BobsDIY
New Member
Thanks for all the help. Feel free to laugh at my newbie mistakes.
Decided to go with traditional black pipe. Some from Fergusons Plumbing (as much as possible), some from Lowes.
Monday and yesterday, completed the first part of the system - some ugly tight turns plus time consuming apprehension, then tested.
1st pressure test: Pressure would not go above exactly 0.5 psi - immediately realized it was the relief valve in the meter (since my connections could not have been THAT bad). Newbie mistake.
Cut a section of pipe near meter rather than disassemble everything. Capped so the newly constructed half-system was all closed. Have union coupling ready to be inserted after inspection.
2nd pressure test: As predicted by bluebinky, losing pressure, leak at gauge found with bubble test.
3rd pressure test: Held 4psi for 18 hours (1/10th psi variation up and down from temperature changes). So all connections were good.
Built the rest of the system today:
4th pressure test is ongoing now: Was holding at 4.5 psi for an hour - will check it in the morning.
Fun stuff - learned a bunch about how to handle the original question I posed and how much strategy is involved in deciding what gets connected when, when to leave some connections only semi-tight until later, etc.
Decided to go with traditional black pipe. Some from Fergusons Plumbing (as much as possible), some from Lowes.
Monday and yesterday, completed the first part of the system - some ugly tight turns plus time consuming apprehension, then tested.
1st pressure test: Pressure would not go above exactly 0.5 psi - immediately realized it was the relief valve in the meter (since my connections could not have been THAT bad). Newbie mistake.
Cut a section of pipe near meter rather than disassemble everything. Capped so the newly constructed half-system was all closed. Have union coupling ready to be inserted after inspection.
2nd pressure test: As predicted by bluebinky, losing pressure, leak at gauge found with bubble test.
3rd pressure test: Held 4psi for 18 hours (1/10th psi variation up and down from temperature changes). So all connections were good.
Built the rest of the system today:
4th pressure test is ongoing now: Was holding at 4.5 psi for an hour - will check it in the morning.
Fun stuff - learned a bunch about how to handle the original question I posed and how much strategy is involved in deciding what gets connected when, when to leave some connections only semi-tight until later, etc.
