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Good morning

Good Morning Mossberg Owners.

In addition to the Covid problems, we have seen 9000+ structures burn down in California this year. Consequently, every guy with a hammer and a skilsaw is busy, and getting a good plumber, mason, or electrician is a waiting game with no guarantees.

So when my water softener failed I decided to install the new one myself. Now I did not install the old one, but 18 years ago I shortened the plumbing and moved it closer to the garage wall.

I re-used the old copper unions I had installed at that time because Lowes didn't have new ones. Unfortunately both initially tested OK. But the water pressure here varies from time of day, and both of them are dripping. Grrrr.... I did find a plumber willing to come this AM, and we will see how good he is.

I should just go find new parts and re-solder it myself. I learned to solder copper and weld steel when I was a teenager.

But I am getting to old to be so cheap. Also I am not as steady or sturdy as I once was. I should learn to be lazy and spend more.

Blessings on you all, and best wishes for a Corrected Election.

@hombre243
When they steal thousands, they pass out hundreds.
When they steal millions, they pass out thousands.
When they steal billions, they pass out millions.

People are bought and sold, but do not recognize their slavery to this crime.
Because the money is so good....

It's because of this, Marx was able to sell his theories to a confused world.
 
Unions are very finicky. Especially soft ones like copper. The first time you use them, they deform and the two surfaces “ mate”. Sometimes you get lucky and get to undo them a time to two before they leak. When I moved my electric water tank out from under the kitchen cupboards and installed the gas tankless heater outside, I had to remove a few pieces until I got to a dry fitting. Luckily it was a fitting that took a copper to pvc transition, so no soldering. I ran the high temp pvc pipe out and back, and have knock on wood, not experienced any issues for 20+ years.. I know it’s too late now because the plumber is coming, but maybe the union could have been annealed to re soften the copper for a new lease on life..
 
Good morning. Sunshine again after 4 gloomy days. We'll be back in the high 50s this afternoon. The weather this weekend should be nice .

Ya'll have a great day.
 
Unions are very finicky. . . . maybe the union could have been annealed to re soften the copper for a new lease on life..


I’m afraid it just wasn’t round any more.

I just had the whole thing installed in new solid copper with no unions. While they were here I had them put in a brand new water heater and re-oriented a little and they also put in a large sediment filter on the main water line.

If you add in the water softener & the new Ro-DI kit that I bought I’m up to $3800
 
By the way, I put in the unions originally myself because the system didn’t have them and I thought that a water softener should be easy to remove and replace. But good luck finding one that has the same plumbing set up LOL. In the end you end up cutting & refitting pipe, but fortunately they only go out every 10 or 20 years.
 
Well this was the third day of round robin plumbing folks & it is 2300 hrs on the West Coast.

Everything has come together pretty well. I now have a new water heater, a new water softener, a whole house sediment filter, plus a bio filter & four stage reverse osmosis filter system.
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That big blue thing is the main sediment filter. There are two emergency overflow hoses that end up in a black plastic bin until I plumb them elsewhere.
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I am doing the final purge of the reverse osmosis system before I install the De-ionization filter.

Should be somewhere before 0100 Sunday, and then I will install the DI cartridge & cap Everything off.

Everything is looking dry and so I am a happy camper at this point. The new water heater is much faster and more efficient and also safer.
 
I wonder about the galvanic action that will occur in an assembly this complicated?
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I don’t know what metal the dip tube is made of, but I am betting nowadays they are some kind of alloy aluminum. I don’t know about the tank either. Possibly Glass lined steel.

Anyhow we go from the dip tube, to a stainless nut, stainless steel flex line (different grade?) to a copper nipple marked “made in China”, to a brass ball valve, to zinc hot dip, iron pipe, and also to aluminum clamp with cad plated steel screws. That of course should have a copper wire in it that connects to the ground wire system. That will have a brass clamp with the stainless screw on a copper rod pounded into the dirt.

It represents about 12 or 13 different connections of dissimilar materials and there will be a small electrolysis at each one. That means there will be a small corrosion at each one where one material gives up electrons to the other metal.

I think that this arrangement of metals will generally give up a boundary layer at each juncture that reduces the electric potential because its oxide is essentially more insulating. It is a very sloppy type of semi conductor diode. This is the kind of issue that makes your trailer lights blink on the wrong side real weak

I did a little playing around with the fluke meter after I touched the steel fan, sitting on the concrete floor, while I was standing on the concrete floor, in my stocking feet.

When my cuticles hit that chrome plated steel wire cage they felt like I had touched a griddle.
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That’s a three wire fan but I’m not sure all the outlets are properly grounded because it’s on a chain of crap right now... I’m counting four different extension cords before it hits the wall outlet. I’m betting one of them has the ground leg cut off, because I was getting about 45 V to a salty wet spot on the concrete floor from the steel cage.
 
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@Rodburner
Have you read any good reviews on Modern multifunction welders?
No I sure haven’t. I only have a little MIG these days ( Eastwood Mig 135). It does everything I’ve ever needed it to do. runs on 110v, and has fully adjustable amperage as opposed to my old Lincoln 100, with its 4 taps. I don’t use gas with it, just flux core wire. I welded for money for 35 years with oxy/acetylene and still prefer that, but gave up my bottles when I retired and the company wouldn’t pay for refills.lol. I looked at various TIG machines but the expense of the machines, price of consumables, lack of portability and needing 3 extremities to run a simple bead just didn’t add up. Arc welding is fine but I only weld thin steel, so again, overkill. And when I’ve needed to weld aluminum, I just used aluminum arc rod and the oxy/ace torch. What are you thinking to do?
 
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. . . needing 3 extremities to run a simple bead just didn’t add up. . . . I just used aluminum arc rod and the oxy/ace torch. What are you thinking to do?

Well, something completely different, now that you mentioned that. I’ve never touched an aluminum arc rod . . .

Basically I am working on cars and motorcycles. I have done several various processes in the past but have practiced none of them well except oxy acetylene torch on steel, brass or copper.


I want to set up to do some light gauge steel, very light gauge stainless, and aluminum up to about 3/16 inch. I also have some unknown alloys that I plan to torch-braze with aluminum alloy rods.

I have also done a little spray arc with a fast MIG welder and 80/20 gas. That was a pretty amazing process. When I worked at Manlift Inc I designed a semi automatic submerged arc welder for long structural seams.

I’d like to try doing some silicon bronze wire as well.

I have only used a TIG welder one time, on thin stainless, and it was easy as pie because the machine was all set up for me.
 
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Nice.. you are way more experienced with the various forms than I am. I gas welded nearly every project on my Triumph Bonneville and never felt cheated. Lol but always steel, no “ exotic metals”,seat pan/ fender combo’s, dozens of exhaust systems, an oil in frame oil cooling system, stretched swing arms, etc. the only submerged welding I ever did was welding a burning gas main shut, while standing waist deep in a flowing bar ditch. Lol29E3F337-35E4-444B-848B-BDEEC4E5848D.jpeg
 
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I always liked Triumphs. That one looks like it has a special purpose.
I always liked them too, so when the “new” Triumphs came out, and I became aware of them a few years later, I bought this one brand new in 2004. By far the most fun,dependable bike I have ever owned. Not fast, but a great handler on the back roads. As my wife’s MS progressed, I just went whole hog with modifications and wacky projects, hardly riding it at all. Pissed off a lot of traditionalists, lol.
 
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. . . welding a burning gas main shut, while standing waist deep in a flowing bar ditch . . .

Yikes! A REAL man of adventure!

How long did that weld take?

I once drove a plastic car with gasoline on the floorboards a bad ignition switch and loose wires dangling against the column, but it didn't catch fire, and it was only around the block.

I had to steam clean a new skiploader once. It had been used to put out a raisin and manure fire. Brand new rental machine. Shit still smoldering down in the articulation pivot!
That was nasty as hell. Not dangerous cleaning, but imagine starting a raisin and manure fire by spontaneous combustion?
 
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