Completely OT, Plumbing troubles

Thus the old saying, when it rains it pours

Re: Completely OT, Plumbing troubles

John K Jordan

I don't like plumbing and don't much like anyone who does. Of course, I love having plumbing. Plumbing that works.

Plumbing troubles

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

"A society that elevates philosophy but denigrates the plumbing trade will have serious problems as neither its logic nor its pipes will hold water."

Re: Completely OT, Plumbing troubles

Jerry Nicholson

I have long harbored a hatred of water! It either goes where I don't want it, or won't go where I do want it! Sometimes I think I would be better off with an outhouse -- then I remember the outhouse on my grand parents farm. Hot with lots of flies and wasps in the summer, really cold in the winter with the wind blowing through the rotted bottom edges. And smelly in both seasons!

Re: Completely OT, Plumbing troubles

johannaj

When I was poor I did my own plumbing repairs. Hated it! Now I call my plumber. He comes promptly if it's an emergency.

I do not plan a return to doing my own plumbing.

Here is my worst experience: I lived in an old Florida concrete block house that had been built inexpertly by our neighbor. He had worked for Sears Roebuck and he used whatever was discontinued for the house (no two windows were the same!)

So a bathroom sink faucet was dripping. No big deal, I thought - just replace the washer. I removed the washer and went to the local big box store. They did not have a washer like mine. So I went into town to a plumbing supply. They did not have a washer like that either. I asked them what I was supposed to do and they said I'd have to replace the faucet. OK, can do. Bought a bathroom sink faucet and took it home. It did not fit the sink. So I took careful measurements and went back to the plumbing supply. They did not have a faucet that matched. I asked what to do. Replace the sink. Bought a sink and matching faucet. Took them home. Removed the sink, but when I did the j-bend broke - it was rusted out. Bought a j-bend. It did not fit the pipe that went into the wall. . .

Well, I did finally get the d%$# sink repaired, cussing my cheapskate neighbor all along. I moved away, but my ex-husband finally sold that house back to its builder, our neighbor. I hope he enjoys the upkeep!

I have retired from a plumbing career.

Re: Completely OT, Plumbing troubles

William Duffield

I also lived in a CB on slab Florida house (really, several of them, but this experience was in the last one). The builder laid the copper water pipes in the sand and poured the slab over top of them. An armadillo dug a home under the slab and clawed through the hot water pipe feeding the kitchen sink and dishwasher. At first, the leak was very slow. The dog found it first, and liked to sleep on the warm tiles in the front hall over the leak. Eventually we noticed the problem on the electric bills. The house was in the city notorious for using twice the water per capita of the next worse offender in the country, so the problem was not noticed on the water bills. We traced the leak to the front hall, and wisely called the plumber. They sealed off the hot water pipe, and routed another hot water pipe from the tank in the garage, up through first and second floor walls, diagonally across the attic crawl space, and down through second and first floor walls, under the kitchen counters and dishwasher and up into the sink. A couple of years later, the dishwasher failed and needed to be replaced. I couldn't remove it, because the plumbers had routed the hot water pipe straight through its supporting structure instead of behind it. I had to shut off the hot water, cut the copper pipe on both sides of the dishwasher, and solder in four elbows and three short sections of pipe so there was room to install the new dishwasher. This was before the advent of Sharkbite and PEX.

Re: Completely OT, Plumbing troubles

Barry Irby

This falls into the category of No good deed goes unpunished.

I think I failed to mention that my friend went back underneath to make the repair on the PVC. I had explained he need the purple primer and the glue. He got under there and made the repair but spilled the primer and rolled around in it. We call him Papa Smurf.

He was in there to check the actual plumbing repair at the same time, so I turned the water back on for him to inspect. It held fine which was a relief because we made the repair under really wet conditions. So then he made the repair and turned purple.