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October 16, 2005
a leaky pipe outside
We discovered that one of our water pipes coming into the house is leaking.
A while back we'd noticed a spot out front that always seemed to be wet, even when rain was a distant memory. For some reason we didn't really think about it, probably because we already had too much to do. Anyway, today we started digging and discovered that one of our feeder water pipes has a leak.
We called the city and they quickly sent a guy out to shut the water off and to tell us that the pipe was our responsibility. Once the water was off we were able to dig through the sloppy mud and find the leaky pipe. About 3 feet down we found the pipe and could readily see a little tiny hole spewing pretty good on just the backflow in the line. Jim (GKOAT) confirmed that this was beyond our abilities and that we'd need a plumber or a pipefitter.
It's Sunday; there's no way we're paying to get a plumber out today. We went to Lowe's and got a water key so that we can turn the water back on long enough to clean up and pull some water for coffee in the morning.
To be continued...
Posted by john m at October 16, 2005 5:24 PM
Comments
Hey, I think I can come up with some quick fixes, if your interested. Depending on how late lowes is open...
Posted by: clay at October 16, 2005 7:40 PM
oh yeah before I forget, remember Nelson Muntz from the simpsons and that laugh he does??
Posted by: clay at October 16, 2005 7:42 PM
This laugh?
In looking for that, I found this and this.
Posted by: john at October 16, 2005 8:35 PM
"okay people we all know we're scared and horny."
Anyway, most line-in pipe is 1/2 inch I think. Well "they" make this clamp you can put on a itty-bitty puncture. Say you want to just grab the thing to stop the leak, right? Well, you can get the equivalent in brass, with two screws to act as your thumb. Yes, truly honking.
Or you could just embed the thing in concrete and call it a night.
Posted by: clay at October 16, 2005 9:46 PM
UPDATE
The line is galvanized, not lead, which is something of a relief to know that we haven't been been drinking lead water this entire time. The bad news is that the line mysteriously splits right before the leak, our old plumbers did weird shit when they plumbed the house before, and that the line apparently can't be easily 'just patched' because of the age and run of the pipe.
It is looking like we might have to get a new line run, which involves a trench and much $$$. We'll know more tomorrow. This kind of sucks.
Posted by: john at October 17, 2005 6:14 PM
ah jeez, sorry I poked fun. How about if you offered to dig? Nothing worse than a plumber with a shovel.
Does it totally have to be re-run to the street? Looks like they could just cut out the leaky part and work in a new junction.
Posted by: clay at October 18, 2005 2:46 PM
They are saying that, due to: 1) the age of the pipes, and, 2) the shear dumb-fuckery of previous plumbers, the line needs to be re-run. Things get spaghettied and confused under the house. Things are so bad that these guys (the new plumbers) thought that the previous guys had walked off the job (but were instead just stoned half-assers). This'll be good in the long run, though we're already tired of having to turn the water on and off at the street when we need to take a shower or whatever... Tomorrow should bring a quote and a timeline.
Posted by: john at October 18, 2005 6:33 PM
Ah god. Never fucking ends, does it? Sorry I'm not there to at least give emotional support or at least tease you and your un-showered wife.
Posted by: clay at October 19, 2005 12:13 AM
On second thought, not that you have alot of time, but have you gotten a second quote? The stuff under the house shouldn't be so bad that it's un-usable. I hope they're not bidding a complete tear out, because this "shit" is not that easy to mess up and most of the plumbers I have known have been half-assed potheads anyway.
Posted by: clay at October 19, 2005 12:20 AM
Again, sorry I'm not there, I gotta nice selection of pipe wrenches and we probably could've had a good time monkeying through this ourselves.
Posted by: clay at October 19, 2005 12:23 AM
Also sorry I've hogged up the responses for this post. Kinda defeats the purpose of having a blog doesn't it?
Posted by: clay at October 19, 2005 12:25 AM
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