And to all you blokes out there who whinged and whined that the downpipes weren't in and said it would take ages for me to put the pipes in... The downpipes are now in. Big effort too!
Actually I think doing the photos and the blog itself took longer than the actual work of putting in the downpipes! The job was to connect this gutter outlet:-
to this pipe sticking out of the ground - twice, as there are two downpipes needed.
It turned out I didn't have any spare pipe, so would have to get some when I went to get the fittings. So this morning it was off to Bunnings to get my supplies, but all they had was the 100mm downpipe itself - no fittings - so no purchases were made.
So it was then off to the Home hardware over near my train club and they too didn't have the fittings. So back home I go empty handed. Onto the ol' pooter and Google to find my next local hardware store, which turned out to be a Mitre 10 which is down at Sandgate. Yep, they'd be open on a Sunday morning, so into the car again I go.
Into this nice big 'ol hardware store goes I and yep, they have a lot more fittings to look at in the sizes I am after. So I found the 100 mm straight sleeve joiners, so 2 go into my hand for purchasing.
Now to find the rectangular to circular adapters to go from the gutter outlet to the downpipe - but I can't find the right size! Over comes a very helpful bloke from the counter and lo and behold, next shelf up were the relevant type of fittings I was after. They had the correct size rectangular bit, but didn't do it for a 100 mm pipe, only for the much , much more common 90 mm pipe. Why is it that I always end up with non-standard stuff around my place - arrrrgggggggggghhh.
So I figure I have three options. [1] Bugger off home and call a plumber to do the whole job (expensive) [2] Nick off home and do more research of places to go buy plumbing bits, which would entail doing the driving around during the week most likely [3] Get the 90 mm adapter that is in stock and make it work.
What the heck, I grabbed two of the rectangular to 90 mm circular adapters and headed to the counter.
Got a 6 metre length of 100 mm pipe as well. They kindly cut it in half for me too. I had to fold the seats down to get the pipe into the trusty old Camry and driving was interesting with only half an inch from the pipe to the gear stick - the pipes being over the top of the gear stick. Must also go buy a new ocky strap as all mine are buggered and none in the car. Luckily an old shirt sufficed to tie down the boot lid for the 4.4 km trip home (so said Google maps).
Got it all home and went to work on it. Measured the length needed from gutter to pipe sticking out of ground and cut my pipe knowing it would be a fraction too long, requiring a small cut to make it right. I found the slide on joiner sleeve made for a great cutting guide too. I'd slide it to the measured mark and then put the hand saw blade up against it and by keeping the blade against it I'd get a square cut for once in my life!
Now since the adapter was for a 90 mm pipe and not the 100 mm pipe I had, I figured I'd just sit it loose in the top of the 100 mm downpipe and make the pipe a neat fit against the piece sticking out of the ground, and then slide the joiner into place. I'm a genius - it worked!
The pipe stayed in place and the little bit of slop of the 90 mm into 100 mm hole can, if I ever want, be sealed up with silicone sealer - but I doubt it is needed since it is at the top of the pipe and water can't get out anyway.
So the job is done. But you purists are saying "where is the PVC glue?" well I tell you - I figure I don't need any. The slide on joiner is nice and tight and is not likely to slide off. Heck, if it ever looks glue is needed, I can easily go pull the downpipe down and add some glue.
Here are the shots of BOTH downpipes so you can't say I only did one of them!
As usual the chooks were out and about looking to see what the heck I was up to and getting in the bloody way as usual... Till next time, happy trains.
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