The Bane...part 3 - Getting Ready For The Sequel

So the rotted, perforated, rusty pipe has been replaced (albeit temporarily) from the "box" to where it climbs it way up our embankment, which ammounts for about linear 7' feet. And YET we still have a leak somewhere!!! Hmmm, make that "somewheres" because it seems to be leaking in several places: Up top, in the middle, and at the end.

The rate of the leak is significantly less that it was with the "sieve", but I am going to have to get to it sooner than I planned. Replacing our entire plumbing line has now claimed top spot in my ToDo list.

As of now, I plan to replace it all with copper, but my final decision has yet to be made on that. There is a significant learning curve for me regarding brazing copper tubing, whereas CPVC gluing seems pretty straight-forward. There's also the expense issue as copper prices seems to be at its all-time high. But I still like the anti-bacterial properties of copper and feel that it somehow is more durable (though I doubt I can substantiate that belief). Noise level is a non-issue for us if it is even a issue in the first place. Well here are the issues I have ready about in the debate of Copper versus Chlorinated PolyVinyl Chloride. Here's were I do my Tevye impersonation:

"On One Hand....On The Other Hand..."

- Copper has a long track record.......CPVC is new, unknown long-term effects
- CPVC is cheaper and req. few tools.......Copper is expensive and tool intensive
- Copper has anti-bacterial properties.......CPVC may leach some chemicals/toxins
- CPVC is faster to install.......Copper is expensive and work intensive
- Copper is a fine conductor of electricity, good for grounding (we don't yet have it)
- CPVC isn't prone to corrosion.......Copper will discolor, but is not likely to corrode
- Copper is flexible/impact resistant.......CPVC may snap upon shearing or impact
- CPVC is presumably quieter.....Copper makes some noise, but don't we all?
- Copper tubing is small and fits in small spaces......CPVC is fat and cumbersome
- ...

There IS no other hand:
- Copper has more size and fitting options
- Copper just looks better

If you have your own thoughts on this matter, please share your observations with me and leave a comment. I am a raw novice on plumbing, but I can be a fast learner.

The Bane...part 2

First of all I must confess that I had nothing to do with this phase, being the actual repair, though I wish I could claim so. Instead, I went back to work, but even if I had been present, the best I could have accomplished would have been as a gopher (“go-for”); Plumbing is not my thing. Instead, after 3 trips to the hardware store, the WonderParents fixed this, so that we now have them to thank for our once again running water.

Conquerage

Day 2 began with the parental units cutting into the sidewalk. The diamond saw didn’t quite reach the full thickness of the slab, so our kind neighbor lent a hand. Being a concrete contractor, he had the tools to help finish that part of the job. Hurrah for compassionate good neighbors!!! We are again so lucky.

As they set about the task of replacing the leaky pipe, they discovered just how brittle the 50+ year pipe was. This resulted in having to replace the pipe all the way from the meter to the ivy (~+6'). Working down the rabbit hole was just too confining so the already crumbling wall came down. No worries there as it already needed to be replaced anyways.

Horror

Once the pipe was exposed, the source of this leak was obvious. Perforated is one word. Swiss cheese are a few more as are “DID WE DRINK WATER FROM THAT??!?!?” Well, we are so glad at least our little girls drank only bottled water. Just look at that pipe interior (below). Sometimes it’s just better to not know. But this is how I had imagined all municipal (and domestic) plumbing pipes to look like inside. Not that I know for sure, but those I suppose are deep calcium deposits. But there are so many holes that I’m sure some rust got in there.

But then again, the water never tasted nor looked tainted by iron or rust. So in all likelihood, the constant high pressure would have forced any loose particles out rather than in the line. Never did a glass of water have little specks in the bottom, and laundry whites still looked relatively white, so I guess we are safe, BUT STILL…

Another Item for the ToDo List

We will be replacing all our pipes before we drink from this tap again. I suppose we should just get it tested, but because the whole of the galvanized pipe we located was heavily rusted, we are resolved to just replace it anyways before it bursts, too. So over time we shall begin to lay a new line and re-plumb the house (and include the new and relocated fixtures we intend as well). And then we can just abandon this line. I intend to do this myself, and take my sweet time doing it, too. Plumbing lacks that sense of self-satisfaction of, lets say, painting. This shall be my induction into the not-so fine art of domestic plumbing. What joy!

But for now, we can bathe and wash and water. Now we just need to fix up that concrete frontage, until the next time...

The Bane of All Old House Owners...PART 1

Plumbing!!! Though I’m sure Electrical runs a close second. When we looked at the sidewalk in front of our house on Sunday on our way out, we noticed a puddle of water. I dismissed it thinking that it was just runoff from a late night of watering the lawn (in which I fell asleep during for a few hours). So when we returned at the end of the day, the puddle was now a little spring, and water was now running down the gutter. I opened up the water meter box only to watch the number go whizzing by. Now either someone was taking a shower and doing the laundry while we were out, or we had ourselves a serious leak.

Shutdown

So I go and fill as many pitchers (for drinking) and buckets (for flushing) as I can find before I go and shut off the main. The sun had set and there was nothing to do about it until the morning. After a frantic end-of-Mothers’ Day call to my parents, I coerced them into coming to our rescue.

To The Rescue

As good parents skilled in Home Repair do, they came. All Monday morning we traced down the water line from the box to the house. We dug it up near the house, at the end of the lawn before the slope down to the street, and at the retaining wall at the foot of the stairs. Let me first say this: Digging amidst the ivy is no fun; hacking away at it with an ax, however, is. “Die, ivy! Die!” I kept thinking. The stuff never seems to go away, and it only keeps spreading. You may wonder why I hate ivy so, and I would tell you that rodents make homes in ivy, and transients park empty bottles (broken and half-empty) inside. As an aside, my Father-in-law, likes the ivy, and went to the trouble of purchasing and planting more ivy where we had previously made a bald spot! ...as if it wouldn't grow back on it's own.

In this photo, the pipe is marked by the screwdriver and the line roughlt followed the tape measure, flagged by sticks. A nice long screwdriver makes a good probe, btw. Now I will also admit that I was blaming the lawn crew whom I thought two weeks earlier had nicked the line with their rototill. The pipe is as shallow as 6” under. But as we flagged the pipe along the way, no where else did there seem any evidence of a leak other than close to the main box by the street. Digging out to the pipe elbows at the retaining wall to sidewalk was no fun either and took some time. It was deep and the soil was not only a dense clay, but also packed with softball sized rocks (presumably to protect the water pipe).

Locating the Leak

With the pipe elbows exposed, from the turn up from under the sidewalk to the turns from the retaining wall to the upslope, we turned the water back on. And we waited until the water would show. It appeared inside the box and on the other side of the retaining wall simultaneously (see topmost photo). The leak was somewhere in between the two, which means under the sidewalk on our side of the meter. This is our problem. This is a problem that will have to addressed on the next day as this day was nearly over. But at least we know where it is within 4'. Stay Tuned....because we are STILL without water!!!