake it out and is working fine for now. Will try some root killer, but eventually I might have to dig it up and move the corrugated pipe out beyond the trees. Also, the heat pump for the upstairs has a bad expansion valve. They'll have to drain the freon, torch the new valve in and recharge it. Didn't expect those surprises, but at least they're both fixable.

Thanks for sharing the story on the pond. Wish I had a whole summer off to build one...maybe one day. Congrats on the 955! Looking forward to reading your new thread on the machine.

 

[Dickjr.]

Mr Boone , have someone with a jetter come out and run it through your outside drain field , it can rejuvenate the line and cut roots. Can you give me an idea of how much line is on it and does it serve grey water only? The oils in your clothing plus detergents are the worst enemy of a lateral line. Sludge it right over.

 

[CavinJim]

Boone, when you say "an older home" and "built in '94", I have to presume you mean 1894? 1994 sure isn't an older home! At least not where I'm from.... I'd be elated to have DSL! A hot-spot through the cell phone would be 5x faster than what we have! sigh. The house we bought two years ago is, to us, almost brand new--it was built around 1985! It had a couple of "surprises" as well (we knew about them, sort of, but we didn't know quite how bad it was...). First thing we did was tear out all of the original PVC water supply plumbing. It was brittle and none of the shut-off valves worked. We put in about 300' of PEX (seems like a lot for a 1 story house!). Then we went to troubleshoot why some of the outlets didn't work and found the wiring in the attic shorting to ground through the frame of the house! We kept smelling a smokey smell--that explained it! Spent the next few months replacing ALL of the wiring, switches, and outlets. Everything was done wrong. Not just poorly--downright wrong! The switches were all on the neutrals. The breaker box was overloaded. Anyhow, miles later it all works. We even have two, 200 Amp breaker boxes now (technically not to code.... but the power coop even agreed it was necessary). Still have the garage and two workshops to finish before I can say "that's done"! Then there's the kitchen remodel (ah, that'll end up being a 2/3 of the house remodel when we finish tearing out walls and rearranging the rooms!). I think you got off easy, there.... (Just kidding, it's never fun to find those surprises!)

 

[boone]

Mr Boone , have someone with a jetter come out and run it through your outside drain field , it can rejuvenate the line and cut roots. Can you give me an idea of how much line is on it and does it serve grey water only? The oils in your clothing plus detergents are the worst enemy of a lateral line. Sludge it right over.

It is a grey water only line. The snake is 75' and I can stick every foot of it in the line. Luckily the basement provides a good room and a nice cleanout cap for the outside line. Well, so far so good. My wife has been washing no more than one load a day. When the washer would drain the water would back up in the utility sink which is next to the washer. After we snaked it, it would only back up a little. I added some barbs of wire to the end of the snake head. It just barely fits inside the 2" line. This has allowed it to drain without backing up in the sink. I just snake it again this evening and poured some root killer in the line. Hopefully, this will get us by for a while.

 

[boone]

Boone, when you say "an older home" and "built in '94", I have to presume you mean 1894? 1994 sure isn't an older home! At least not where I'm from.... I'd be elated to have DSL! A hot-spot through the cell phone would be 5x faster than what we have! sigh. The house we bought two years ago is, to us, almost brand new--it was built around 1985! It had a couple of "surprises" as well (we knew about them, sort of, but we didn't know quite how bad it was...). First thing we did was tear out all of the original PVC water supply plumbing. It was brittle and none of the shut-off valves worked. We put in about 300' of PEX (seems like a lot for a 1 story house!). Then we went to troubleshoot why some of the outlets didn't work and found the wiring in the attic shorting to ground through the frame of the house! We kept smelling a smokey smell--that explained it! Spent the next few months replacing ALL of the wiring, switches, and outlets. Everything was done wrong. Not just poorly--downright wrong! The switches were all on the neutrals. The breaker box was overloaded. Anyhow, miles later it all works. We even have two, 200 Amp breaker boxes now (technically not to code.... but the power coop even agreed it was necessary). Still have the garage and two workshops to finish before I can say "that's done"! Then there's the kitchen remodel (ah, that'll end up being a 2/3 of the house remodel when we finish tearing out walls and rearranging the rooms!). I think you got off easy, there.... (Just kidding, it's never fun to find those surprises!)

Whoa! Burning smells due to wiring is serious business. Glad you got that addressed. I think I did get off easy. Yeah, I guess it's not a very old house, just old enough to have some personality. It was in the teens this morning and a high of 27 degrees and we still have no replacement valve for the upstairs unit. Running on emergency heat! Can't wait to see the electric bill.

 

[Dickjr.]

I do septic installs , and never have been big on these additives like rid x. We have to have yearly continuing education , and this is topic about every year. Those jetters can run up to a couple hundred feet and do wonders. We have a VET clinic that has 8 laterals and the d box covers got crushed and dirt got in the box and lines. I cleaned all the boxes and had my guy bring his jetter over and run all the lines. This field was done in 1988. It began working again and is still working , been 3 years now. The expansion valve is a simple fix as long as the new valve is kept cool while replacing. I know they are supposed to be better but a simple orifice seems to be as good. I figured you would be on the loader today.

 

[boone]

I do septic installs , and never have been big on these additives like rid x. We have to have yearly continuing education , and this is topic about every year. Those jetters can run up to a couple hundred feet and do wonders. We have a VET clinic that has 8 laterals and the d box covers got crushed and dirt got in the box and lines. I cleaned all the boxes and had my guy bring his jetter over and run all the lines. This field was done in 1988. It began working again and is still working , been 3 years now. The expansion valve is a simple fix as long as the new valve is kept cool while replacing. I know they are supposed to be better but a simple orifice seems to be as good. I figured you would be on the loader today.

What would be ballpark estimate for someone to run a jetter through it? I guess you can rent those as well. It's super easy to access.

Hopefully the heat guy comes along soon. He informed me the unit is still under parts warranty and he's trying to get the valve under warranty.

LOL, when the hunters come in because it's too cold, it's too cold to be on the loader. We still crank it up often and run it around the barn. Can't wait for spring time!

 

[Dickjr.]

I was charged 800$ to jet the laterals and pump the tank which was a 1000 gallon tank. I couldn't see what you need being over 250$. Those jetters are pretty good tools. They will cut roots over 1" thick. A good one will peel your skin back. How cold did it get there over the weekend? We got to 5*F. You would have been on supplemental heat most likely anyway.

 

[ScottAR]

If you have a power washer they make a jetter type tip. The tip screws on the end of the hose pointing backwards and you just feed the line in and pull it back out.

We have cobbled up a water hose affair for a grey line that was slow draining with PVC pipe and fittings. We put size adapters up to about an inch smaller than the pipe, fitted the hose on the end of the contraption, turned on the water and fed it into the line. Go in a few feet, pull it out and let the line drain. Grease lumps float out... Not exactly pleasant but very workable.

 

[boone]

I was charged 800$ to jet the laterals and pump the tank which was a 1000 gallon tank. I couldn't see what you need being over 250$. Those jetters are pretty good tools. They will cut roots over 1" thick. A good one will peel your skin back. How cold did it get there over the weekend? We got to 5*F. You would have been on supplemental heat most likely anyway.

I woke up Sat morning a week ago and my phone was reporting 12*F. Good time to work on inside house projects like plumbing up my dehumidifier in the basement to auto drain. Yup, good point - friends had mentioned they were on heat strips at the time too. It's now in the mid to upper 60's for the next several days. The HVAC guy is coming Friday to make the repair. He said he has replaced the expansion valve on every Lenox/Armstrong unit he's installed. He only installs American Standard now.

 

[boone]

If you have a power washer they make a jetter type tip. The tip screws on the end of the hose pointing backwards and you just feed the line in and pull it back out.

We have cobbled up a water hose affair for a grey line that was slow draining with PVC pipe and fittings. We put size adapters up to about an inch smaller than the pipe, fitted the hose on the end of the contraption, turned on the water and fed it into the line. Go in a few feet, pull it out and let the line drain. Grease lumps float out... Not exactly pleasant but very workable.

Bet that would make a mess in the basement. lol! I think the previous owners would've had to have used an external drain hose. There's no way they washed clothes there otherwise. Unless they had an extremely slow washer drain. I might do something about it this summer. I've always wanted to use a mini-ex.

 

[DMiller]

We put in a gray water drain for our wash water and discharge from the softener system, added the kitchen sink drain to minimize the load of sludge will have to attend in the septic tank later. Ours drops into a 'French Drain' style trough, 20' long 5' wide 2' deep 4" clean rock filled trench. Does run water out the end but so far nothing sudsy or stinky. No bugs seem to bother either and no trees close by.

 

[boone]

We put in a gray water drain for our wash water and discharge from the softener system, added the kitchen sink drain to minimize the load of sludge will have to attend in the septic tank later. Ours drops into a 'French Drain' style trough, 20' long 5' wide 2' deep 4" clean rock filled trench. Does run water out the end but so far nothing sudsy or stinky. No bugs seem to bother either and no trees close by.

No trees around your line is good. My grandparents (at the farm) use to always struggle with roots from far away trees getting into their septic inlet line to the tank. Dad and I dug it out once and the roots we're amazing. Luckily, the"new" house has no trees to close to the septic system. The septic tank is below the basement ground level about 400' away from the house. There are 3 clean outs between the house and tank. Inspector said most people would've used a pump, but the builders of the house took the expensive route. Gravity is free.

 

[CavinJim]

And gravity still works when the power goes out! Something to be said for that.

We had the exact same situation on the farm where I grew up--septic tank about 400 feet away, constantly getting plugged by roots. Funny thing was the nearest tree was over 50' from the line! We couldn't get it open one time so Dad called a backhoe guy and he was amazed to see it was that really old tarred stuff--I can't remember what it was called, but it wasn't even clay! That backhoe operator was amazing, too--dug out that line in about 45 minutes and it was over 8' deep half the way. Got up to the house and dug the trench perfectly even with the sidewalk--and never left a scratch on the sidewalk. Our plan here is to convert to a composting toilet system--just trading one headache for another, but with the sinkholes close by it is more peace-of-mind keeping the sludge out of our well-water!

 

[boone]

Good point, Jim. Didn't think about the power too. I crushed one of the clean-out caps today. Knew that was going to happen sooner or later. That's the only thing I don't like about the sewer line going down so far. There are three of those caps spread throughout the back-yard. Oh well...easy to replace.

Well, I'll try to get this thread out of the sewer...for Nitelite. It is January and no dirt work to do. What else can we talk about? Maybe you guys can help me with something. My wife called Thursday morning and said it felt like she ran over something when she backed out of the garage. Thinking the worst, I stayed calm and let her continue. She said she got out and it was a flat tire...I was relieved that was all it was. I took the tire off that evening and took it to the tire shop to get it patched since the tires aren't that old. When I drop the tire off, I stuck around and watched the guy change it. He motions all the other workers and they all gather around my tire. I'm thinking what's the big deal. They all start laughing. Then I start getting really curious. I wait patiently for the guy to come and show me what they pulled out. He says they can't patch the tire. I ask if I can see what they pulled out of it. He said, yes they'll bring it out. Anyway...this is what it was. The bent part is the end that went in first. The whole thing was in the tire. Only a glimpse of the other end sticking out. Any ideas?

 

[DMiller]

Looks like a glow plug to me.

http://www.carid.com/images/motorcraft/ignition-spark-plugs-wires/diesel-glow-plug.jpg

 

[ScottAR]

Yep. Engine glow plug

 

[CM1995]

That wouldn't be a glow plug from a DT466 would it?:cool2

 

[DMiller]

Sorry, Motorcraft, Ford industrial.