Here We Go Again

The o-rings for the water softener meter-bypass valve connection came Tuesday morning.  By now all the plumbing aligns, and a good shove got the unit seated and joy, joy, no leaks there.

Yesterday I called Charlie Moore at the Ohio Pure Water Company and had him walk me through the process of setting the meter for the right number of gallons per regeneration cycle.  Mine is set to regenerate every eight to ten days.  I'm a little concerned that the program wheel isn't engaging, though; at least, it hasn't shown any water usage since yesterday.  I'll check it tomorrow and call if nothing has changed.

What has changed is that the blankety-blanked elbow joint between the outflow riser and the pre-existing horizontal run above the water softener is leaking again.  Noticed it when I was on the phone with Mr. Moore.  Could very well be that the water wasn't totally out of the old pipe.  Or the new one, either.

I'm not panicking because those runs won't be compromised by being shortened up when the bad joint is cut out.  So I made yet another trip to Lowe's last yesterday afternoon for yet more copper fittings.  I was actually planning to buy me a torch and some solder and redo it myself, but the salesman convinced me to try a GatorBite instead.

GatorBite won't do, though.  There's too many drips and bumps of excess solder on those pipes.  In any event, Steve* says he'll try to come over after church on Sunday and take care of it.  (I bought the fittings for him to do it, don't you worry.)  I won't be able to be there myself, since I'm preaching way down in West Virginia and won't be home before he leaves, probably.  I'm not totally happy with that, because I'd like to see what he does and how he does it.  But I need to be grateful for what I'm given.

In the meantime, I've got the leaky joint plastered with plumber's putty, wrapped in duct tape, wound with a rag, wrapped with more duct tape, clamped, and wound again with an old piece of terry cloth towel.  And I've laid a towel over the WS plumbing and bypass valve, to catch any drips before they hit the floor.  It's a slow enough leak that so far the piece of towel around the pipe and the dehumidifier are taking care of most of it.  But I'm not embarking on any big laundry campaigns until the leak is fixed.

And if Steve can't do it, I'll bring in the Big Guns:  A real, live, professional PLUMBER.