Crystal clear mountain spring water
May. 13th, 2025 09:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickI currently have reduced pressure in the cold water at my house. The hot water pressure is fine, but the cold is at about 75% of normal. It's been like this for like three days and I'm getting a little irritated about the situation.
First, you need a little background. The water for my house comes from a spring up on the mountain. All you people who are excited about Crystal Clear Mountain Spring Water, well, I actually have it. Natural. Crystal clear. Bubbles right up out the ground as Nature intended. Tastes great.
The water from the spring flows into a spring box (a small constructed concrete box with a lid). The spring box collects the spring water and lets it settle a bit for clarity/sediment reasons and then it flows into a 1.5" diameter plastic pipe that runs downhill a bit to a great big giant plastic tank for reservoir/pressure purposes. From the great big giant plastic tank, the water runs out the bottom of that, again, this time in a 2" diameter plastic pipe, to where it tees off to a 1.25" plastic pipe to a 1" plastic pipe (all of these are black poly pipe of the kind you put together with gray plastic fittings and stainless steel clamps and the necking down happens at the pit in my yard) to feed my house plumbing. This switches to 3/4" copper pipe at the shutoff valve and thence goes to 1/2" copper shortly thereafter.
I should take a moment to point out that there is not any... screening or anything at any point along the way that could filter out ... things from entering into the 1.5" plastic pipe in the spring box or from entering into the great big giant plastic tank (though it has a relatively tight-fitting junction with the pipe that feeds it) or from entering into the 2" plastic pipe that feeds the water supply at my house. Perhaps there should be some sort of screening somewhere along the line. Perhaps. But I digress.
The current issue with the cold water pressure in my house is almost certainly caused by a partial obstruction of the cold water pipe. Because the hot water pressure is fine, the obstruction is located after the T for the cold water that goes to feed the water heater. My guess is that the issue is probably in the 1/2" elbow above that. (I hope it's there, anyway, because if it's not, I am going to have to take apart more plumbing and drywall to resolve the problem.)
Blowing it out is going to involve A Ladder and me working in a less-accessible space (All spaces are accessible. It's just a matter of how much you want to be in there.) and, obviously, I am not looking forward to dealing with it, at all, or it'd be done already.
Solving the problem is a matter of cutting the pipe AFTER the probable location of the obstruction, hooking up a soft (garden) hose to the cut end of pipe using a small pipe clamp so that the eventual spray of water can be directed into a bucket, and turning on the water at the main so that the water pressure will blow out the pipe explosively. Probably. I hope.
I see a member of the audience has a question.
Why do you have to cut the pipe?
Because a cut off 1/2" pipe has much greater flow than opening a shutoff valve like for a faucet. Also, there are a lot of 90 degree bends in the pipe before the shut off valves and that just means more places where the obstruction could get stuck, again. A cut end to the pipe and no other bends besides the one where the obstruction is located is the best way.
It sounds like you may have done this before...
Question time is over.
I've been babying it along for the last three days but I definitely need to get myself to the hardware, round up some sharkbite fittings and some pex pipe and see to fixing the issue. Apparently it takes me three days to get pissed off enough to be motivated.
What could possibly have gotten into the pipe to obstruct the water flow?
*sigh* I said question time was over, didn't I?
You did, yes, but this seems like a very important question.
It's a dead newt.
WHAT?!?
This is not my first rodeo. I should probably install screening over the intake pipe in order to prevent (or help prevent) dead newts in the water line but it's been three dead newts (total) in thirty years, so it's not *that* compelling of an issue.
ONE DEAD NEWT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH!!
Sure, you say that, but also it's way up the hill and someone (me) would have to go inspect the screen at the intake on the regular to make sure it was doing OK and remaining unobstructed and this truly does not happen more than about once every ten years and honestly, I haven't died yet.
Wait, you DRINK that water?
Not right now, no. Once the pressure dropped, I was like "Dash it all, that's a dead newt. Buggerit." and I quit drinking it. Once I fix the dead newt issue? Sure, I drink it. It's crystal clear mountain spring water. People pay good money for that.
THAT MEANS YOU WERE DRINKING DEAD NEWT GERMS BEFORE THE PRESSURE DROPPED!
Yes, yes it does. I try not to think about it, which is a surprisingly effective strategy of not dealing with it that I've been using for thirty years. Also, yes, now that I have it in writing in front of me, one dead newt should have been enough. Three dead newts is definitely well past the "deal with it already, you mouth-breathing idiot" event horizon. I'll see what I can get done on that front. *sigh*
First, you need a little background. The water for my house comes from a spring up on the mountain. All you people who are excited about Crystal Clear Mountain Spring Water, well, I actually have it. Natural. Crystal clear. Bubbles right up out the ground as Nature intended. Tastes great.
The water from the spring flows into a spring box (a small constructed concrete box with a lid). The spring box collects the spring water and lets it settle a bit for clarity/sediment reasons and then it flows into a 1.5" diameter plastic pipe that runs downhill a bit to a great big giant plastic tank for reservoir/pressure purposes. From the great big giant plastic tank, the water runs out the bottom of that, again, this time in a 2" diameter plastic pipe, to where it tees off to a 1.25" plastic pipe to a 1" plastic pipe (all of these are black poly pipe of the kind you put together with gray plastic fittings and stainless steel clamps and the necking down happens at the pit in my yard) to feed my house plumbing. This switches to 3/4" copper pipe at the shutoff valve and thence goes to 1/2" copper shortly thereafter.
I should take a moment to point out that there is not any... screening or anything at any point along the way that could filter out ... things from entering into the 1.5" plastic pipe in the spring box or from entering into the great big giant plastic tank (though it has a relatively tight-fitting junction with the pipe that feeds it) or from entering into the 2" plastic pipe that feeds the water supply at my house. Perhaps there should be some sort of screening somewhere along the line. Perhaps. But I digress.
The current issue with the cold water pressure in my house is almost certainly caused by a partial obstruction of the cold water pipe. Because the hot water pressure is fine, the obstruction is located after the T for the cold water that goes to feed the water heater. My guess is that the issue is probably in the 1/2" elbow above that. (I hope it's there, anyway, because if it's not, I am going to have to take apart more plumbing and drywall to resolve the problem.)
Blowing it out is going to involve A Ladder and me working in a less-accessible space (All spaces are accessible. It's just a matter of how much you want to be in there.) and, obviously, I am not looking forward to dealing with it, at all, or it'd be done already.
Solving the problem is a matter of cutting the pipe AFTER the probable location of the obstruction, hooking up a soft (garden) hose to the cut end of pipe using a small pipe clamp so that the eventual spray of water can be directed into a bucket, and turning on the water at the main so that the water pressure will blow out the pipe explosively. Probably. I hope.
I see a member of the audience has a question.
Why do you have to cut the pipe?
Because a cut off 1/2" pipe has much greater flow than opening a shutoff valve like for a faucet. Also, there are a lot of 90 degree bends in the pipe before the shut off valves and that just means more places where the obstruction could get stuck, again. A cut end to the pipe and no other bends besides the one where the obstruction is located is the best way.
It sounds like you may have done this before...
Question time is over.
I've been babying it along for the last three days but I definitely need to get myself to the hardware, round up some sharkbite fittings and some pex pipe and see to fixing the issue. Apparently it takes me three days to get pissed off enough to be motivated.
What could possibly have gotten into the pipe to obstruct the water flow?
*sigh* I said question time was over, didn't I?
You did, yes, but this seems like a very important question.
It's a dead newt.
WHAT?!?
This is not my first rodeo. I should probably install screening over the intake pipe in order to prevent (or help prevent) dead newts in the water line but it's been three dead newts (total) in thirty years, so it's not *that* compelling of an issue.
ONE DEAD NEWT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ENOUGH!!
Sure, you say that, but also it's way up the hill and someone (me) would have to go inspect the screen at the intake on the regular to make sure it was doing OK and remaining unobstructed and this truly does not happen more than about once every ten years and honestly, I haven't died yet.
Wait, you DRINK that water?
Not right now, no. Once the pressure dropped, I was like "Dash it all, that's a dead newt. Buggerit." and I quit drinking it. Once I fix the dead newt issue? Sure, I drink it. It's crystal clear mountain spring water. People pay good money for that.
THAT MEANS YOU WERE DRINKING DEAD NEWT GERMS BEFORE THE PRESSURE DROPPED!
Yes, yes it does. I try not to think about it, which is a surprisingly effective strategy of not dealing with it that I've been using for thirty years. Also, yes, now that I have it in writing in front of me, one dead newt should have been enough. Three dead newts is definitely well past the "deal with it already, you mouth-breathing idiot" event horizon. I'll see what I can get done on that front. *sigh*
no subject
Date: 2025-05-13 05:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-13 10:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-05-14 09:52 am (UTC)Compared to the terrifying sulfur-smelling brown-tinged city water I grew up avoiding... yeah, I'll take it.
Good luck with your pipe clearing. Sounds messy!
no subject
Date: 2025-05-15 03:57 am (UTC)...minus the occasional dead newt. Alas, poor newt.
I'm glad this is something that you've handled before and know what to do and can get fixed... but I'm sorry it's the third dead newt rodeo.