April 18, 2009
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ZOMG! That Gushing Water Sound Can’t Be Good …
It was a nice day today so I figured I’d do some yard work. Mowed the lawn. Laid down some grass seed. Turned on the outside water so I could then go and water the grass seeds. That’s when I heard a strange noise as water gushed down the empty pipe to the hose bibb. Something didn’t sound right. As I went outside I saw water pouring from behind the siding. Then I noticed water coming out of the garage. Then I noticed water pooling in our foyer.
Yes, apparently the pipe was fatigued and the pressure of the me turning on the water caused the pipe to burst. I’m glad I turn off the outside water during the winter because I can only imagine the pipe bursting when we weren’t home. (Which happened to a friend of ours this past winter) After turning the water off and cleaning up the mess in the foyer I was mulling over what the next step was. On Monday I could start getting quotes for repair work. But after paying a plumber a few Bens to replace a shutoff valve that didn’t sit well with me. I guess I could learn how to sweat fit a pipe. That involves fire. Fire is cool. Burning down your house isn’t. After some research I found this product called the Sharkbite. It’s a neat invention that allows you to
replace pipes without having to solder any joints. Looks interesting and apparently it’s approved/certified in various plumbing codes as well. And Home Depot sells them. hmmmmm. Interesting. The problem was that the pipe was already repaired by a previous owner. I’d have to cut a longer section for this device to work. Which if this Sharkbite thing does work shouldn’t be a problem. So a short trip to Home Depot netted two Sharkbite couplers, a three foot half-inch type L copper pipe and a pipe cutter for under $35. In under 40 minutes I removed the original pipe, installed the new pipe with the Sharkbite couplers and everything seems ok. Turned on the outside water and even after a few hours still no leakage.
I think I’m happy!
