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NPT hell
Saturday, March 13 2021
Howling winds last night heralded the arrival of another mass of cold air, effectively ending our recent couple days of springlike weather. The resulting conditions were sunny and reasonably pleasant, though highs were in the 40s instead of near 70. This morning the fire I made in the woodstove was fueled mostly by cardboard and fiberboard, as well as some old socks.
It took me less than a minute to see the panagram in the New York Times Spelling Bee, "potently."
As often happens on a Saturday, the real caffeine in the coffee had me feeling somewhat dysphoric, a feeling I tried to dispell by continuing the laboratory decluttering project. Decluttering the laboratory has a way of dredging up long-procrastinated projects, which then have to be completed as a subtask of the decluttering, or else I am forced to find a way to store the bits and pieces of the procrastinated project. One such procrastinated task was the installation of a India-trip-inspired bidet hose on the upstairs toilet (the one in the upstairs master bathroom). I'd already built the ball valve contraption that had to be inserted into the copper water line that fills the toilet; all I had to do was turn off the household water supply and insert it. But when I did, the damn thing leaked, and I couldn't make the leaking stop. It seemed to be coming from a small joint in the ball valve itself.
This resulted in me driving out to Lowes with the dogs. I bought a new half-inch ball valve, this time with NPT fittings. I don't usually prefer NPT fittings over sweat, considering them more fiddly and less reliable. But the leaking valve I'd just installed was one with the sweat fittings I prefer. I was distressed to see that normal half-inch-sweat to half-inch-NPT adapters now cost more than $7. Didn't that used to be a $2 item? Is this because of the ongoing pandemic building boom (which is also making out Adirondack cabin more expensive than it would otherwise be)? While at Lowes, I found some affordable Heft-brand rectangular-shaped containers. I bought three 6.5 quart containers and one 15 quart container, all to handle storage scenarios that have come up in the laboratory decluttering. As usual, after I returned to the car, I let the dogs snort around on the grassy median between two regions of the parking lot.
On the drive home, I was eating some Fritos-brand corn chips I'd bought at the Hurley Stewarts (I've decided that the similar Stewarts-brand classic corn chip is not as good). As she has learned to do, Ramona quickly started begging from the back seat, and I rewarded her by handing her occasional chips. I also gave some to Neville, who was next to me in the front passenger seat. When we got back to the house, Ramona and Neville immediately began eating mouthfuls of snow from the pile remaining in front of the garage doors. Ramona often does this, but this time she was doing it with more urgency. As for Neville, I rarely see him eat snow. But those Fritos are among the saltiest foods that Stewarts sells.
Returning to my bidet hose project, I soon realized why it is I never prefer NPT fittings. After installing the new NPT ball valve, there were tiny persistent leaks on both sides of it, something that tightening the fittings did nothing to fix. I then took apart the joints and used more teflon tape, but still the leaking continued. Why would anyone build anything with equipment like this?
Meanwhile Gretchen had made a dinner of ravioli with asparagus, and Powerful was off working in the kitchen at the Garden Café.
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