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And Lexington and all the horsey stuff not too far. And Shaker Village,is definitely worth a visit. Biggest piece of poplar I've ever seen was in their carpenter shop! TowNsend is a nice quieter side of the GSMNP..
Crossville oughta qualify as being on the outskirts of Gatlinburg... I know a guy who has a sticka wood there...
 
Crossville oughta qualify as being on the outskirts of Gatlinburg... I know a guy who has a sticka wood there...

Would love to stop by, but if I used our anniversary trip to do so (when our list of things we want to see/do is already longer than the time we have), and if I brought home wood with me (when I've been working on downsizing what I have), well, my wife would probably find a secluded place to bury me - which I'm sure there are plenty of such places down there!

On our recent camping trip, we passed through Ishpeming, MI a few times, where Bell Forest is located. I had stopped there once quite some time ago when we were in the area and had wanted to go back if we were ever in the area again. We were camping 20 minutes away and it actually was not hard to resist the temptation to stop in. I have too much wood in my shop right now...
 
Would love to stop by, but if I used our anniversary trip to do so (when our list of things we want to see/do is already longer than the time we have), and if I brought home wood with me (when I've been working on downsizing what I have), well, my wife would probably find a secluded place to bury me - which I'm sure there are plenty of such places down there!

On our recent camping trip, we passed through Ishpeming, MI a few times, where Bell Forest is located. I had stopped there once quite some time ago when we were in the area and had wanted to go back if we were ever in the area again. We were camping 20 minutes away and it actually was not hard to resist the temptation to stop in. I have too much wood in my shop right now...
Too much wood is my current problem. Still working on the trailers full of walnut that I picked up right before my wife open heart surgery. And I have 3 other fellows trying to get me to look at some more
 
you have it set up outside, away from any air intakes that might let exhaust into your house correct?

many people have died from carbon monoxide poisoning overnight from generators in the garage
We had over a dozen calls last weekend for CO2 alarms from generators. Most were fixed units installed to code. No wind and high humidity made some strange results. Most people had power back within 2 days, some 40K or so went 5 days without. Makes holiday memories for sure.
 
It's generator maintenance day. After every use I drain the fuel, drop the float bowl on the carb to drain. It, and change the oil. I store it bone dry, doing this assures it will start the next time I need it.
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Well, it was an okay day until I noticed some saturated soil around this hydrant. Was hoping it might just be a cracked pipe a few inches down and I could braze it. Down about 16" and no luck so far. Worst of it is ground is already saturated, and don't want to shut off water as it would cut it to house too. Not a catastrophic leak, and being its the weekend, I'll dig all weekend with the hope I find a crack and don't have to go down to the bottom. I know this is at least a 4' bury, and maybe even a 5' bury hydrant. Not sure I have it I'm me to hand dig a 5 ft hole big enough to work in if whole thing has to be replaced. Hydrant is 55 years old, so can't complain, but still...

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Well, it was an okay day until I noticed some saturated soil around this hydrant. Was hoping it might just be a cracked pipe a few inches down and I could braze it. Down about 16" and no luck so far. Worst of it is ground is already saturated, and don't want to shut off water as it would cut it to house too. Not a catastrophic leak, and being its the weekend, I'll dig all weekend with the hope I find a crack and don't have to go down to the bottom. I know this is at least a 4' bury, and maybe even a 5' bury hydrant. Not sure I have it I'm me to hand dig a 5 ft hole big enough to work in if whole thing has to be replaced. Hydrant is 55 years old, so can't complain, but still...

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Best of luck with your digging project!
 
Dummy me, I'm not going to find a crack in the pipe. The valve is at the bottom and the pipe is only under pressure when the hydrant is on. The valve is working fine as no water is leaking from the spigot. The leak is probably from a cracked elbow at the bottom.

However, the soil is saturated around there, so I'll continue to pump water out and dig a deeper sump. Otherwise, when we get the well guys to come in next week, they'll dig a hole to work in, but it will rapidly fill with water.

Don't know if I'll make in a dent in the water, but if I do, may save an hour or two of paid labor later.
 
And while you've got that hole dug, figure out where to include a shutoff valve for the future. Might not be you, but the next person will appreciate it.
 
If you can find where the line exits the house to feed that (hopefully) you can shut off just that line. Otherwise, the only way to empty that water is a small pump type water extractor...
I've got a submersible pump that works pretty well. Not huge but works
And while you've got that hole dug, figure out where to include a shutoff valve for the future. Might not be you, but the next person will appreciate it.
Unfortunately, there's no shutting off any of the lines, they are all fed directly from the well pump. One branch goes to the house and a hydrant next to it, another to a hydrant the other side of shed, and a third to this hydrant.

No well pit or any other place to put shutoffs with out digging the whole thing up and then doing it at a very large cost. This is 50+ year old work that was done on a farm. They used good materials, these are Merrill hydrants, but didn't always use the best design in regards to future consideration of needs and maintenance.
 
I've got a submersible pump that works pretty well. Not huge but works

Unfortunately, there's no shutting off any of the lines, they are all fed directly from the well pump. One branch goes to the house and a hydrant next to it, another to a hydrant the other side of shed, and a third to this hydrant.

No well pit or any other place to put shutoffs with out digging the whole thing up and then doing it at a very large cost. This is 50+ year old work that was done on a farm. They used good materials, these are Merrill hydrants, but didn't always use the best design in regards to future consideration of needs and maintenance.
You should be able to drop a shutoff just at the outer edge of your work area while you have it dug up.
 
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