"Vic Smith" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:14:51 +0000, Larry wrote:
This might be on-topic if you dock your boat at one of Charleston's local
marinas, at the same altitude as my poor mobile home on the Ashley 8 miles
upriver from City Marina's Megadock......
As usual on Wed morning I met my old ham radio buddies at Bojangles for
breakfast. Fuel prices increased 1c/gallon during breakfast, dispite the
tanking of oil prices.
I left late, as usual, and came home to feed my parrots. As I moved
towards the head to drain off some excess coffee, I could hear water
running that sounded like a waterfall....not good.
The fitting to the toilet valve WAS, and is no longer, a friction fitting
forced into a rubber clamp in the valve's base. It's been there like that
since 1981, the day it was delivered. Today, while I was gone, of course,
this pipe blew out of the valve's fitting dropping back into a perfect
position to spray water on the ceiling, down the walls, and into the
heating system ductwork "drains", where it ends up soaking the fiberglass
insulation under the house, ensuring all the cheap pressboard flooring
gets
its next dose of humidity to destroy it. Everything, of course, was
soaked
completely. There was a 24-pack of toilet paper sitting on a stool. It
must have weighed 70 pounds when I hauled it outside in a waterproof bag!
So, today was plumbing day. All new valves, fittings, NO FRICTION
FITTINGS
reinforced by stainless steel. The plumbing warehouse didn't have a
garden
hose fitting pressure regulator, so I ended up at Camping World and bought
the biggest inline brass pressure regulator available, adjustable with
built-in pressure guage. The house has 40 PSI water tonight.
For a few bucks, I bought from Camping World another pressure guage that
just fits over a garden hose outlet. It measures 115 PSI at my water
inlet!! Don't hook your boat up directly to any Charleston, SC, USA,
water
tap without a regulator or you may be as sorry as I am tonight. God what
a
mess it was to clean up. I'm still waiting for some stuff to drain before
I can wash it all. It's just too heavy to move.
115 PSI IS JUST TOO MUCH PRESSURE! How stupid they're delivering it,
here.
I tend to doubt it's 115 psi. Recheck it with a known good gage.
115 would blow stuff apart all over town.
Too bad about the damage in your place.
By "friction" fitting are you talking about a compression fitting?
A compression fitting on copper or steel tube should be a reliable
fitting.
--Vic
I disagree. It probably IS 115psi. I think there is a faulty regulating
valve that serves that part of town's distribution system. Transmission
mains can be pressurized up to 150psi.
http://www.watts.com/pro/_products.asp?catId=69
These valves should reduce that pressure to 50-60psi for residential use.
House plumbing is not rated for much more than 80 psi.
Wilbur Hubbard