How many trips does it take?

I managed this weekend to successfully turn on sprinkler systems at 2 houses. It wasn't as quick as I would have liked. What should have been a simple 30 minute job at one house became a 4+ hour exercise in plumbing. '

Trip #1: Go to house #2 (house for sale in a "buyer's market"). Oh that wonderful feeling you get when the spindle of the main supply valve comes off in your hand when you try to open it! Return home unsuccessfully.

It is not in my repertoire to replace a major supply valve without removing the pressure on the supply side, so had to coordinate with the HOA to have the water shut off. Of course, this water shutoff just happened to coincide with the household plumbing disaster, so careful coordination and prioritization was required in the family activities this weekend.

Did I mention how convenient it is to have a washing machine in your own home? Marvelous invention, indoor plumbing and a front loading washer.

Anyway, replacing a valve shouldn't be a complicated thing. Get valve, remove old valve, install new valve.

Trip #2: Return to house to do a quick site survey that I should have done the first time. I thought I knew the right size valve to get, noted that I lacked proper tools (-1 wrench of sufficient size)

Short Trip #3: went to local home/hardware superstore, bought a valve, a wrench, some teflon tape. Return to yard and ... drat, wrong size valve.

Short Trip #4: take the too large valve back, get a smaller one. For future reference, the valve gauge is probably labeled (cast/molded) onto the valve body -- look for it, it may save you a trip. While installing the smaller, correctly sized valve (but of a different length than original) I cross- threaded a plastic connector that was no longer squarely aligned due to the length change in the valve body. Plastic plumbing doesn't seal well after that (I didn't want to risk it) so...spent waaayyy too long getting the old plastic fitting out to take it with me...

Short Trip #5: take the plastic part and go find a replacement of same size and shape. Spend 15 minutes trying to find the right place in the correct aisle. Give up and get help, spend another 10 minutes with store employee trying to find the right part on the right aisle. Some shelving systems just don't make sense to me -- in this case, the part I wanted was mis-filed in a box one aisle away from identical parts of a different size. yeah, sure I can find that on my own...

Return from trip #2: Finally get to go home to deal with drain leak in the basement, but recall that due to the HOA involvement, I couldn't actually test my master supply valve installation.

Trip # 6: Actually use the new supply valve and finally get the sprinklers running. Replace one head most likely broken by snow shoveling activity. All is well.

Perhaps the lush green grass this is supposed to create will help the house sell a little faster.

Trips 1, 2, 6 are each about 30 miles round trip. 3,4,5 are each about 6 miles round trip. In an SUV with gas prices hovering close to $3.50... :( At least NPR had a story about a Nobel prize winner -- it deserves its own blog post.

Pardon my prattle, it just seems very rare that a project can be completed with one trip to the hardware store.

rootie