Al and Nathan, I hope that you don't mind my sharing a humorous story about Turface, that really highlights your points and underscores how respected a product Turface is in the industry. My son is a Turf Grass Agronomy major at a large Southern university, and did an internship last spring/summer at one of the major league baseball spring training facilities in Florida. Turface is used for excess water on the fields that occurs during rainstorms, especially those "popcorn" showers (downpours) that occur frequently in Florida. It has helped prevent many a game "rainout" due to its effectiveness. It takes many bags of Turface to do this (for one game), which can become a bit pricey---so it's a protected commodity in the baseball industry. During one sudden torrential downpour, the Grounds Crew quickly pulled the tarp over the infield, and then took cover in the visiting team's dugout to wait out the storm. The Turface bags were kept to the side in the visiting dugout, near where the Grounds workers were standing. The visiting team's pitcher had a bad inning just prior to the rainstorm, and came into the dugout kicking and throwing things, as they sometimes do. As he looked for things to use to vent his frustration, he eyed the bags of Turface to the side, and the Grounds workers caught his glance, and could tell that he was tempted to kick them, also. They immediately, in *unison*, said "don't even think about it!". Throw your glove, knock over some bats, kick the bubblegum containers over, but don't mess with the Turface...unless you want to take on the Grounds Crew... :)

One thing should be changed and two MUST be changed. Should change: Safety factor - 15% is all that is necessary, in my opinion. 20% is not a problem, however. MUST change: REGENERATE - I prefer 7 days, justalurker prefers 8. This is about resin life. As the softener is in service, the resin becomes compacted. The longer it goes between regens, the more compacted, the more damage that occurs. This number should not, in general, determine when your softener regenerates. The volume of water you use should do that - this number is a safety factor. In any case, 10 days is too long. BRINE FILL: This determines how much salt you use to regenerate your softener. One gallon of water will dissolve three pounds of salt. You want to regenerate with six pounds of salt, which means two gallons of water. Brine fill time controls, along with the BLFC (brine line flow control), determine how much water is placed in your brine tank and, therefore, how much salt you will use to regenerate your softener. There should be a sticker on the brine line at the softener valve. Generally, blue sticker is 0.25, black is 0.5, red is 1. If it is 0.5 gpm, set brine fill at 4 minutes. If 0.25, set at 8 minutes. It it is 1, set at 2 minutes.

You cannot do a flow rate test in the manner described above because the fixtures all are designed for different flow rates. An outside hose bibb is designed for 5gpm while a tub mixer is rated at 4gpm and a lavatory faucett is 2gpm. In order to get an accurate comparison you must measure both the hot & cold individually at the same faucett. Performing pressure tests throughout the system would yield no truely useful information. When all faucetts in the system are closed the pressure at all points in the system will be at equilibrium with the supply pressure (Static Head Pressure) regardless of what size the piping may be. The only notable variable here would be slight changes of "Vertical Static Head" which result from differences in elevation between the points under observation. Whenever any faucett is opened and flow begins the pressure throughout the system instantly drops from "Static Head Pressure" to "Dynaic Head" (working pressure) which will vary greatly by the number of faucetts opened and the volume of flow. The difference between Static Head Pressure and Dynamic Head Pressure can be very significant, by example, the International Residential Code minimum permissable Static Head Pressure is 40psi while the minimum permissible Dynamic Head Pressure at a shower mixer is only 8psi. I would expect that you are correct, if you were to change out the 1/4" copper for 1/2" you should be able to restore the volume and pressure at least to the best available depending upon the overall condition of the remaining galvanized iron piping throughout the system. I suspect that the 1/4" copper was installed as a DIY project and you have very limited access under the slab which accounts for why they fished the 1/4" through. You can follw there lead and fish 1/2" roll copper pipe through in the same manner and remain fully code compliant. Here are a couple tips that may help you. Begin by cutting the 1/4" tubing loose at both ends but do not pull it out. Instead, insert one end of the 1/4" inside the end of your 1/2" roll copper pipe, crimp the 1/2" down against the 1/4" and solder the two together. You can then use the 1/4" to pull the 1/2" through but be very careful and have an assistant feeding the 1/2" as you pull to insure you do not kink it anywhere. There is an alternative that you may prefer to try. Instead of running roll copper you may want to replace that section with PEX. You could begin by cutting the 1/4" tubing on both ends, then on one end take a 8 or 10" piece of AWG 12 bare copper electrical wire and fold it in half then insert the ends into the 1/4" copper and solder it in, forming a wire loop on the end of the 1/4" tubing. Attach a 1/4" diameter rope to the loop so as you pull the copper out it will pull the rope through. Once you have the copper out you can get an exact measurement and you could have a plumber preassemble a pair of PEX lines with the appropriate fittings on the ends. In this manner you will not need to worry about where to get the PEX tools. You then attach the PEX to the rope and use the rope to pull the PEX back through. one word of caution. Code prohibits directly connecting copper to iron pipe or vessels. You will need a Dielectric Nipple, Dielectric Union or a 6" hardened bronze nipple at each point of transition from Copper to the Galvanized Iron Pipe or to connect the PEX connectors to the Iron Pipe or water heater vessel. In regards to your question about sand in the pipes. As galvanized iron pipe ages it forms mineral scale on the inner walls of the pipe which normally forms in crystals that appear like white, light browu or sometimes a translucent honey collored particle that looks like grains of sand. We often find GIP that is so full of the scale the the entire inside of the pipe appears like its full of wet sand.

Hello, I am glad to see that this is a form that likes to help people, I am very new to working with wood. I had an idea and wanted it to be real so I found some logs that are 7in wide and 12-13in, I also have one that is 4in wide and 12-13in tall. My goal is to hollow these out but leave maybe an inch on the bottom left to make a wood cup. All I have for tools is a cordless drill Dewalt 14v, some reg drill bits and a spade 1in bit and a wood saw. I have tried upswing the spade bit but after pushing on the wood for about a min and seeing nothing but a little hole from the tip I knew that this can't be the right tool. Any advice? Side note I don't have much money but I am willing to spend a little to get the correct tool.