Aaaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhhhh
To preface this story
I worked as a plumber for 3 years out of high school
I worked as an air conditioning & heating mechanic for 7 Years.
I have replaced at least 50 water heaters over the course of my life.
I wake up Sunday morning and stumble to the sink to brush my teeth and hear water trickling on the floor. I trace it to the water heater in the closet where we keep the egg refrigerator (yes, I need a refrigerator for eggs). I see the hot water heater leaking water.
I shut off the supply line to the water heater, clean up the ½ inch of water on the floor, and go to church.
When I get home, I go to Lowe’s and buy one of their cheap hot water heaters and the necessary equipment to replace the water heater to the tune of around $400.00, and then I go home.
I drain the tank and cut the lines to the heater then I discover that the supply line to the hot water heater is ½ inch instead of the coded ¾ inch size, and that I now need a fitting to do it right. (Actually to do it right I would need to replace the entire ½ inch with ¾ inch water line, but I have no intention doing that.
I have purchased a new and better water shutoff for the supply line in ¾ inch size. So I crawl under the house to shut the water off. I turn the water supply cutoff to the whole house and then notice that the cutoff is leaking so I reach up with my open end adjustable wrench and tighten the packing nut. When I do I put torque on the supply lint union coming from the street and the rusted corroded pipe cracks and covers me with a huge spray of water. This break is before the regulator so I am covered with high-pressure water.
I go to the street with my 8 inch open end adjustable wrench (way too small) and cannot turn off the water so I say to son #2 run to the house and ask mom for the big wrench on the water heater. He runs in and says, “Dad needs the big wrench” leaving out (on the water heater). My wife who knows of my moods when a project has gone to hell in a hand basket, has absolutely no intention of coming out empty handed so she heads to the workshop to get every wrench in the place.
I see this chaos from the street and manage to turn off the water with my small wrench.
Now neither my family nor my parents have water
I go take another look and discover that the water is run from the street with PVC all the way under the house (it should be copper according to the code) what looks like epoxy was used to connect the metal pipe in the house to the PVC. This, gentle readers, is a disaster.
I call a plumber
Then I send my Wife to the grocery store to by water for my parents, and me
I hook up a water pump to the old well to fill up buckets so that we can flush the toilets and collapse in exhaustion.
I have not had a shower. The boys are peeing outdoors at the barn,( which they actually prefer), andnd the we are exclusively using paper plates and plastic silverware till the water is back on.
Any questions.
Snagley out
I worked as a plumber for 3 years out of high school
I worked as an air conditioning & heating mechanic for 7 Years.
I have replaced at least 50 water heaters over the course of my life.
I wake up Sunday morning and stumble to the sink to brush my teeth and hear water trickling on the floor. I trace it to the water heater in the closet where we keep the egg refrigerator (yes, I need a refrigerator for eggs). I see the hot water heater leaking water.
I shut off the supply line to the water heater, clean up the ½ inch of water on the floor, and go to church.
When I get home, I go to Lowe’s and buy one of their cheap hot water heaters and the necessary equipment to replace the water heater to the tune of around $400.00, and then I go home.
I drain the tank and cut the lines to the heater then I discover that the supply line to the hot water heater is ½ inch instead of the coded ¾ inch size, and that I now need a fitting to do it right. (Actually to do it right I would need to replace the entire ½ inch with ¾ inch water line, but I have no intention doing that.
I have purchased a new and better water shutoff for the supply line in ¾ inch size. So I crawl under the house to shut the water off. I turn the water supply cutoff to the whole house and then notice that the cutoff is leaking so I reach up with my open end adjustable wrench and tighten the packing nut. When I do I put torque on the supply lint union coming from the street and the rusted corroded pipe cracks and covers me with a huge spray of water. This break is before the regulator so I am covered with high-pressure water.
I go to the street with my 8 inch open end adjustable wrench (way too small) and cannot turn off the water so I say to son #2 run to the house and ask mom for the big wrench on the water heater. He runs in and says, “Dad needs the big wrench” leaving out (on the water heater). My wife who knows of my moods when a project has gone to hell in a hand basket, has absolutely no intention of coming out empty handed so she heads to the workshop to get every wrench in the place.
I see this chaos from the street and manage to turn off the water with my small wrench.
Now neither my family nor my parents have water
I go take another look and discover that the water is run from the street with PVC all the way under the house (it should be copper according to the code) what looks like epoxy was used to connect the metal pipe in the house to the PVC. This, gentle readers, is a disaster.
I call a plumber
Then I send my Wife to the grocery store to by water for my parents, and me
I hook up a water pump to the old well to fill up buckets so that we can flush the toilets and collapse in exhaustion.
I have not had a shower. The boys are peeing outdoors at the barn,( which they actually prefer), andnd the we are exclusively using paper plates and plastic silverware till the water is back on.
Any questions.
Snagley out
