Good morning daily

[Newcastle George]

George, that doesn't help anyone that is going further north than the Newcastle area.
Safe travels everybody.

I was only caring about myself Dave.

George

[T1 Terry]

When was the last time you travelled the New England Hwy route David? I haven't been that way since they improved the coast road ....... what is it you hate about the concrete road?

Had dinner at the new house our son and very pregnant partner recently bought, very nice place. I can't believe they bought a house and land in the Illawarra for the same money it is going to cost us to rebuild in Mannum, something is seriously wrong in the building industry.

No sooner arrived home than I received a phone call from the son to say ..... they had a tap start gushing water in the bathroom/laundry and he couldn't turn it off. Directed him on how to find the mains tap ..... no other tap works now but that tap is still belting water out.

T1 to the rescue, Jess was mid panic melt down and I thought she was about to deliver there on the spot, so I took over while David calmed her down .....

Turns out, that tap goes to a pump in the water tank, turned that off and recommended David replace the tap washer .... Apparently the tap, under the laundry tub, was dripping so he tried to turn it off further, then tried turning it the other way and all hell broke loose ...... I found the remains of the tap washer in the pool under the laundry tub, showed David so he understood what had happened, the rubber washer had split.

Back home again, within 15 mins, another phone call, the hot water doesn't work .... two taps on the outlet from the pump, turn off the right hand tap and then the pump on and see if there is another flood, thankfully my choice of taps was the right one .... all well with the world again .....

Phone call this morning, the toilet doesn't flush, could I come over and replace the tap washer that will be the end of the neck for another week I'm thinking, trying to work upside down in a laundry tub cupboard will not go well with the neck at all ....

T1 Terry

[BernieQ2]

I was back home by 9am... Carol had the staples removed... they are happy with the wound..I dropped her at bingo... she's been missing her mates.
I on the other hand am fighting with the water heater, the heater used to be out on the back veranda...but...we turned it into a room...so I can't just open the bottom of the tank...not if I want to live a bit longer, so I have been slowly draining from a top hole.. with clear hose...I had to undo the. Anode so it would slip past and go to the bottom... the anode won't come out... because of the ceiling being to low...grrr... And I need more hose I'm short by about 20 LTS...guess I'm not so lucky today.ill go to Biggenden when herself gets home any minute now and get some hose.
Bernie.

[native pepper]

Today is the coolest day this year, 7 with a freezing wind blowing of the southern ocean and the dogs are hassling me to go to the beach. So I'll rug up and take them, yesterday was also cool 12, will be interesting how long they last in the wind and cold. Think the warm house will influence how long we stay, but the sun is out which will improve the experience hopefully, may have to do a bit of running to keep warm. Will take a photo or two of the beach we go to, so you can all drool over it, except for the cold bit.

Very cold on the beach, so cold the dogs decided after going half way we were going back to the car.

[BruceS]

Bernie once you lift it as far as you can, can you see if it's OK or nearly all eaten away?
If it's stuffed it may be an idea to cut it off once you clamp the bottom bit with your vice grips They do make one that comes in a few sections like pivot points. I used one in the roadhouse. Just change it a bit more often.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/18722024132 ... REQAvD_BwE

[supersparky]

Bernie, good to hear all went well for Carol today.
Most of the plumbers that I know don't bother draining the hws. The current procedure seems to be turn off water, obviously. Spread a few heavy towels or a bunch of rags on the floor under and near the element.
Then screw out the old element just a cuppla turns, make sure it's the same thread diameter, then whip it out and whack in the new one. At worst, most times, you get a bloop of water. Which rarely makes it onto the floor, if your towels are in the right spot.
Obviously make sure your new one is ready to go in before you wind the old one out the whole way.

Terry, what I hate about that POS road is the bump bump bump evert 3 metres or so, and the noise. If you are unlucky enough to drive it when it's raining it's more than a bit difficult to tell which lane you are actually travelling in, moreso due to the spray that is generated by the little cuts in the connect to let the water drain away. It's the same on the Hume Hwy in NSW. The Victorian Hume is ashphalt the whole way from memory.
The New England Hwy is worse than its ever been. The trucks chopped it up really badly in the recent floods when the Pacific was closed. Apparently the Newell is in pretty good nick at the mo', I'll let you know about that when we head back down south later this month. There has been a serious amount of roadworks done on that road in the past year.

[BernieQ2]

Bernie once you lift it as far as you can, can you see if it's OK or nearly all eaten away?
If it's stuffed it may be an idea to cut it off once you clamp the bottom bit with your vice grips They do make one that comes in a few sections like pivot points. I used one in the roadhouse. Just change it a bit more often.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/18722024132 ... REQAvD_BwE

The anode is ok Bruce... thanks.

[BernieQ2]

Dave mate... they don't screw in any more square with four bolts... probably loose most of the water trying without emptying it.
Jobs done tank full again... power switch ON,
I'll know more in the morning if we have hot water
Bernie.

[Dot]

Q/ What does the son do for a living Prof? Was the house a spec home or a private deal? I take it they were not shown around the house before they signed on the bottom line. Good ol Carol Bernie bet she comes home with some $$. Nothing day again

[T1 Terry]

Son is a courier driver for Star Trek (Star Track) and does the Illawarra highlands run.
They checked out the house from one end to the other and .... as usual, when you are looking at a house, it's all rose coloured glasses regarding the little things.

Turned out, the previous owner must have tried to fix it, and rounded off the hex on the tap ..... off to the hammer shop to get another tap .... $8, why would anyone replace a washer these days. The longest part of the job was getting through the checkout, I ened up going back to the box I got the tap from and taking a photo, so they could find it on their system.
It seems the previous owner used tank water to flush the 2 toilets, water for the washing machine and laundry tub.

The hot water fiasco turned out to be the gas turned off ..... in the dark and mad panic, he turned every tap off he could find, so it wasn't that there was no water from the hot tap, just no hot So they both had cold showers this morning .... he'll be p*ssed when he finds out tonight why the hot water didn't work

The only reason the water was leaking was he had connected the washing machine to the mains tap, so this water fitting was left open, the tap wouldn't fully shut off so there was a puddle of water appearing under the new washing machine ...... he finally traced it back to this water fitting, and ... well the story has already been told.

It is one of those houses with a wall between two houses, no backyard or front yard, the laundry is a room with double doors that open from one end of the main bathroom, close the doors and there is no real indication the laundry is there, it just looks like a big linen cupboard.
The garage is under one end of the house, tunnel into the hill side, so mountain goat steps up to the front door.
The house on the other side virtually shares a path to the neighbours front door and the side of David and Jess's house, where the gas meter is ......

They love it, I couldn't live that crowded in with no yard at all, David is most definitely not a garden person, so it suits them perfectly.

I don't think I could move back to the Illawarra now ..... it's just too packed in with way too many people I'd have to buy one of the multi million dollar mini farm type places to get away from the rat race .....

T1 Terry