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Sunday, July 5, 2020

All hexed up

I spent most of the day working on the hex tiles. I'm optimistic that I can keep my tank covered with them for many years to come. There are extras so if a few leak and sink, I can replace them until the following year when I drain the tank. And shouldn't have as many to repair next time. When I first bought the tiles a bunch of them were leaking, which is why I have extras. The company sent me replacements after I complained.

First, I tried standing on them to squeeze out the water but I soon discovered that seemed to cause more pinhole leaks.


Not wanting to chance it, I tried pressing them against the side of my pickup.

Note water squirting out pinhole
So that's how I drained them. It takes about 15 minutes to drain one through the pinhole leak. I was able to do one in each hand twice as fast but the extra pressure required was hard, so I mostly did them one at a time. A few had two leaks which made them drain easier because they would draw air into one of the holes. I fixed about 60 in all yesterday and today. I need about half of them to finish covering  the tank. Very few of them would drain without being squeezed... but not too much. A little at a time, then let them intake air and then squeeze again. They're too brittle to withstand intense squeezing.

The good news is that I saw no evidence of any leaks due to rubbing against the sides of the tank. The leaks all seemed to be at the corners from bending during manufacturing, not rubbing. Weird, since they have horizontal seams, but not one single tile leaked along that seam. I would think they would be molded in two pieces and melted together, but what do I know?


Only two tiles were beyond patching. So now you know way more about my hex tiles than you ever hoped to learn. LOL


Other than the tiles today, I dealt with a constant string of people coming to pick apples. My husband had pressured me to advertise them online. Needed to get it done so I can get free to go to the oasis maybe tomorrow evening. Due to neighbor's fireworks until 1 AM I didn't get much sleep last night, but took a short nap today.


I'm anxious to see if the stucco tank is leaking; to see if that new gas pump is ruined; and to get the tiles in the rock tank. And maybe new odes are showing up.


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