Major Plumbing Disaster !

[billt]

What a scary, expensive last couple of days! It all started early Friday morning. I work weekends, (12 hour shifts Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), and then I'm off all week. I get up early on my workdays because I start a 4:45 AM. Melanie and I were sitting in the living room around 3:15 AM when she said to me, "I hear water running". I told her I had the sprinkler system set to go on at 3:00. So we both dismissed it. I couldn't hear it because I'm deaf in one ear, and only have about 75% hearing in the other ear.

Then I called her at home on my morning break on Saturday and she told me I really hear water running in the laundry room and in the guest bathroom. She said nothing was leaking, but when she was on her hands and knees feeling behind the toilet to see if anything was wet, she said the floor was HOT! I told her as long as nothing was leaking I would take a look when I got home.

She was right, no leaks, but even I could hear it with my crappy ears. I have one of those "point and shoot" Infrared thermometers, and the linoleum floor behind the toilet was 101 degrees! I turned off the hot water at the water heater and it stopped. I knew then, 1.) I had a hot water leak. 2.) it was in the underground pipes.

Here in Arizona we have some of the best climate in the United States, but some of the WORST home construction as well. Most all homes are built on slabs with all of the piping run under the slab before they pour it. What happened to me actually is quite common. 80% of underground leaks are hot water because of the expansion and contraction of the pipes as they heat up and cool down. If the pipe is rubbing against anything, this will cause it to leak over time.

Bottom line: yesterday they had to repipe my entire house with hot water. They ran new lines overhead in the attic, and down the walls. $5,000.00 later the problem was solved, and now I've got a drywall guy coming tomorrow to, "make it all look like it never happened." In the process I had them replace 2 faucets as well as my outside main water shut off valve. Oh the joys of home ownership. All in all it's pretty amazing at what they can do. I had no idea this type of thing could be done so fast. It sure as hell beats jackhammering your floor to pieces! It's another grand for the drywall to be replaced, taped, textured, and painted. I guess I can't complain, it's better than losing the whole joint in an earthquake.   Bill T.

[ericire12]

God bless ya Bill. I'm sorry you got to go through that. Indoor plumbing is great until it all goes wrong.



Just to share a little story..... The previous owners of the house we just moved out of went on vacation once and had an upstairs pipe burst.... long story short... they had to take the entire downstairs down to the studs. YIKES!

Turning off the water when you go on vacation is cheap flood insurance!

[Pathfinder]

Sorry to hear that. Next time she says "I hear water running . . . ." 

Up here, for obvious reasons (think winter - really really cold winter) ALL plumbing runs are in the inside house walls and floors. The only think under the slabs are the water and sewer mains - and out slabs are a minimum of four feet underground. Nothing runs through outside walls, even on the inside of the insulation.

I think if I were building a home in AZ, I would insist on this approach.

[Johnny Bravo]

Damn Bill.............that's tough. We have so much of the same type of construction. The newer construction is all going to the new flexible overhead piping. It's just another bump in the road. I'm glad you and Mel survived.

[billt]

I fellow I used to work with had a house that was plumbed with Poly Butyl plumbing. This was the crap Shell Oil invented back in the late 60's or early 70's. It was sold as the best thing to hit the pluming industry since indoor toilets.

The problem with the stuff is they found after time the stuff would harden and split. He and his wife both left for work when the main line into their home ruptured. It ran for well over 12 hours, (almost 13,000 gallons according to the water meter). Bottom line over $29,000.00 in damage. All the floors and baseboards and drywall 2' up the wall had to be replaced. He lost a lot he had sitting on the floor as well. When this stuff goes, it splits along the length of the pipe like a zipper effect. The water flowed at full force. It's amazing what little has to fail to cause a major disaster. I'm just thankful we had no water in the home at all. I was lucky in that regard.  Bill T.

[Sponsor]

[billt]

The newer construction is all going to the new flexible overhead piping.

My house in Lake Havasu City had all overhead supply. The only problem was, (Most people don't believe this who never lived a Summer in the Mohave Desert), when you turned the shower on full COLD, you had to stand off to the side or else you would be scalded by the "cold" water that was in the attic pipes at well over 130 degrees! When it was 115 to 120 outside, it was nothing for attic temps to soar above 135 degrees.

The city had a rule that A/C service guys and contractors had to work in teams in the attic. One guy up, one guy down. That was brought about in the 70's after a A/C serviceman died in an attic doing duct work. A retired woman had hired him, and when the company called to ask when he had left she told them he was still up in the attic. The paramedics were dispatched and found him dead in the attic. Heat can kill you much faster than cold. In the Summer without water your life expectancy in the Mohave is measured in hours, not days.  bill T.

[crusader rabbit]

Bill, you have my deepest and most sincere sympathies.  I can't think of much I hate worse than plumbing problems. 

Some years back, when my AZ-resident Dad was considerably more active, he told me he'd noticed a leaky hose bib on the back wall of the house.  Now, Pappy ain't one to pay a plumber for a simple little job like a leaky hose bib, so he tackled the problem with confidence and gusto. 

He said the hose bib proved to be a struggle to remove, and by the time he got it off, it had cracked a nipple leading off a T.  Trying to repair that leaky T lead to a leak at an elbow.  Fixing the elbow resulted in a leak at another T closer to the primary supply.  And on and on.

Dad said by the time he fixed that darned hose bib, he had pretty much re-plumbed the house. 

I think TW will probably back me up on this, but in my opinion the only thing worse than plumbing a house is plumbing a boat.  At least the house won't sink if you screw up. 

[billt]

Thanks guys. Everything should be all back to normal by the end of the week. At least that's my goal. At least it's another of a long list I can cross off my mind for several years. That plumbing will no doubt out last me. After that, I don't much care.  Bill T.

[Hazcat]

billt,  Have the same slab on grade here in FL.  Had the same whole house re-plumb about a year ago!

[TAB]

I love repipes...   


I'm not a fan of "pex"(name brand there are several makers out there)  pipe.  Now that copper has come down in price, it no longer profitable to do pex.