Sods Law

[oldfella]

So yesterday I spent the day, emptying the bottom of the rainwater reservoir which measures 7x 3mt's and 1.5mt deep. however due to design fault, the bottom drain outlet is 6ins from the bottom, which means that once a year, muggins has to jump in and bale out, so that I can get rid of all the algae and dead leaves, and other oddities, like spanners, and that hammer I last saw in the OH hands around last Christmas, however I digress, so yesterday I worked hard in the sun sweating like a pig, and baled out all the water, and then it was decided by "Her Indoors", that I was to take her to town, and I would clean out rubbish this morning, Yep you guessed it it has been raining here since 2am not just a gentle summers shower, oh no , but a bl""" dy deluge and it is still falling.

To hell with it wheres the bottle opener

[red]

but just think - people pay to go the gym.....

[Millymollymandy]

Brilliant Eddy, but you must be very pleased to be getting some decent rain at last. Here we're getting just a few showers but even that's quite a novelty!

[battybird]

All we have had is slight drizzle...I never thought I would be looking at the sky and rejoicing that there are grey clouds! I feel for you...our spring water in Portugal is in a dammed tank (that sounds about right!! ) and again the tap is about 6" above the bottom. The water is lovely and clear through the tap because of this..is that why its done like that?? . OH climbed in and dug out all the debris from??? how many years and it absolutely stunk!! It was worth doing even though the tank is surrounded in brambles which were out to get us!! They had a severe pruning at the same time and have obligingly grown REALLY well since!!

[Stonehead]

It's not a design fault. The outlet is supposed to be above the bottom to allow the gunge to settle and prevent it flowing into the pipe.

Oh, and it was only a rainwater reservoir. If you want a real stink, try cleaning out a septic tank. Truly delightful, especially as it's one of the very few jobs where you won't get a gaggle of experts clustered around telling you how to do the job!

[oldfella]

Thanks, Stonehead, I knew there had to be a reason that I built it that way, but I still think there has to be a better of cleaning out the bottom of a tank, than with a bucket, and I agree with you about the septic tanks cos we got two, and it takes me about a week to get up courage or four large glasses of whatever, to take the plunge as it were.

[Stonehead]

Hmm, a better way? Well, a bit of Ish thinking suggests a pair of goggles, an airpipe made from garden hose, the 12v air compressor from the car, a rucksack full of stone for negative buoyance, and a long extension to the vacuum cleaner pipe. Dive in and hoover the bottom clean...

While wearing my home-made red high heels!