WatrLevel, anyone use one of these?
dpbellus
| Posted in Tools for Home Building on
I’ve been looking online recently at a waterlevel with a sliding tape measure attached to it. You can see it at WatrLevel.com. I’ve used a homemade setup before, which worked fine, but the tape measure on this looks like a convenient feature. I’m not a builder, so I can’t really justify the cost of a laser level. I just wanted to ask if anyone here has actually used one of these, and if you think it would be that much better than just using my regular tape measure???
Replies
I've used a water level for as long as I've been building. Very handy for remodelling, siding, checking relative heights in seperate rooms...I used to set batter boards with it even.
I don't use it as much since I started buying lasers a few years ago, but it still comes in mighty handy.
I still use a water level for almost everything. It is nothing more sophisticated than a gallon jug filled with food coloring tinted water and a 50' length of clear 1/4" hose.
I have CDO.It's like OCD, only the letters are in alphabetical order like they're supposed to be.http://www.truenorthcarpentry.net
I made one from 100' of tubing and bucket to set grade in the backyard recently.
ML
I still have one in a wrapper. bought and never used..
I also bought a lazer level (I think cost me $25.00) and that achieves much of what I wanted a water level for anyway..
I haven't used the water level because the simple act of filling it would take more time than my lazer level takes.. (not to mention the mess involved)
I have used one made from a garden hose with about 3 feet of clear tubing on each end for several years. You must make sure that when you look at the clear ends held side by side that the water level is the same. If it is not then there is air somewhere in the system.
Don't do the garden hose w/ clear tubing at both ends routine -- they're a real PITA to use.
Make the reservoir-style kind. I used a sun-tea jar -- it already had a convenient hole in the side to tap into, and it has a handle to hang it from.
The handle feature is very useful -- I use a cam-buckle tie-down strap to easily adjust the height of the jar, then go around with the free end of the tubing making my marks. A nail in the wall is all you need. Maybe a screw hook in the ceiling for a really high drop ceiling, but no expensive telescoping tripods, no wall brackets.
Yeah, I don't us it as much now that I have a laser. But while lasers need line-of-sight, water levels can work around corners, and in visually-obstructed spaces. Pretty neat.
Oh, also -- you can just leave it hanging there while you go off-site for lunch. Try that with a laser!
AitchKay
Doesn't work in the winter, doesn't work if you forgot to bring water and a coloring die. Drop something on the tube and you can have a reading that's way off.. leaking hose?
water levels have their place all of us luddites like them but they do take longer to set up and use and time is money!
Is it just me, or does anyone else read the title to this thread as "wart Level", when skimming through the thread list ?;o)
before you post it, ask yourself this question: Would my grandma twist my ear off for saying that? If the answer is yes, ditch it.
~John Kelso
Frenchy, you’re scaring me!I’m reminded of the Lazlo Letters, by Don Novello -- that’s Father Guido Sarducci to you early-SNL fans. He’d write to Complaints Departments, then published a book of those letters and the responses he got.The response from Proctor and Gamble went sort of like this:"Dear Mr. Toff,Thank you for sharing your concerns with us. We are sorry that you have been having problems with our product.We think that you will find its performance greatly improved if you pour the Bubble-Bath out of the box when putting it in the tub."So, Frenchy, you’re probably just pulling my leg, but in case you’re being straight (and level!) with me, here’s a tip:It’s true that it takes a while to squirt all that water down the end of the tube with an eye-dropper, but there’s a little-known fact that should speed things up a bit: The top of the sun-tea jar UNSCREWS (just remember this helpful jingle -- Righty-tighty, Lefty-loosy!).Once you have the top off, I think you’ll find it fairly easy to dump in some rubbing alcohol and a little coloring, then fill it up the rest of the way with water. Now I know that the passage of time has probably made my recollection of this process a little simpler and easier than it really was, because I filled my water level FIFTEEN TO TWENTY YEARS AGO!!!Tell you what -- I’ll leave it outside for a while this Winter, and if the anti-freeze has all evaporated off, I’ll write a long, exasperated post on what a PITA it is to have to refresh the mix ONCE EVERY COUPLE OF DECADES.But should I post here, or over at the Knitting Circle on Threads?AitchKayEdited 11/13/2008 8:19 pm ET by AitchKay
Edited 11/13/2008 10:31 pm ET by AitchKay
In my experience, water levels are less finicky than laser levels. At least with the water level, you can easily check the level to see if it's accurate.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
Aitch Kay
I know a lot about what can go wrong with water levels because it has all happened in my hands.
With the reservoir type, when the temperature changes, the level in the hose end changes faster than the level in the reservoir. If you are using small tubing, the speed of the change and magnitude are both big.
Even with a simple tube level, if you leave one end in the sun and the other in the shade they'll be different.
ron
I've used a water level for over 20 years. Like others have said, they are cheap, easy to make and work around corners. The resevoir type is the way to go. My first one was made with a plastic bucket, an old toilet tank ballcock (cut the inside stuff off) and plastic tubing. See photo for latest version. Fill it with water, add a couple of drops of diswasher jet dry to reduce the surface tension of the water for quicker response, hang or set the resevoir at a convenient height, unroll the hose on the floor or ground to let the water push out the air and you are ready to go. I don't bother to set it at an exact height. I just need a level reference line. Unless you are a professional you don't need a laser.