Hey guys new here long time reader and carpenter just my first post. Have any of you guys had trouble with water levels? I have 5/16″ 50′ clear tubing connected to the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket. I will bring the hose up to the wall and wait for the water level to steady and mark the location, I will walk a few steps with the tube held high and come back to the wall and mark it again. I will get marks differing by inches or more. I am carefull that no water leaks and I let a couple of gallons drain to let out all of the air bubbles out (the bucket will still have 4-5″ of water in it. I cant figure out what the deal is with my setup?
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You're standin' on it.
Mon Coeur S'ouvre A Ta Voix
If it's getting sun and shade, it'll be out of whack. Bubbles you know about, you should be able to see them.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Dosen't a water level work by having the ends line up so your two marks are on the same horizontal plane! By having a tube attached to a bucket on the floor, the level it adjusts to is volume allowed in the tube at the particular distance you are from the bucket.
Mark both ends with a line about 4 inches from thetube opening. Put one mark where you want it, then move the other end to where you want it. Move the tube up/down until the water is at the mark. Should be level now. Thats my theory and I am sticking to it.
nkhandyman is quite correct, and I echoe what was said...
no bucket needed either (lol)
You are correct but your theory is not a practical answer.The inside diameter or a 5 gal. bucket at it's narrowest point is 10". This means that the surface area of the bucket is roughly 78.5". Compare this to the surface area of a piece of 5/16" tubing (.075") and you see that for every one inch the water moves either up or down in the tubing that affects the level in the bucket by .00097".So to create a differential of 1/16" you would have to move the point of the water level in the tubing 64".To the OP, I would try just dipping the tubing in the in the bucket rather than using a fitting that connects to the bottom. My guess is you have an air bubble at that point that is skewing your results. Other than that I can't imagine what your problem could be.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
The bucket works fine if the diameter of the bucket is large compared to the diameter of the hose. To further increase accuracy, make a mark on the tubing near the "smart" end and always line up the water level with that mark (within an inch or so) before taking the reading.
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Kayaker, I use a bucket when I'm by myself. I stick it on a ladder, hang it, or something so the water level in the tube ends up at eye level. I also run the hose through a hole in the lid, not the bottom.
The bucket is handy to carry the hose in, I can siphon water out of it to fill the hose, and I only have to worry about one end. One man operation.
i use a 25$ water level from lowes. I set the fixed end at say 3 feet high and when the moveable end is even with the fixed end...it beeps. Its level and I can do it alone. Use it for leveling old houses. Accurate to 1/8 in 50 feet.
try it
john
Meet the watrlevel, it's a bit more than an ordinary water level but it works better and is faster. Nice, convenient, well built tool.http://www.watrlevel.com/
I may be telling you something you already know, & if so, ignore my post. But, you need to make sure that the reference end is fixed and the water in the tube at this end remains even with your reference mark when you move the other end. It is true that the water level at both ends will always be at the same level, but they won't necessarily be at the same level as your reference mark. For example, if your second mark is 1" above the line you expect, when you go look at the reference end, it'll be 1" above the reference mark as well. I always double check that the level at the reference end is at the mark before marking the second end. The electronic gizmo water levels are a bit of help in this regard, but I still always use two people to mark levels with a water level -- one at the reference end to keep the water level equal with the mark and the other at the second end to mark the target.
I was upset when I ran into this problem(admiedly hot summer).
I played around with the hose and found that the
length of the hose that was off of the ground
was the problem, i.e., the weight of the water
that was hanging in the air was stretching the
hose in proportion to the length of hose off the ground.
when I kept the the hose on the ground right up
the place I was leveling the variation went away.
I guess I'm gonna go off topic and recommend you buy a laser level of some sort. They are too cheap, too good, and too useful not to own. I have a nice water level gathering dust, maybe I should give it to the school carpentry class since I'll never use it again.
David: better hang onto that water level- you'll need something to check your laser level against. A water level can never go out of calibration, unlike a laser.
A laser level doesn't work to well when you're going around a house, marking references for siding. Light tends to travel in a straight line.
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