Holding My Water -- and My Breath Part 5

The Misfits – Part 2 of Even More Plumbing Woes

Recap –

I had just repaired a broken pipe at my cabin and pulled into the carport at home just as a frozen and burst pipe thawed and started spewing water. I could not find the water cut-off valve and had to wait on the city utility man to come shut it off, as I stood helplessly by and watch my carport flood. The water is shut off, and I am now ready to tackle yet another plumbing job.

The Present Situation –

There is a drop roof across the back of my house. Part is a carport, and part is enclosed to make a utility/laundry room, which is on a raised (conventional) foundation. A supply line sticks up from the slab, just a few inches from the wall. This is topped with a “tee” fitting. A faucet is attached to the top leg of the tee, and the horizontal leg is attached to a water line that runs through the brick wall, under the utility room floor and feeds the washing machine. The tee had frozen and burst.

As I examined the pipe connections, my heart skipped a beat. Oh, no! , the tee was connected to the under-floor line right at the brick. I was going to have to get UNDER the utility room to cut the line and splice on a new one. I am an old fat guy, and the crawl space is only inches high. I figured I had two choices: Call a plumber nicknamed “Snake” or take up the utility room floor, and the last I heard, Snake had quit the plumbing business. I looked closer at the connection and – What’s that? Oh Joy! There is a God in Heaven and he is smiling down on me! The pipe from the tee is not glued to the one under the floor. Some past beneficent plumber had glued a threaded fitting to the under-floor pipe, and the tee is SCREWED into it! I can simply saw the tee loose from the stub pipe and unscrew it from the under-floor pipe, screw in a new pipe, glue it to the horizontal arm of the tee, glue a piece of pipe from the bottom of the tee to the stub pipe glue a faucet fitting to the top of the tee and screw in a faucet. Piece of cake.

I took a photo of the pipe junction and went to my friendly, neighborhood building supply store, (the one with helpful employees who actually know what they are doing.) I showed the photo to the man, explained my problem and said, “Sell me what I need.” He said, “Is this your first trip here with this problem.” I replied that it was, and he said, “You have two more. It takes three trips to repair a plumbing problem.” “Not on this,” I said, “This is straight forward – just screwing and gluing some pipes back together.”

No. It wasn’t that easy. All the pipes were short. There was no “give” in them, necessary to maneuver the male into the female fittings. I went back to the hardware store to ask for advice and to buy whatever additional fittings were necessary. As I entered the store, the man behind the counter held up two fingers. “That is twice,” he said. I explained the situation, and he said, “I have just the thing.” He handed me a collapsible connection. It was like a telescope. The male end was a glue joint, but the female end was a gasket with a plastic nut that, when screwed down, presses on the gasket so it fits snugly against the pipe, making a water-tight seal. He explained the use: “collapse the fitting, glue the male end to one pipe with a connector, slip the other (female) end over the pipe and tighten the nut. That is all there is to it.” I was elated – such an elegant solution!” I rushed home to apply it. My pipes are ½ inch. He had given me a ¾ inch fitting. I returned to the store. He held up three fingers. “This trip does not count,” I said. You gave me the wrong size, so it is your fault. I exchanged the fitting for the proper size and returned home.

I installed the collapsible fitting without a hitch, then I glued the faucet fitting to the top, screwed in the faucet, got it cross threaded and ruined the threads on the PVC fitting. I was ashamed to go back to the hardware store, so I went to the “Big Box” store and got another fitting. It was a ¾ inch. I needed a ½ inch. I went back to Big Box. The bin that should have held ½ inch fittings was full of tee fittings. I finally found an attendant. He searched every bin in the store and finally gave up. The best I can do is a ½” by ¾” fitting: the ½ inch end will fit your pipe, and you can buy a ¾ inch faucet for it.

“Good, let me have a ¾” faucet.”

“We don’t have any.”

Dear reader, have you ever seen a two-year old throw a temper tantrum in the candy aisle of Wal-Mart?

Either I frightened him or he felt sorry for me, because he continued to search – and found them – in the appropriate bin, with a stack of tee’s piled in front. It was now dark, and very cold. I returned home and turned on the carport lights – and only got a VERY dim glow. I had replaced my good old incandescent bulbs with the pig-tail energy-saving variety, and it takes forever for them to glow brightly in cold weather. I looked for a functioning flashlight, but there were not any. My grandson had left everyone on and run the batteries down, and we were out of batteries. Working mostly by feel, I connected everything and turned on the water. GLORY BE! It worked. No leaks.

Excuse me dear reader, my cell phone just rang, or warbled, or whatever cell phones. Do.

“Hello,”

“WHAT! NO, NO, IT CAN’T BE. PLEASE TELL ME IT’S A JOKE. YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!”

“OK, sob, sob, I will be right out.”

That was a friend I let use my cabin. He lives in the area and is taking an on-line college course but does not have wi-fi at home, but my cabin does. He went to the cabin and found the front door standing wide open he said it is VERY cold inside and the water does not work in the bathroom.

I keep reminding myself that we Baptist don’t cuss. Pardon me while I revert to my Methodist roots. %$#*_!@!!!

Afterward –

I went back to the hardware store to buy something else, and the attendant congratulated me on fixing the leak with only two trips. I smiled and said, “Well, somethings, things just work out.”

I put an old bathroom rug over the newly repaired pipes in the carport to keep them from freezing during the most recent cold snap. It was dry. My wife just called my attention to the fact that it is now wet.

The next day – The pipes in my cabin bathroom thawed and did not burst. So far, so good. Hold your breath.

Witching Water Part 4

Even More Plumbing Woes, Part 1

I was celebrating my victory (kind of) over my plumbing woes at the cabin when reality hit. Just as I drove into my carport at home, I heard "pop, shissssh" and saw water squirting to the ceiling.

At this point, dear reader, I must interrupt this narrative to give you a description of my house and the attendant plumbing set-up: My house has a drop-roof across the back, under which is a carport and a utility room that contains a washer and dryer. The carport is, naturally, on a slab, but the utility room is on a conventional foundation with a step leading into it. A water supply line comes through the carport slab and stands a few inches from the utility room wall. The water line for the utility room runs under that floor and exits through a brick wall, where it attaches to a "tee" fitting on the supply line. On top of this is a faucet. This is in a sheltered spot near the corner on the south side of the wall. It has never frozen before, so I failed to warp it. We did not know it was frozen because we had not used the washer during the freeze. It froze -- and burst when it thawed.

Upon seeing the unauthorized fountain, I exclaimed Oh, fiddlesticks!" (We Baptist don't curse.) Of course, the first thing I had to do was to cut off the water, for my carport was rapidly flooding. I got the water cut-off tool and ran to the water meter -- and could not find it. It was not where it should be -- just a vast expanse of grass. At one time, the cover was removed monthly by the meter-reader, but several years ago, the city attached transmitters to each meter, and the reading is now transmitted to the central office, so a solid growth of St. Augustine grass covered everything. I prodded around until I finally hit something solid, dug through the grass and uncovered the lid. I attempted to remove it, but it was stuck. I needed a screwdriver to pry it loose.

My wife drove up. "What are you doing?" She asked. "We have a burst pipe," I explained, "and I am trying to turn the water off. I need a screw driver. Get me one, quick!"
She ran to the shop and got one -- a Phillips. "No!" I exclaimed, "a flat-head!"

She returned with the appropriate screwdriver. I inserted it into a crack between the lid and the flange of the meter housing and pried it loose. But there was only dirt -- no cut-off valve.

Thinking that dirt had washed into the meter and covered the valve, I probed with the blade of the six-inch screw driver and could not find it.

"You know," my wife mused, "several years ago they changed everything up. They stopped reading meters -- it is now done electronically. I will bet they removed the meter dial and cut-off valve."

"Well, there has to be a cut-off valve somewhere," I said," to which she replied, "Well, I don't know where it is."

So I did the sensible thing: I called the water department. The lady there explained that all their workers were busy shutting off other people's water, and I would have to wait my turn: so I did -- as my carport continued to flood.

The Utility Department man arrived soon, got a "sharp-shooter" shovel from his truck, dug down about a foot deep, uncovered the cut-off valve and turned off the water. "Since we stopped reading meters, some of these haven't been opened in years. Dirt washes in and covers these cut-off valves pretty deeply, he explained.

After my experience at the cabin, I swore I would never attempt plumbing again, but would call a plumber. But, it was mid-afternoon, with no chance of getting a plumber that day, and I was without water, so I decided to tackle it. Besides, simply cutting out a piece of burst PVC pipe and gluing in another would be simple.

Wrong.

End of Part I. Stay tuned, dear reader, for part 2 of this sorry tale.

Water in the Walls Part 3

Plumbing update --

A review:

After the last freeze, a pipe at my cabin froze and burst at the point where a pipe exits the outside wall and connects to the supply line coming from the ground. I thought it would be an easy fix: since it was a PIX line, with mechanical connections, not PVC with glue joints, I would just disconnect the pipe under the sink, pull the short PIX pipe through the wall, install a new one to the supply line and reconnect to the fitting under the sink.

But, no! We are dealing with plumbing, and it is never as easy as it seems. Using a "disconnect tool" (a 'U"-shaped piece of plastic that one fits over the pipe and depresses a small ring protruding from the connector as he pulls back on the pipe), I disconnected the line under the sink, but I could not remove it from the wall -- by pulling from outside or inside. It was hung on something. I finally sat on the ground, put my feet against the wall and pulled with all my might: and, viola, the pipe came free and I tumbled back over both levels of the terraced flower bed and landed in an icy mud puddle. I got up, brushed myself off, put on a dry shirt and looked under the sink. The pipe was still attached. Oh, no! There must have been a connection INSIDE the wall, and I had pulled only part of the pipe out! I enlarged the hole in the outside wall around the pipe so I could get my finger in to feel. Sure enough, there was a "tee" fitting inside the wall, with pipes branching off in all directions. The only way I could get at it was to remove the siding from the outside wall. First, I went to the hardware store for advice and to buy necessary supplies. The man there explained that PIX is connected with a "shark" connector. One only has to push a little white insert into the end of the pipe then push the pipe into the connector until it clicks, then the pipe will be firmly attached. He emphasized the importance of using the plastic inserts.

"And Now," as Paul Harvy used to say, "the rest of the story."

I already had some PIX pipe and a disconnect tool, but I feared I had damaged the shark fitting by pulling the pipe from it without first disconnecting it, so I bought a new shark tee and some plastic inserts. With the help of my son-in-law, I tackled the job. I was about to pull off the siding, when it hit me: I could see the open end of the tee connector through the hole in the wall, so why not try it? I cut the pipe to the appropriate size, pushed it through the hole in the wall and into the opening of the tee. I felt some resistance and, with my son-in-law pushing against the inside pipe under the sink, I pushed REAL hard, and the pipe suddenly went into the tee about a half inch. I tested the connection by pulling back on it, HARD! It would not budge: I had done it -- a solid connection! I reattached everything under the sink, turned on the water, and nothing leaked! Hallelujah, I had done the impossible. I had FIXED a broken pipe!

A couple of days later, my wife and I were cleaning up the mess I had made in the kitchen. As she cleaned off the counter, she held up two small pieces of white plastic and asked, "What are these, They look like some kind of pipe inserts?"

Afterward:

Since I expected the connections to pop loose at any time, for several days, when we used the cabin, I turned the water off when we left. Finally, I asked a friend who knows all about these things if he thought the connection would hold. He assured me it would since I had tested it by pulling back on it firmly. The plastic inserts were just to round out the end of a pipe that had been deformed into an oval so it would be easer to insert into the connector.

I checked to be sure my homeowners insurance will cover flooding due to a broken pipe. It will. I put the agent on alert.

Water Woes, or an Idiot Tries Plumbing Part 2

Water Woes, or, an Idiot Tries Plumbing

In a previous post about frozen pipes, I said that I had dodged a bullet at the house and was nicked by a bullet at the cabin. Wrong. Now, as Paul Harvey says, the rest of the story:

Cabin --

Due to a previous plumbing problem a couple of years ago, I has forced to cut loose from the water lines in the concrete slab and run a PIX line (that is NEVER supposed to freeze and burst) through the attic and into the bathrooms. The PIX line attaches to a PVC pipe coming from the ground with a brass "el" fitting and goes through the outer wall and into the cabinet under the sink. A "T" connection from there carries lines other places. The outside PVC was insulated, but the insulation did not seal well against the weatherboarding of the outside wall, and that is where the line burst and froze.

PIX is not glued like PVC: the connections are mechanical, not glue. "This will be easy," I thought: "just disconnect the line from the 'T' connection under the sink and from the 'el' outside, pull it out of the wall and install a new piece of pipe".

Wrong.

I went to the local building supply store (not a "big box") where employees can actually give advice. And got the necessary tools and parts for the repair job. Using the "disconnect tool" I disconnected the damaged line from both the inside and outside connections, and proceeded to pull it from the wall. It moved about an inch and caught on something. I told my wife, who was inside the cabin, to push from her end. She did, and nothing happened. "Push harder," I yelled. She yelled back, "I am sitting on the floor and pushing as hard as I can with my foot!"

Hum.

I am a member of the "If-it-won't-budge-hit-it-with-a-bigger-hemmed-or-spray-on-more-WD-40-club, so I clamped a pair of "Vice-Grip" pliers onto my end, sat on the ground, braced both feet against the wall, yelled a weight-lifters grunt and pulled with all my might -- and the pipe emerged from the wall. "I got it," I yelled! No, you didn't, Paula replied, It is still on the inside and I am pushing against it."

"Darn" (or something like that.)

I looked into the hole and saw a brass ring that was slightly larger than the hole. It looked like a mechanical connector. Someone, it appeared to me, had spliced the line INSIDE the wall. Why would they do that? I had pulled so hard that I had pulled my end of the pipe from the connector.

I chucked a drill bit slightly larger than the hole into my drill and enlarged the hole. The brass fitting was still hung up. I enlarged the hole: same problem. I enlarged it again, and again, until I could get my entire hand into the wall -- and found the problem: Not only was there a junction of pipes under the sink, there was one INSIDE the wall, and I was pulling against a "T" connector. I was going to have to remove weatherboarding from the wall in order to get at the connection.

Dark was approaching, so I did the only sensible thing -- what I should have done to begin with: I called the man who installed it. I explained that it was a cabin, I knew he had to serve people whose houses were without water; I had a place to live with running water, so I could wait -- I thought, wrongly.

The rest of the story in the next post.

My Water Broke Part 1

A couple of years ago, at Christmas, I had the same folks visit as this time. Some were staying at the cabin, and some at the house. Cabin bunch called and said "Water is spewing up through the concrete (floor)!" We turned off the water and carried buckets of water there from home, and they used showers at the house. After they left, I called my favorite carpenter/electrician/plumber. He said pipe had burst or (more likely) not been soldiered when the builder poured the slab, and after two years of our use it had worked loose. He tied into the waterline under the kitchen cabinet where it enters house and re-routed through the attic to the bathrooms. I asked him about the freezing danger. He said not to worry, he had double insulated pipe and used a special plastic pipe that would "give" and not burst. I was afraid this had frozen this year.
Fortunately this was not the case. There was only a short section of plastic pipe exposed to the air from where it came from the ground to where it went through the exterior wall. I had insulated all my outside faucets, but missed this little piece of pipe. It had frozen last night and burst today when the sun shined on it. It SHOULD be a quick Fix ( for most people, but will probably take me most of a day).

When I got home last night, I found my hot water had frozen, but cold water was OK. Isn't it odd how a HOT water line will freeze before a cold one? I have heard the scientific explanation, but don't remember.) Anyway, the line thawed
today without bursting. We would have had a mess: my house is built on a conventional foundation, and is only a few inches from the ground in places.

I just got nicked by one bullet and dodged the other! There is a God in Heaven, and he smiled on me today!

Some of these same kinfolks have been coming to visit at Christmas for years, and we ALWAYS have plumbing problems when they come. After hey left, I told Paula that we must be living right: we made it through Christmas/New Year's without a plumbing problem. I spoke too soon