Out with the old (the truly horrible and decrepit) and in with the new

I've lived in this house for nearly two years now.  I can't believe I'm still here some days.  It's the kind of place I never would have imagined myself living, but a few bad decisions get made and suddenly *poof* everything changes.  I try to walk around with my eyes half shut all the time so I don't really have to see where I live.  Slowly.....e v e r    s o    s l o w l y...things get better.  My parents have helped with innumerable small projects, like putting in stair rails for safety, adding baseboard to my bedroom (yay, the first room to have proper baseboard!) and other helpful projects around the place.  There are some jobs, though, that are too big to tackle by myself, or even with my parents' help.  A major one was the installation of a safe heating system this past winter, which was finally finished in late January, even though the work on it started in October.  Yes, things take a long time to get done around here sometimes.  At least I now have a full baseboard heating system that runs on propane, along with a safe, properly installed wood furnace.  The old one was incredibly unsafe and not installed according to code.  A fire trap waiting to happen.  Ugh.

Today's improvement wasn't related to the heating system though, it was the installation of a proper water pressure tank and upgraded well pump.  This morning, the water pressure in my home was about 20 psi, and it was connected to a piston pump such that the water came in little gushes all the time, interspersed with lulls of minimal water.  Taking a shower was a dreary exercise, and it took forever to get the shampoo out of my long hair with such minimal water pressure.  To improve the pressure, one had to repeatedly drain this enormous, hulking tank that was supposed to retain an air pocket at the top to put pressure on the water, but it constantly lost pressure and was essentially useless.  Add to this the fact that the tank was corroding both on the inside and outside, and you've got a potential mess on your hands.  A small leak in the corroding tank would have meant that the pump would start running, and running, and running, until you could paddle yourself in a canoe around the basement.  Not a good scene!

Lest you think that I exaggerate....I present to you, the former pressure tank.  I left the chopped wood in the picture so you could get a sense of the size.

In this picture, you can see the spigot on the end of it - that's the size of a normal outdoor hose spigot, so that is one massive tank.  It was at least 5 feet tall when installed.

Here's a close up of the corrosion....really bad pitting.  This was happening on the inside too.  How do I know that this was happening on the inside?  Well, when the plumbers tried to drain the tank, they couldn't fully drain it because there was so much corrosion debris inside that the water couldn't get out.  Yuck. 

So, here's the new tank!  Itty bitty!  That's a half a pallet that it's sitting on, to give you an idea of size.  On top of the tank is a brand new jet pump that brings in water from the well.  Far more efficient and much faster than the piston pump that used to run the system.

So now, instead of it taking about 3 minutes for the toilet tank to fill after flushing, it takes about 30 seconds. The shower is behaving like a normal shower, that actually gets the shampoo out in a reasonable time frame. The kitchen sink is positively gushing with excitement.  My water pressure is now about 50 psi, which is a normal home pressure.  And it only took 2 years to get there.  Goodness gracious.

Oh, and another recent improvement related to the water system...a new hot water heater!  Here's the old one, recently removed.  When they removed it, they were amazed it was still working.  It was over 30 years old.  Far longer than the average lifespan of a hot water tank.  Well done, Sears!  But it was time for it to go.

Here's the new one.  Efficient, clean, and modern.  Oh happy day....

Not cheap projects by any means, but progress is being made.  The aesthetics of the place has to take a back seat to practical things like heat, water, and...soon...a new roof, because the current one leaks.  But that's a story for another day.