When pressure-testing the waterline, and because we'd had a little rain during the night before, the dirt wasn't perfectly dry, so I placed paper towels beneath joints to better show any leaks. All of the cemented PVC connections were fine, but the #2 faucet behind the fence had a slight leak where it screwed onto the galvanized upright pipe. I had noticed before that this connection didn't want to screw down as far as the other faucet, and upon removing it and examining it further, I saw what seemed to be an imperfection in the deeper threads of the brass faucet head. I didn't have the tools to ream it out better, so I gobbed on the joint sealant and torqued it down an extra 90° the second time. That put the faucet at an angle parallel to the fence instead of my intention of it facing directly away from the fence, but it solved the leak problem and there's still enough room for my watering timer, so it will serve.
That leak was solved fairly easily, but then I found that the #1 faucet leaked at the valve stem, but only when the faucet was turned to the "off" position. This was puzzling, since the stem itself should have no pressure reaching it if the valve is screwed down and closed. Upon thinking about it, I think the valve itself must not be seating properly, and I didn't notice the flow before because I had the hose hooked to it and the spray nozzle turned off, but the valve was fully open. When I closed the valve with the hose still attached and the nozzle off, with the faulty valve seat leaking, the pressure had nowhere to go but around the faulty seal around the stem. When the valve is open and under pressure, the stem seals properly, so that part isn't a huge problem as long as I can get the valve to seat properly when it's closed, unless, for some reason, I wanted to run the faucet/hose half open, but that wouldn't be a big issue. As I mentioned before, these parts were cheap and, now I'm thinking, possibly "seconds", or a bit faulty, so maybe I'll need to work on them a little. Oh well, I'd rather spend more time than money, and they did save me a bunch of moo-lah. I'm sure the problem can be addressed fairly easily. I just hate that the job's not perfect...yet.
So that's next on my agenda, aside from collecting some sycamores and some other plants from my other property while the weather is nice and while the plants are still somewhat dormant. With this warm weather we're having so early, I'm not sure how long my transplanting window will be open before the plants will be too active to avoid majorly stressing them, so I need to get that done ASAP.
Radly
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