What’s the Most Unexpected Plumbing Problem You’ve Ever Dealt With?

[flowerbug]

called plumber at 7ish am Monday, she answered right away, talked a bit about the space and size and gallons of existing unit, thought we were going to get a 30 gallon tank for the replacement as that would take the same amount of space as the previous one, but when they arrived in the afternoon they had the 40 gallon size and that had more insulation added so would take up more space. it still fit but we lost our spot to put the soap along the edge.

i did try to get the tank drained before they got here but it wasn't happening very fast and even after they got here and hooked up a different hose it still didn't drain very fast and they ended up moving it with some water still in it.

new one went in, got it going and flushed the system out and later on in the afternoon Mom was able to get a shower when she came home and i could get the dishes done before that so pretty much all was well.

the new unit is very quiet compared to the previous one...

 

[CrealCritter]

Plumbing problem = water or worse under some sort of pressure = mess, sometime a huge mess = I despise working on plumbing, with a passion = don't talk to me, when I have to work on plumbing = You have been fairly warned.

Jesus is Lord and Christ

 

[flowerbug]

i try not to talk to contractors too much but i do ask how they are doing and if their day is going ok. in the above case one of the people who came out had been here before so that helps make it easier. he's ok and will talk some. that's all.

i don't want to be in their way or hovering over them (i hate having people getting too much in my space when i'm working myself), but i try to be helpful if i can, like i emptied and coiled up their drain hose for them.

 

[mkirkpatrick6411]

Our first house was abandoned and I we fixed it up and moved in. About a year in the house. the septic backed up and started to leak into basement. Yuck. I was digging up the tank lid when my neighbor came over and said "I bet the lift tank pump went out" I said "there is no lift tank on the plans ..." He said "I watched them install it....." So another 10 feet out and 6 feet underground ( yes the lid was a full 6 ft step ladder under ground). I got that lid open as well and swam around in **** water fixing the pump and float valve that had died. Would have been even worse if my neighbor hadn't been around to tell me the facts so I could fix it myself. I was not a happy camper.

 

[flowerbug]

as things go the current problem (mentioned in the little wild kingdom thread) does certainly qualify as an unexpected plumbing problem.

no idea what is going on other than the pressure is now different with the new water heater but i've tried turning off the valve to the hot water heater enough to reduce the pressure and it still doesn't make much difference. so perhaps the water coming from the well just happened to change temperatures at the same time the hot water heater was replaced?

i kinda don't think so but to verify this i'll have to crawl under the house (perhaps more than once...) and that's not easy on me at all these days. so that's my next approach to the problem of the cold water faucets not being very cold any more.

the plumbers haven't been back yet so i hope to have more information for them by that time if they do actually show up. they've normally been ok with service and getting here.

 

[flowerbug]

i hate plumbing.

there i said it.

we've gone through all sorts of gyrations to get the hot water heater fixed, the well fixed, the hot water temperature set correctly and then...

the past few weeks it gradually started to smell more like sulphur in the water and i figured it was because of the rains that it does sometimes change the smell of the water a little bit and then it goes back to good.

not this time it kept getting worse and was mainly the hot water so figured out it is a bacterial issue with them using the sulphur in the water and turning it into hydrogen sulfide (aka rotten egg smell).

so after reading up on the problem and solutions and getting some containers of hydrogen peroxide and a bucket with some water in it i went down under the house this morning to get that taken care of. except i can't get the filter open and i don't want to break the pipes it's connected to. apparently the guy who was here last time who i asked to change the filter cranked it on really tight and so i just said the heck with it and i'll call them sometime to come deal with it and maybe have them replace the mess they made of the plumbing down there using a bunch of plastic crap when we have copper every place else. i was never asked about it as i'd have said replace it with what was there before please, we paid a lot of $ for it when they did it... also there's a grounding wire that's not attached and perhaps that should have been done right too? anyways, yes, i'm annoyed...

did i say i hate plumbing?