Jack Feldmann
09-21-2010, 08:07 AM
So I'm in the crawlspace about as far from the door as possible looking at the main plumbing line where it connects to the valve. I reach up to peel back the insulation to confirm the pipe material and , BAMMMM! The water line busts loose and water starts shooting out.
I high tail it to the access, run to my truck to get my meter tool, then run to find the meter. No, not there. Maybe under THOSE bushes. No, maybe under THOSE bushes. Lookin, lookin, yep, go it under a big shrub. Turn off the meter and head back to the crawl.
Get to the access and can still hear water pouring out. RUN, back to the meter, and turn the neighbors water back on, then start looking for the right meter. OK, got it, under 8" of leaves and under another shrub. Turn it off.
Go back into the crawl to see what happened.
Of course this all took about 8 minutes. LOTS of water!
Turns out a pipe popped out of an elbow, and by the looks of it, it was never soldered properly. There was only a small dab of solder on the bottom.
Call the listing agent, who calls the owner, who calls me. I tell him what happened, and he heads home. I hear "its a 20 year old house, how come it never leaked before", and "I have to pay for a plumber?".
He shows up and I show him the photo and it is very clear it wasn't properly soldered. I offer to call my regular handyman/contractor. He can get it repaired in an hour and he's happy. It could have been so much worse.
I high tail it to the access, run to my truck to get my meter tool, then run to find the meter. No, not there. Maybe under THOSE bushes. No, maybe under THOSE bushes. Lookin, lookin, yep, go it under a big shrub. Turn off the meter and head back to the crawl.
Get to the access and can still hear water pouring out. RUN, back to the meter, and turn the neighbors water back on, then start looking for the right meter. OK, got it, under 8" of leaves and under another shrub. Turn it off.
Go back into the crawl to see what happened.
Of course this all took about 8 minutes. LOTS of water!
Turns out a pipe popped out of an elbow, and by the looks of it, it was never soldered properly. There was only a small dab of solder on the bottom.
Call the listing agent, who calls the owner, who calls me. I tell him what happened, and he heads home. I hear "its a 20 year old house, how come it never leaked before", and "I have to pay for a plumber?".
He shows up and I show him the photo and it is very clear it wasn't properly soldered. I offer to call my regular handyman/contractor. He can get it repaired in an hour and he's happy. It could have been so much worse.