Filter And Valve Work At The Bamboo Lagoon

So at the beginning of spring we got word that it was time to replace the sand in our filter for the pool. Unfortunately our filter hadn't been made in over 10 years and finding parts for it was becoming more and more impossible. We were also having issues with the multiport valve. It has a crack in it from the winter and was leaking along the gasket area.

So we decided to bite the bullet and replace both (since replacing one wasn't an option as the new ones are combined). It wasn't a cheap option partly because it wasn't something we could do ourselves, but it had to be done.

In prep for this, I had to remove the pump house from the pump/filter area. I was actually able to do this part by myself. I had to unbolt it from the deck and then just kind of lifted it off onto one side and then rested it on another spot on the deck on its roof.

Old multi-port valve

Old sand filter

Once I had that done, it was in the hands of the professionals. Bill from the pool company that I use came out and dissembled the old, put in the new filter/valve and re-piped it all.

In process of putting in the location

After installation but before I put the "house" back over the top

Once it had been dry for a bit, we turned it on and made sure there were no leaks and that the system was at the right pressure. It had to sit for a few days with the "house" off until I had help to lift it back over the new taller system and bolt it back down.

The new filter and multi-port valves means that the system works so much better than it did before and the pool is much easier to keep clean!

Screens For The Bamboo Lagoon

Tools of the trade

The downstairs rooms have needed new screens for the last two years (and probably way before that) because some of our lame ass renters ruined them by using the windows as exits instead of using the doors like normal people.

I have been stalling on doing the screens because I knew the one for the weight room was going to be a pain in the ass. That window is older than the others in the house (probably original) and the track for the screen is totally different from any others I have seen. I think it might have had a wood screen for it originally.

Someday, I would like to replace a lot of the windows in this place, that this not in the budget any time soon, so we will make due for now.

Cutting the frame to size

I have had experience creating screens from scratch and just re-meshing a screen, but the created ones didn't seem to fit the way I wanted them to, which also made me hesitant.

Reading to add screen

I have to say on these ones, they came out great...even the one for the weight room is usable. The key to it all was taping down the frame once it was put together and then taping down two sides of the screen as it is being installed. Both screens came out nice and flat, and tight.

Weight room screen finished

Work room screen finished

To install the weight room one, I had to go outside to push it in a bit, but that was to be expected since that window is so weird. the fun part was that I was running the sprinkler system at the time, so I got a bit soaked...LOL

And The Sprinkler Project Continues At The Bamboo Lagoon

Old one

So after doing alll that work on the PVC so I could turn on the water supply to our front sprinkler system, I find that the controller box we have had for years had finally died.

I was trying to turn on just the pop up zone so I could water the majority of the grass and beds in the front yard, but none of the buttons would really respond to being pushed. There was plenty of power, it just seemed that it was worn out. Upon investigating, it looked like it was not that hard of a job to replace it.

The next day, I went to one of our local irrigation stores and asked their opinion about trying to fix the one we had or replacing it. Replacing it seemed to be the way to go since fixing it would be almost the same cost and there was no guarantee that the repairs would last very long.

New one in the box

So I purchased a new controller on the recommendation of two different stores and proceeded to install it this afternoon. It really was a matter of hooking the power to it and then putting in the wires for the valves into the right slots.

New one installed and set up

Once I had it hooked up and set the time, date and year, I turned on a manual run of the main popup zone and adjusted the sprayers when it came on as it was meant to. Looks like all the popups still work although two need to have some vegetation cut out around them, and I was able to water the majority of our front yard for 30 mins. Good soak!

PVC Plumbing Repair

This project was not on the list at all but as I was turning on the water valves for feeding water to the sprinkler system in the front yard, I discovered a broken gate valve and so in order to use the sprinkler system, it had to be repaired.

Rusted and cracked

It seems that this supply line probably originally was just a spigot on the edge of the porch wall and when the sprinkler system was installed, they modified the set up to get water to the system. Since the gate is turned off in the winter to keep the pipes from freezing, air does get to the inside of the pipe and it is an old pipe so it just eventually rusted out.

Before cutting

I had to get a new gate valve, and then cut out the PVC portion, so I could remove the old gate valve and put in the new one, which then meant rebuilding the PVC portion. This was a better option than trying to cut through the galvanized iron pipes on the other side of the valved and then having to couple them.

First cut

Once I cut through the PVC in two spots with a hack saw to pull out the majority of it, I then unscrewed the old gate valve with a plumbers wrench. I took all the parts, including the new gate valve that I had previously purchased with me to the local hardware store to find out exactly what I would need to buy and configure.

Cut out portion and old gate valve

At the store, Jim helped me to figure out what pieces I needed and explained exactly how to do all the connecting, as I had never done any PVC "glueing" before. He actually threaded the pieces that had threads together for me before I left, and I took a picture of the set up so I would be sure to put it together correctly. He also cut several pieces of the 3/4 inch PVC I would be using in between to varying lengths, so I wouldn't have to cut them myself and I would have a few options for getting the new stuff lined up with the old stuff that still remained as part of the system.

Laid out at store

I also bought the primer and glue for the job since we didn't have any at home, with this being my first time ever doing this kind of plumbing.

New gate valve

Primer

Glue

When I got home, I cleaned up the threads of the pipe sticking out from the porch wall, and then reapplied three rounds of teflon tape before then screwing on and tightening the new gate valve.

New gate valve attached

Once I had it connected, I lined up all the other pieces where they would go in the line and made sure that the various connecting pieces of 3/4 inch pvc would fit where they needed to be. I cleaned up the ends of any rough edges of the cut pieces of PVC with a rasp file. I put on latex gloves as recommended by Jim to keep my fingers from turning purple or blue from the primer and glue. I then applied the primer to all the pieces I would be eventually applying the glue to, which included both sides of each junction.

Pieces with primer applied

Once I had all the pieces primed, I double checked my order of things and then started to apply the glue to each piece and its opposite junction piece and putting them together with one quarter turn. Once I had the entire thing glued back together, I cleaned up my mess. I decided to wait 24 hours before turning on the water to the system because we have a lot of pressure on our system and I wanted to give the entire thing time to set up.

All finished

We'll see how it works...I am sure as soon as the water is turned on, I will then have to deal with the issues the sprinkler system itself has, and that will be a new project to blog about.

Garage Door Remote

Ever since we have been back at the house, we have not had the ability to open the garage door from our vehicle. This is due to the fact that our crappy property management didn't maintain control of whatever remote they gave to renters. The only way to open it was to click on the button mounted on the wall of the garage.

This wasn't too bad, since we don't park in the garage and rarely needed to get into the garage from the outside, but there were times where it would be convenient to close the door from the outside.

I had purchased a universal remote from Chamberlain (our opener's manufacturer) but just never got the programming done, because of the way our opener motor is installed in the bulkhead of our garage ceiling.

Well, my sister in law came over this weekend and this was one of the things on our list to accomplish. I had to cut a bit bigger hole in the bulkhead (without damaging the AC duct), to see if I could get access to the programming buttons that are on the back of the opener motor.

We figured out a way to plug a light in so we could see if the programming was working and after much fiddling, we finally got the opener to open the door using the remote. I was so excited I jumped from the ladder with glee.

I then installed this grate over the hole in the bulkhead to just tidy things up a bit. Hopefully we won't need that access again any time soon.