Water line repair

[Mortblanc]

Discovered a burst water line last week. I had lost about enough water top fill a good sized swimming pool or to create a really nice wetland ecosystem, which is what I had done. I caught it just before the government declared it a protected duck sanctuary.

Went looking for the leak. Yep, it was under the house where the entry line passes through the crawl space. An old line and leaking under pressure in a half dozen places scattered along a half meter of line.

Tell the greenies that plastic does not last for 25,000 years, It starts decomposing in around 25.

Ahh, I just need a couple of compression fittings and a section of line! An hour of time and it will be done.

!!!!WRONG!!!!

I go to the home improvement center. Sorry no one makes those fittings any more. They don't make the pipe either.

"Hey bud!" I say, "you have rolls of the pipe hanging on the fence!"

Been there for ages and we have no fittings, they say.

And all of them said the same, four centers, two plumbing supply houses. I even walked in with the leaky section I had cut out so I could show what I needed. "Never saw anything like that!", and I knew they were lying. This was all common stuff on any farm or under any house 25 years ago.

I call a plumber, "sorry we don't crawl under 50 year old houses."

Honestly, they said that. Four different licensed plumbers would not even come out and look at the job. One did offer to come look at the leak but he would charge your equal to 50 pounds to tell me he could not do it once he got there.

One last call sent me to a plumber that said he could do it but he had a 4 months waiting list. No emergency calls either. I would have to wait four months.

He was nice about it though and sympathized. He also asked me why I was unable to find the parts I needed.

I told him no one in the area kept them.

He told me exactly where to find the parts and I went yesterday and bought them. Two fittings at 40 pounds per fitting. I would have paid twice that, I have had the water shut off for a week! They had shelves full of fittings, an actual inventory!

They were even glad for the business, and said that most of the other supply places were not getting their orders in and claiming it was impossible to source was their way of copping. Blaming the supply line for their sorry "just in time" inventory program failure.

With the heat index at over 100 I waited until last night to crawl under the house after it cooled a bit. It was still 90F at 9 pm. It took me an hour to do the repair, which is what I had estimated when I first saw it. But it had taken me a week to get someone to tell me where to get the parts.

I have running water again.

There is a moral to this story. I now have a box of assorted PVC fittings and and a couple of extra lengths of pipe added to what I already had, just in case.

I will also be telling my grandchildren to not waste their time at university like I did. Get on with a good plumber and learn the trade. They make more money and get more respect!

I never had anyone call me up and beg me to come tutor their brats for their exams, and let me name my price!

[Straight Shooter]

I bought spare coils of plastic pipe and various compression fittings just in case for the very reasons you are describing MB .....also some copper pipe and fittings ....solder and flux and some compression fittings ....washers of all types ...spare olives , ptfe tape .....it’s more important now than ever ...given the supply chain problems along with shortages in general ......nuts and bolts , screws and nails , electrical fittings , cable and fuses , spare timbers and ply sheets , polycarbonate sheets Are all I stock in our “ builders yard “ ....even spare wheels for the wheel barrows along with puncher repair kits and valves .....although you can bet I would have forgot something ! But with all the bits I carry .......I will come up with something to patch up most problems ....as most of us will , Pete asked me what I was doing with all the bolts n screws and why I had so many , although I have projects in mind for the future use .....prices are on a dramatic rise and supply could be difficult ......we need to take a look at the scenarios that could happen and affect us and store some spare parts to counter ! And not get caught out .

[Mortblanc]

Yep, this was a lesson in the old adage that if you can't source the needed items it does not matter how much money you have in your pocket.

I still need to weather proof this exposed pipe before winter returns. Heat tape, insulation and a Styrofoam box built around it from ground to house floor seems a good idea or I will be doing it again when the temp is zero.

[Pete Grey]

I am very glad to say we are insured for water supply (and drains) with our supply company, if there’s any problem THEY fix it up to the inside stopcock, I have sufficient copper pipe and fittings for any inside repairs.

With all the building supplies we keep I think we’re covered for most repairs, if we’ve got the stuff in stock the jobs half done, and if it’s physically beyond me we have good friends.

Anyway tomorrow it’s off to screwfix, need some bitumastic paint, and probably some screws, nuts and bolts, crimp type 12v connectors etc.........where’s that list ?.

[Mortblanc]

As a continuation of this far fetched tale at the end of the meter reading cycle I had a water bill of nearly $500 USD!

Since the leak was outside, and unobservable the water department gave me a break and discounted all but $100, which was still 4X my normal bill, but I appreciated their considerations since they could have charged me the entire sum legally.

Today I spent the afternoon under the house once again. The leak seems well repaired and I decided to insure against this happening again.

I applied a new electric heat tape to the pipe in question. I boxed the whole in with foam insulation board and stuffed the inside of the little house around the pipe with fiberglass insulation. After closing it up I sealed the corners with a super sticky tape.

The pipe had lasted for nearly 50 years, part of that time with no protection and the last 13 with only a "heat tape" protecting it and it had survived at least one -20F sold snap each year, and at least one dip down to -35F after I moved here.

I am hoping I will not encounter this problem again. I'm too old to be crawling under houses!

[Straight Shooter]

A good reminder to winterise all you can around your home , clearing leaves from the gutters after the fall ,and general maintenance .....just fourteen weeks to Christmas ! ....cold dark nights will soon be with us .....and so the wood stove will be in full swing complete with a stock pot of stew sat on the top .......more dumplings anyone ? .