{"id":91,"date":"2008-09-09T17:26:56","date_gmt":"2008-09-09T17:26:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/?p=91"},"modified":"2017-11-14T00:15:29","modified_gmt":"2017-11-14T00:15:29","slug":"a-second-tank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/2008\/09\/09\/a-second-tank\/","title":{"rendered":"A Second Tank"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rainwater<\/a><\/p>\n

In the post of April 17, 2008, I mentioned the addition of a second rainwater tank to the north tank farm.\u00a0 It was actually purchased and delivered last spring and has been sitting on a decomposed granite pad since then.\u00a0 Since we’ve had very little rain this summer (actually an official drought) there wasn’t a pressing need to get it connected to the rest of the system.\u00a0 With Hurricane Ike, and a possibility for heavy rain, it seemed wise to finish the project.<\/p>\n

\"second<\/a>I started on the weekend of Labor Day.\u00a0 The weather was very hot — in the high 90’s or low 100’s. \u00a0 The first step was to dig a trench between the two tanks.\u00a0 Normally, I would save work like this until a mechanical trencher is available, but the distance was only 15-20 feet, and too close to the tanks to use a machine.\u00a0 An “artisan” (that’s “hand made”) trench would be required.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve dug plenty of holes at Roy Creek Ranch, and it’s never fun.\u00a0 There isn’t much soil (usually not more than about two inches of topsoil) and underneath that is a material called “caliche” — a kind of soft limestone\u00a0that is \u201cdig-able\u201d with difficulty\u00a0— mixed with harder rock.\u00a0The technique is straightforward: clear the turf with a spade or trenching shovel, and then use a 40-pound “cinch bar”\u00a0 (aka. breaker bar, Texas toothpick, digging spud) to break up the caliche.\u00a0 This is back-breaking work, and it’s best to split it up, if possible.\u00a0 Two four-hour sessions in the cool of the morning and the trench was done.\u00a0 The good news is that it isn’t necessary to go very deep here — the ground never freezes below a couple inches because of the mild winter weather, and a six-inch trench is more than enough.\u00a0 A tip: softening the caliche with a little water helps.<\/p>\n

\"Softening<\/a>Next step, pipes.\u00a0 As I mentioned in the earlier post, two connections were needed.\u00a0 Each tank has a 2″ nipple at the base and another near the top.\u00a0 This allows for simultaneous water use and fill.\u00a0 The plumbing scheme required top-to-top and bottom-to-bottom connections, with some added ports and valves to allow for different filling and use “modes” (see the earlier post for more details).\u00a0 I’ve done a fair amount of PVC plumbing, but 2″ doesn’t bend much, and it is a little more challenging to work with.<\/p>\n

\"first<\/a><\/p>\n

Lengths and connector angles really matter. \u00a0A connection to the bottom of the new tank was first, using a valve, two 45 degree connectors, and a compression fitting.\u00a0 The compression fittings are really helpful.\u00a0 Each side of the fitting grabs an adjustable amount of pipe with a collar and\u00a0 rubber gasket.\u00a0 They’re intended for making repairs in tight spaces, but are also handy for fine- adjusting pipe lengths.\u00a0 I also added a “T” so that future connections are possible.\u00a0 The blue handle operates a ball valve that controls water flow to and from the tank.<\/p>\n

Because the pipe is nearly rigid, and the positions of the tanks are fixed, it was necessary to measure carefully and trial fit pieces before glueing them into place.\u00a0 Another compression fitting at the old tank allowed for the fine adjustments \"pipe<\/a>necessary to complete the run.\u00a0 This is the end that feeds the supply pump and pressure tank, so extra ports are visible in the picture.<\/p>\n

A connecting pipe between the upper ports on the two tanks were completed the next day.\u00a0 In addition to the upper port on the new tank, this pipe connected with the large ball valves on the old tank that were already in place.\u00a0 Again, compression fittings on both ends allowed for fine adjustment of the\u00a0 tank connections.\u00a0 This run was much easier, partly because I had had some practice the day before, and partly because it’s a simpler run (fewer tricky angles to account for).\u00a0 Pretty soon it was done.<\/p>\n

\"both<\/a>Plumbing completed, and ready for testing.\u00a0 After pumping about 2000 gallons of water into the new tank, it was time to look for leaks.\u00a0 Everything was tight.\u00a0 I expected some settling with the added weight of the water, and decided to leave the trenches open for a week or so to make sure that no problems developed.\u00a0 Everything was ready for Ike though!<\/p>\n

And then he took a different track.\u00a0 I am grateful that we didn’t have to deal with torrential rain and 100+ mile-per-hour winds, but a little rain would have been welcome.\u00a0 Maybe next time.\u00a0 Trenches filled and everything tight, we’re ready for the next rain!\u00a0\"roof<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the post of April 17, 2008, I mentioned the addition of a second rainwater tank to the north tank farm.\u00a0 It was actually purchased and delivered last spring and has been sitting on a decomposed granite pad since then.\u00a0 …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,65,5,7],"tags":[15,18,136,17,22,19,16,21,20],"class_list":["post-91","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gardening","category-maker","category-projects","category-rainwater","tag-collection","tag-drought","tag-homesteading","tag-polypropylene","tag-pvc","tag-storage","tag-tanks","tag-texas","tag-water"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1009,"href":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91\/revisions\/1009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jimkerkhoff.com\/test-roycreekranch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}