Plumbing help needed.

Today was my day off.

So this morning as I'm sitting in my robe and slippers reviewing the latest on xjbikes there was a knock on the front door. It's the water department warning they are about to turn off the water for 4-6 hours.

WOOHOO! Just the opportunity I've been waiting for ever since we bought the house almost 11 years ago. You see, our house was built in the 1950s and the main water shut off valve no longer shuts the water off, just slows it to a fast trickle. All the other valves are pretty much in the same condition so every time I work on something plumbing related I have to deal with a trickle of water.

Now I finally know the water will be off for at least 4-6 hours (and they're public servants so there will be breaks, waits for the right job classification to show up etc. hell, be amazed if the water is back on by Tuesday) AND I have the day off to tackle it.

So I head into the utility closet (the house is on a slab) and pull the guts out of the valve. It's immediately obvious what is wrong with the valve and I head off to the plumbing supply store. As I head down the street I see lots of water dept. vehicles, way too many people doing nothing, a hole and a pile of dirt. I'm in good shape!

Turns out I can't get replacement parts for this old valve so I'll have to install a new one. This will take longer but I should still be ok so I rush home with the new valve.

I CAN'T GET UP MY STREET! There is a dump truck blocking the road and it is dumping dirt into the previously mentioned hole. Uh-oh, this can't be good. I get home to find that I have a geyser in the utility closet.

Did I mention that my wife had 2 cats when I married her? Do you know they don't ever die? When we moved into this house we decided the utility closet would be a great place for the litter box. It happens to sit over the floor drain.

So I have a geyser and a flood. Guess what a challenge it is to stuff the innards back in an old valve when the pressure is on? With much effort I finally got the thing back together.

I moved the litter box off the drain and spent the next hour with a mop pushing water back into the utility closet. Fortunately it hadn't been running real long and the rooms affected have linoleum or tile. One of the rooms does have some of Mrs. MiCarls scrapbooking stuff in it, some of which was on the floor, so I expect I'll hear from her later.

So I get most of the water pushed back into the ground and go to wash up. NO WATER! No problem, I must have assembled the valve in the "OFF" position. I open it up, still no water.

I go outside and look down the street. I see lots of water dept. vehicles, way too many people doing nothing, a NEW hole and a NEW pile of dirt. I guess maybe they put their first hole in the wrong place..................

I did manage to get the new valve installed before they turned the water on the second time.

Now for the bad news.

I mentioned the cats and the litter box. Apparently the litter box doesn't offer enough variety of experience for the kitties. They have been leaving, er, droppings behind the furnace and water heater. Those little surprises dissolved in the flood and left a coat on everything. The house stinks to high heaven.

So now it's clear. I have to burn the house down with the cats in it. The question I need help with is do I burn the house down now? Or should I wait until after Mrs. is asleep?

 

I hate it when that happens,,,the day off from hell

 

Man you really screwed up! If you want to work on the plumbing all you have to do is have the water co. turn it off out at the street. Actually you could do it yourself if they didn't lock it up.

 

I'm sending you a cat.

 

You need to scrub your basement with bleach now! After you "mistakenly leave the door open and your car door open and drive way into the country and take a leak leaving that door open and the cats must have ran out and you can't catch them and take a leak at the same time and you're really sorry Mrs. Micarl and you'll buy her an Ipod to make it up to her".

 

Hahaha.... :lol:

I certainly hope this is a joke,lol.

And don't be sending me any cats :twisted:

 

You should have told them you were taking the Main Feed Valve out and would let them know when you were done!

Next time you have a situation where you have to Sweat a New Fitting in and the line is not completely shut-off and there's a little bit dripping ...

Stuff the Supply line with BREAD.
It will stopp the flow long enough to heat the line and sweat-in the new valve.

Once the water is back-on ... the bread dissolves and goes goodbye

 

Rick is spot on but be careful not to stuff that sucker too much. I had a similar issue with a dripping leak and I used bread to temporarily block the flow thinking the same as Rick here. Unfortunately, I plugged the line and it took a couple of hours of shutting the water on and off to get it out. Some of it probably ended up in my water heater too come to think of it....

 

By the way, if you take the cats, tie them to a stick and used them to mop the floor with, not only will you get a clean floor, the cats might get upset enough to run away.

 

i dunno too much about cats but the p.o. of my house had mangy muts and when we purchased the house we had to power wash the basement with bleach and detergent. I dunno if it reaks to this degree but it works!!!