Water an Essential Resource - Part II

It has been six weeks since we installed two rain barrels. Since that time we have had plenty of rain to keep our barrels resupplied and we have been faithful to use the collected water on our vegetables and flowers. It takes between one and three minutes to fill our watering cans depending on the amount of water in the barrels. I typically water with one can while allowing the other to fill with water, which helps me use my time efficiently.

We have also added a third barrel to collect overflow when we have a good rain. We accomplished this by cutting a 3/4" hole near the top of an original barrel and inserting a PVC pipe to move the water from barrel A to barrel B.

We filled a 4th stand alone barrel by filling it with water from a barrel just prior to a big rain. Thus, we  currently have four 55 gallon barrels to capture and store over 200 gallons of water when they are full.

I have noted that using a watering can to water the vegetables gives me the ability to focus on specific plants versus using a sprinkler which waters everything but wastes a some water as well.

We'll have to wait and see if the water bill is significantly less this summer compared to last year and of course, this assumes that we'll continue to have some nice summer rains.

Shade Tree Mechanic

The radiator on my truck has been slowly deteriorating and I made the decision to replace the radiator. First, I took it to my local repair shop and they pressure tested the radiator to confirm that it indeed needed to be replaced. They quoted me $507 to do the repair. I thanked them for the quote and decided I needed to do a bit of research before I let them do the work. I called a local radiator supply and discovered that I could purchase the radiator for less than $200, the repair shop wanted $350. I then got a second quote for installation only from a second shop which was $150. I then went online and watched a how to video on replacing your radiator. It seemed straightforward so I enlisted the help of my friend Larry Rice and we decided to tackle it ourselves.

We met yesterday morning to do the work. We removed the radiator, took it to the radiator supply where we purchased the new radiator and verified that it matched the one from my truck. We stopped by Autozone and purchased some antifreeze and transmission fluid and returned to my garage where we installed the new radiator.

The only mishap was a pair of needle nose pliers that slipped into a crevice in my engine compartment that we failed to fish out and they became a permanent resident of my engine compartment.

I drove the truck to work and noticed a small amount of fluid on the pavement under my truck later in the day. Thus, I have a little follow up work to figure out which hose or fitting is not quite tight enough. Judging by the color of the fluid I think it is a loose fitting for the transmission line. But, overall a successful shade tree repair and a net savings of just under $200 after paying my friend for his time and effort to help me.

I have nothing against using a repair shop and I'm willing to pay a bit more for the expertise and convenience that a repair shop offers but I was turned off by the attempt to gouge me an additional $150 for the radiator. The job took us three hours to complete and that included one hour going to get the radiator and half an hour trying to recover the pliers.

Watching the how to video on the Internet was invaluable and made the job much easier because I knew what to expect and what to look for during the actual repair. I learned that the radiator also cools the transmission fluid, in my truck, which came as a surprise to me.