HUMILIATION

WHERE ARE WE TODAY
" The Ridge" near Durham, Ontario

HUMILIATION and forgetfulness, that's what this post is about and to make matters worse, it belongs to me, yes it is mine. Now, not that I relish the idea of telling all of you about my forgetfulness, but there is a lesson here .

If you have followed along, you will remember that we get our fresh water from my " in-laws " well, a short distance away by filling a water bladder and then pumping it into our fresh water tank. The last few times of doing this, I noticed that it was taking longer and longer to pump the water into our tank.  Monday of last week while going through the process, the 60 watt light bulb in the block on top of my shoulders came on, OH, I wonder if the filter is clogged? I stopped the pump, opened the canister and took a look at the filter. Sure enough, it was clogged, leaving it out, I replaced the canister and finished pumping the water in no time.

The canister with the filter

Clogged Filter

When finished, I took the canister back off with the intention  of showing my brother - in - law the rusty particles in the bottom of it. He had been telling me that when they flush their system in the fall,  there are rust particles that come out of the pressure tank of their system, this I think verifies their suspicions.

On Thursday we were having company and I still had 10 or 12 gallons of  water in the bladder after I filled the tank on Monday. So I thought I would top off the tank, hooked everything up, turned on the pump and went inside to eat breakfast. Back outside, the bladder is empty and I can hear water dripping from every screw hole  under the trailer. If you haven't figured it out by now, yes I forgot to put the canister back on and that 10 or 12 gallons of water was now in the underbelly and not in the tank.

The air around "The Ridge " turned blue after some choice words ( like, dab nab it and golly gee", to name a few ) that I had to say about the situation and myself. How could I be so stupid, well maybe not stupid but forgetful?

After beating myself up and calming down, I took a good look at where the water had gone. Reaching in through the storage area into the belly, I could feel the wet insulation. After poking a couple of small holes in the plastic corrugated bottom to let more water drain out, I left it for now as company would soon be there.

The next day after our company has left, I turn my attention back to the issue at hand. The insulation is still wet and if I push up from the bottom, there is still water coming out. After a couple of phone calls and some research, I know I have to open up the bottom and get the wet insulation out and make sure everything is dry before we have a mold problem.

Water laying on the corrugated plastic 

The underbelly cut open

Any wet insulation removed

I go about cutting open that corrugated plastic bottom where I figure the water has gotten to and pull out any insulation that has any hint of water in it. Confident that I have it all, I proceed to wipe dry all the areas in the frame, making sure it is dry. Next off to town to buy a bundle of insulation, screws and a roll of "Gorilla Tape" to put it all back together. Putting the insulation back up while laying on the ground under the trailer is a bit tricky, but I did manage to get it up. Fastening some 1 X 2 strips of wood along one side of the opening then bringing up the cut pieces and fastening  them to the wood strips also. Last was to cover the seam with the tape to make sure it was sealed.

laying on the ground under the trailer

Wood strips for refastening

putting in the insulation

I am happy with the repair job I have done. There are times when I don't think I can do repairs or projects, either I feel that I don't have the skill or knowledge or tools to do it. There are also the times that I know when to get the professionals to do it. On the other side, there are times when I take on a project with no idea of what I'm doing and it turns out great. Pat tells me I don't give myself enough credit at times. I like to think that I'm a" jack of all trades, but master of none."

The lesson here is a number of things. One, check all your hook ups before executing the task at hand. Don't let anyone tell you that insulation will dry and not grow mold. Some of the insulation that I pulled out was so saturated with water that I could wring it out, it would not have dried for months. Something else, I was told that , the insulation if it did dry would grow mold and the insulation would crumble to dust particles.

Well that's my story, hope you had a chuckle at my expense and learned something also. In an upcoming post I will mention another project that I took on to make storage in the basement of the trailer better.

Until the next time, thanks for following along, take care and be safe.