Ewww, thanks for the tip, because that is exactly what I was going to try, bathroom silicone. Although I'm starting to see a workaround. The tubing kit came with connectors that attach to a hose, which I was having a hard time figuring out how to use at first. But the spout fits almost snugly into the tip that is made to attach to the tubing. Since I have a version that connects to the end of a hose and caps it, and a version that connects to both a hose and the tubing, I find that both these parts attach to each other. So I can connect the spout to the end cap version, unscrew the cap, connect that to the hose/tube connector, and attach the tube. This probably doesn't make all that much sense without pics, though, huh? I'll try and put some up once my brain is less tired. The thing that would make this perfect is if the spout could attach just a smidge more snugly without requiring silicone. This way, when it is time to refill, I can turn off the spout, detach the connector so that the whole assembly can remain in place, and just take the container down for refilling. Maybe I will take the spout and the connector to the hardware store to see if I can find a bit of tubing that can serve as an intermediary, as the connector is designed to lock over tubing to be secure. Right now the spout fits within the connector, not over the connector, and therefore cannot be locked into place. Or see if I still have a spare hose clamp around somewhere. I know I got some to repair a dishwasher leak, I just don't know if I got extras. Thanks for the ideas. One of these is bound to work!

This is a quote from a previous garden web posting: *******Safety of electric induction hobs questioned in Japan 'IH cookers generate electromagnetic fields [in the frequency range of 100Hz and 18-23kHz ] when an electric current flows through coils under the top plate. Heat is created when the electromagnetic field reacts with the metallic pan atop the plate. (For the young, whose more sensitive hearing will be able to detect this level, cooking using an induction hob could well be accompanied by a rather unpleasant whine). Whilst there is not a unanimous agreement that EMFs are linked to health problems, neither the government nor industry seems willing to make attempts to limit electromagnetic field exposure from IH cookers, both sides boasting of the products' safety, while saying it is the responsibility of the other party to communicate possible risks. Takenori Ueda, of the Japan Offspring Foundation which reported the finding earlier this year, added that IH devices emit the highest level of radiation among all household electric appliances. Microwave ovens are more powerful, but their emissions are countered by stronger shielding. The Foundation tested the hobs with a radiation measuring device placed right next to the cooker set on maximum heat with a 12-cm pan on it. All products registered incredibly high radiation levels, some as high as 101 microtesla. The highest level was more than 16 times the limit [for 18-23 kHz frequency] set by the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection for short-term exposure to such fields. The companies accepted the Foundation's findings but insisted that the ICNIRP guideline can be interpreted differently and that radiation levels do not exceed the limit when measuring devices are placed 30 cm away from the device. The Japanese government says that the industry or individuals should do something about it. The Japan Electrical Manufacturers' Association say that if there is to be a framework for more stringent safety measures regarding exposure to electromagnetic fields, the government should take the lead in drawing it up. A spokesman agreed that manufacturers have failed to provide consumers with sufficient information on electromagnetic fields. Koya Ogino, a Kyoto University lecturer who specializes in electromagnetic fields, and the potential adverse health effects from long-term exposure, criticized both the government and industry for not taking further precautions. 'If the companies are profiting by selling the products, they should first confirm their safety,' he said. The Japanese Government's defence is that they are awaiting 'more proof' of possible harm -- which is expected to be the result of 'current research' between the WHO (World Health Association) and the ICNIRP...... The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) is shortly to take on the task of writing a new ELF exposure standard for Australia. If they just incorporate the ICNIRP limits, which is very likely, will this then make the sale of induction cookers in Australia illegal?' Here is a link that might be useful: www.powerwatch.org.uk

We set my MIL up on Life Alert. I have doubts about whether she wears the tag regularly, but I can say that it appears to work. We got a call from the Life Alert dispatcher one day saying that they'd received a signal but no one was answering her phone when they called. They had called the emergency dispatch in her town and were giving us notification of that. Meanwhile I tried a couple of times to reach her and finally did. Evidently she had accidentally hit the button and then fallen asleep! I called the L.A. dispatcher back and he notified the emergency responders that all was well. They went ahead with a welfare check, replied to L.A., who then called me back with a follow up. I believe her system monitors into the garage, but not much further. My biggest complaint with L.A. is that once we requested information they hounded us night and day to make the sale.

In regards to your question,"Why two cleanouts?" unless your plumber has a few gray hairs it is highly unlikely they have ever seen that before. What you have is a "whole house trap" With some extremely rare exceptions as a rule whole house traps were outlawed in the late 60's to early 70's. A whole house trap is an inverted U section of cast iron with a cleanout on the top of each of the risers of the U, then a 3" line is tee'd into the riser just below the top on each side. The whole house trap was installed at the junction of the "house sewer" (line from the municipal sewer or septic tank to the house) and the "House Main Drain" (The main sanitary line inside the structure). For structures on slab the junction is usually made approximately 3' outside the footer wall while in structures that have a basement or crawlspace it may occur immediately inside the footer wall. Under the present codes we are required to install a cleanout at this point but whole house traps are prohibited. The purpose of the two cleanout caps is because a drain cleaning machine cannot pass through a whole house trap so it had one access to rod the house main drain and the opposite access to rod the house sewer line. Genarally today we install a "Rodding Tee" which is a Tee with a radius curve in both directions to permit using a drain cleaning machine. (A rodding Tee is the only Tee that is permitted to be installed on a horizontal line). In some jurisdictions today they require two Wye & 1/8 bends be installed, one in each direction to permit rodding the line both ways. To understand the purpose of the whole house trap we must examine a bit of plumbing history. Prior to world war II it was common practice for a municipality to discharge raw sewage in a local river, bay or estuary. In those days storm drainage and sanitary waste was conveyed by one common sewer pipe thus the municipal sewer was vented through the curb side storm grates. shortly after WWII it became a common practice for cities to install sanitary waste treatment plants to treat the sewage before discharging the excess water into the rivers. The capacity of the sewage treatment plants was determined by the average volume of sanitary waste generated by the community at large. It was soon learned that the shear volume of storm runoff overwhelmed the treatment plants and resulted in mass spills of sanitary waste into the waterways. In order to prevent future spills the cities then installed a second set of sewer lines dedicated to storm drainage. Understanding that storm runoff is pure water it was then determined that the storm runoff could still discharge directly into the watershed. The problem that occurred was venting the sanitary sewers. Previously the sewer gasses vented out through the storm grates but now there were no storm grates on the sanitary sewer and each house had a whole house trap so the gasses could not vent through the house vents. This resulted in extremely high levels of sewer gas in the sanitary sewer lines which commonly reached explosive levels. (In one community in southern Illinois in the mid 50's a sewer exploded ripping a ten foot wide trench for 10 or 12 blocks down the main street of the town, killing a number of people and setting numerous structure fires.) The solution to the venting problem was to eliminate the Whole house traps. Once they were removed as each new structure was added onto the sewer main the vents in the structure provided a proportionate amount of additional venting for the main. In this manner instead of having the sewer gasses concentrated at one point they are evenly distributed across the entire community where they normally will not reach toxic or explosive levels at any one point. Occassionally we still find a whole house trap in older homes such as yours. In most jurisdictions there is no mandate to remove it but if it should happen to fail for any reason it should be removed and replaced with a straight section of line with a rodding cleanout Tee. Now in regards to the other cleanouts in your home. In addition to the main cleanout at the junction of the house sewer and house main drain the code requires a cleanout at the base of the main vent, on the upstream end of all branch lines and at each point where a line makes a change of direction greater than 45 dgrees. Now for your question about the floor drains. In many homes that have a basement the main drain exits the structure at an elevation higher than the basement floor. In this situation a floor drain is below the sanitary drain so it is generally routed to the sump pit or to a storm drain.