7.18.2008

Water at Limestone

So on Monday I closed on a house and moved in a truck full of stuff. the house is great, although there definitely is some work to be done. Among a list of other "defects" with the house was the drain and hot water under the kitchen sink.

I replaced the drain, and was attempting to create a temporary plug in the hot water pipe so that the cold water didn't leak out of where the dishwasher was once hooked. In the process of doing this, the c-pvc pipe cracked where it connects to the copper line from the crawlspace.


Hot water started spraying out and flooding the hardwood kitchen floors. I tried to hold off the water with my hands and managed to decrease the flow while I thought of what to do next. For a few moments I couldn't think, stunned by the suddenness. The first thought that came to me was to go to the hot water heater and find a shut-off valve there. I ran to the utility room but was doomed by only copper pipe, without a valve in sight. To make matters more difficult, the hot water heater is positioned in a tiny closet the same size as it is, blocking view of the pipes in back.

I ran back into the kitchen and continued to hold the pipe and decrease leakage as I thought of plan B. Soon I remembered that pressure is my problem, so I ran to the bathrooms and turned on every hot water faucet. This fazed the leak down to a tiny pressurized spray, so I ran outside to get under the house and find the shutoff valve there.

As I walked through my front yard, a neighbor who I had just met called over to me. I told him that I had a water crisis and needed to get under the house. He came over and joined me, but to our dismay we found that there were no shutoff valves under the kitchen or utility room. We crawled back out and went down to the street to find the water meter. Luckily, the meter had just been read that day, and the water company didn't lock the lid upon leaving. Within a couple minutes, we were able to shut the water off.

The next day, I bought the c-pvc parts to replace the pipe. I read on the cement that it takes 1-2 days before you should apply pressure. To avoid waiting that long, I bought a metal stop-valve and screwed it on. Oh how nice that first shower was! Later my neighbor came over and helped build a new pipeline.

I let the glue dry and turned the water on this morning. The glued joints held fine, but the connection between the c-pvc and the metal shut-off valve wasn't tight enough and it slowly leaked. I cut the pipe and bought another piece and re-taped and re-glued the pipe and joints today. Hopefully tomorrow it will work!

The joys of being a homeowner...

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