What a *^%$%Y up day!!

[Oklacarcollecto]

My wife went in to the laundry room yesterday morning and coming from the water heater closet there was water everywhere. Water was all the way out to the center of the den. A closet behind the laundry room was packed to the brim with stuff that belongs to my daughter in Colorado and it was flooded. The bedroom had wet carpet but luckily not too bad. My shop vac was down at a neighbors house so I had to wake him up this morning to get it.
I shut down the water and found a cracked fitting. Also found a copper line that was corroded and may have been seeping but not enough to call it wet. I started to go to supply house to get parts to fix everything and the battery or starter in her car took a dump so it won't start. I think it is the battery. On top of all of that the AC in that bedroom took a dump.


I fixed the cracked fitting and turned the water back on and spotted another cracked fitting but it wasn't leaking yet. Luckily I had picked up a spare so I installed it. Turned the water back on and a different fitting decided to leak so I took that one apart and replaced it with a Pex line and new fittings. To add insult to injury after I had sucked up the water, I knocked the shop vac over and made another mess that I had to vacuum up.


The wife had a training seminar that she has to put on that was going on until 9:00pm so she took my truck.

I ended up taking four tractor front end loaders full of wet stuff to the dumpster and dumped it. We have fans running and a couple of large dehumidifiers to help dry things out.

I have a bad back so today it is hurting, I am not walking too good but at least the water is fixed and things are drying out.

How is that for a *^%$%Y up day?




I have to question if the problems were caused by the earthquakes that we have been having.

 

[MoparDaddy]

Wow. Talk about rough. Sorry bill. I hope today/tomorrow are the start to a better weekend

 

[GaryS]

My sympathies! I once lived in a house with the water heater in the attic, Naturally, it developed a leak and the connection on the drain pan that was supposed to dump the water outside had never been tightened by the installer. Suffice to say that water and sheetrock don't get along.

I just built a new house and located the water heater in the garage to prevent damage from another leak in the living areas.

 

[inkjunkie]

Sounds like a disaster to me. When we had our 300 gallon salt water tank first set up we had a problem. We had just gotten it filled with water, no salt was in it. Garnett & I were heading out to his truck to get the salt and Ernie stuck her head out the door...."Guys, we got a problem"....Cracked fittings under the the tank...had to drain it empty. It pissed out about 60 gallons or so on the carpet...

 

[65cuda360]

Well, besides that Mrs. Lincoln, How was the play?

 

[TrailBeast]

That sucks, and I hate plumbing problems with a passion.
It's not hard to do, but takes a lot of BS little side jobs to do it and it's time consuming.

I have about 95% of the PEX and accesories to do the entire house sitting in my dinningroom floor as each box of stuff shows up over the course of a week.
As soon as it's all here guess what time it is?

Sorry you are knee deep in it also, as but now I have someone to cry to about it that understands.

JK, I wouldn't do that to you.

 

[67Dart273]

Well look at the bright side. Winter is coming and you won't need that bedroom AC unit!!!

 

[Oklacarcollecto]

That sucks, and I hate plumbing problems with a passion.
It's not hard to do, but takes a lot of BS little side jobs to do it and it's time consuming.

I have about 95% of the PEX and accesories to do the entire house sitting in my dinningroom floor as each box of stuff shows up over the course of a week.
As soon as it's all here guess what time it is?

Sorry you are knee deep in it also, as but now I have someone to cry to about it that understands.

JK, I wouldn't do that to you.

What Pex brand are you going to use? I use Wirsbo Uponor. I use Pex all the time and I love it. The fittings that cracked weren't Pex but the new ones are. I am planning on swapping out the rest of the fittings and pipe in the water heater cavity and install a master shut off on the incoming supply line.

It had to be cool today when I am trying to dry things out. It has been in the 90s all week and today 61 was the high and it has been dropping. It is real damp outside so I can't open the windows.

 

[Oklacarcollecto]

Well look at the bright side. Winter is coming and you won't need that bedroom AC unit!!!

That is true but since I have rental property I already have a new one in the box. Trouble is I can't get to it because there is a sea of stuff in the way now since everything had to be taken out of the closet. When I get it dried out and put back together, I will get the new AC installed.

 

[TrailBeast]

What Pex brand are you going to use? I use Wirsbo Uponor. I use Pex all the time and I love it. The fittings that cracked weren't Pex but the new ones are. I am planning on swapping out the rest of the fittings and pipe in the water heater cavity and install a master shut off on the incoming supply line.

It had to be cool today when I am trying to dry things out. It has been in the 90s all week and today 61 was the high and it has been dropping. It is real damp outside so I can't open the windows.

The brands of some of the parts vary, but most of it is Sharkbite brand.
Everything for the main flows under the house and to the risers is 3/4 inch Sharkbite slip together fittings and everything above floor is crimp ring PEX connections.
Everything is in red for hot and blue for cold (same price anyway) and will have chrome plated brass shut of valves at every appliance, and under every tub,shower and sink.
One end of the house will be separated from the other with 3/4 brass shut off valves for both hot and cold also. (in case I ever need to work on or replace anything, it won't shut off both restrooms and showers)

Those 3/4 to 1/2 Sharkbite T's are expensive little buggers at 10 a peice for 20 of them, but it'll make the under the house stuff go real quick.

The 18 or so 1/2 risers can be assembled while watching TV or whatever, then I'll pull the old grey crap out and stick them down through the same holes.
Once all that is done I can go under the house and assemble all the 3/4 and slip the risers into the Sharkbite T's.

I'm doing the entire house starting from the city line, and will obviously have to pull the water heater and start there since the city line comes in right next to it.

The estimates we got were all in the $2,500-$3,000 range but all the parts were only about $700 and I'd be damned if I was going to pay some dude 1,800-2,000 for one days work when I can do it. (probably 2 days for me)
We got all of it online between Home Depot and www.supplyhouse.com but the bulk of it from the online place because they beat HD on almost everything.
The crimp tool and PEX cutters were a lot less at HD.
Both were free shipping on everything.

 

[67 Power Wagon]

Bill you hit bottom, look forward my friend, there is only one way up from here..........

I've had a few of those the past couple of months like the ole saying, "...when it rains, it pours" sorta deal.

I'm sorry man, but ya got through it right? Life, **** happens! And sometimes you step in right after it happens!

 

[Oklacarcollecto]

The brands of some of the parts vary, but most of it is Sharkbite brand.
Everything for the main flows under the house and to the risers is 3/4 inch Sharkbite slip together fittings and everything above floor is crimp ring PEX connections.
Everything is in red for hot and blue for cold (same price anyway) and will have chrome plated brass shut of valves at every appliance, and under every tub,shower and sink.
One end of the house will be separated from the other with 3/4 brass shut off valves for both hot and cold also. (in case I ever need to work on or replace anything, it won't shut off both restrooms and showers)

Those 3/4 to 1/2 Sharkbite T's are expensive little buggers at 10 a peice for 20 of them, but it'll make the under the house stuff go real quick.

The 18 or so 1/2 risers can be assembled while watching TV or whatever, then I'll pull the old grey crap out and stick them down through the same holes.
Once all that is done I can go under the house and assemble all the 3/4 and slip the risers into the Sharkbite T's.

I'm doing the entire house starting from the city line, and will obviously have to pull the water heater and start there since the city line comes in right next to it.

The estimates we got were all in the $2,500-$3,000 range but all the parts were only about $700 and I'd be damned if I was going to pay some dude 1,800-2,000 for one days work when I can do it. (probably 2 days for me)
We got all of it online between Home Depot and www.supplyhouse.com but the bulk of it from the online place because they beat HD on almost everything.
The crimp tool and PEX cutters were a lot less at HD.
Both were free shipping on everything.

The gray stuff... Polybutylene??? That is what I am dealing with. My fittings that were breaking are the compression Qest screw together fittings. I have never had one break until these.

I like shut off valves under everything also so anything I have been in to now has them.

 

[65cuda360]

There was a class action lawsuit years ago about the grey poly tubing. A plumbing contractor friend was getting paid good $ to change it out in modular homes. You might research and find out if there is any recourse in replacing the supply lines.

 

[Oklacarcollecto]

There was a class action lawsuit years ago about the grey poly tubing. A plumbing contractor friend was getting paid good $ to change it out in modular homes. You might research and find out if there is any recourse in replacing the supply lines.

I was aware of that and the only thing they were replacing it with around here was CPVC and I am not a fan of CPVC so I told them no.

 

[TrailBeast]

There was a class action lawsuit years ago about the grey poly tubing. A plumbing contractor friend was getting paid good $ to change it out in modular homes. You might research and find out if there is any recourse in replacing the supply lines.

We just missed it (deadline for claims), so they wouldn't do anything for us.

I was aware of that and the only thing they were replacing it with around here was CPVC and I am not a fan of CPVC so I told them no.

Yea, me either on the cpvc.
Copper was out due to the cost.
I got so sick of the grey stuff cracking at the compression ring joints and having to go back under there in mud and replace the joints with compression unions I could have almost just burned the place down.
Woulda got more from the insurance than selling it anyway.

You should have heard some of the nasty disgusting immoral words that came out involuntarily every time I woke up in the morning when the wife said "I think I hear water again"
I decided to heck with that, I'm replacing ALL of that garbage.

 

[67Dart273]

Pex is white criss cross reinforced either milky white or clear. It seems to be holding up and is certainly different from that gray crap with the lawsuit.

I have a friend owns a plumbing supply and that seems to be "the stuff"

 

[65cuda360]

Bummer on the timing about the poly garbage. My shop has cpvc, and yes, it's garbage also. It's photo-degradeable and it gets brittle from heat. About 10 years ago I tore all the galvanized pipe out of our house and replaced with pex then used pex when we added the 2nd story.

 

[TrailBeast]

Pex is white criss cross reinforced either milky white or clear. It seems to be holding up and is certainly different from that gray crap with the lawsuit.

I have a friend owns a plumbing supply and that seems to be "the stuff"

Hm, thats odd.
All of the stuff we got is clearish (like candy apple paint) with no internal reinforcement but is PEX and advertized as 400psi hot or cold capable.
Red for hot, and blue for cold.

 

[Oklacarcollecto]

Hm, thats odd.
All of the stuff we got is clearish (like candy apple paint) with no internal reinforcement but is PEX and advertized as 400psi hot or cold capable.
Red for hot, and blue for cold.

I got on the Wirsbo/Uponor band wagon when they used the brass fittings and the rings were also pex that couldn't deteriorate. Since then they have introduced some plastic fittings in the mix and I am not very happy with that idea.

 

[TrailBeast]

I got on the Wirsbo/Uponor band wagon when they used the brass fittings and the rings were also pex that couldn't deteriorate. Since then they have introduced some plastic fittings in the mix and I am not very happy with that idea.

My stuff is copper crimp rings with brass couplers and joints.

 

[Oklacarcollecto]

This is what their original fittings look like. They were fantastic. The still make them for the main line ends but have discontinued them for things like Tees and Elbows. I wish I had stocked up on the brass fittings.

 

[TrailBeast]

This is what their original fittings look like. They were fantastic. The still make them for the main line ends but have discontinued them for things like Tees and Elbows. I wish I had stocked up on the brass fittings.

The website I posted has all of them in brass.

 

[65cuda360]

They still sell the "barbed" type brass fittings. The local supply house, Lowe's, Locke supply etc.. I've been using the stainless steel crimp rings with the $100 ratcheting crimping "pliers". The pex at the supply houses comes in rolls of white or 20' sticks of red or blue.

 

[Oklacarcollecto]

The website I posted has all of them in brass.

I forgot about them. I have bought from the when they were Pex Supply. They have the correct style fittings under ProPex.

They still sell the "barbed" type brass fittings. The local supply house, Lowe's, Locke supply etc.. I've been using the stainless steel crimp rings with the $100 ratcheting crimping "pliers". The pex at the supply houses comes in rolls of white or 20' sticks of red or blue.

Lowes brass fittings aren't the same as what I use, mine has a larger barb in the center. I get my 3/4" Wirsbo/Uponor Pex in 300' rolls from Locke Supply.

 

[4spdragtop]

Sorry to hear Bill....I havent had any water lines go in the house,but our NG hot water heater has taken a **** a couple times! Last time it went, I shut the inlet off and shut the heater off and called the "provider". Our water heater is a rental unit. Costs about $16 a month. $$ well spent in my opinion.
Soggy basements, floors make for a very miserable day!