Plumber repaired burst water main; appears he... [updated 6/13: Fixing...]

[phucheneh]

Nonsense, all the material used is certified and used in millions of houses.
The leak should not be there of course but the main whine from the OP is the lack of pressure in the house and this is not caused by the hardware the plumber used.

OP should call the plumber back to fix the leak and investigate the lack of pressure in the house instead of bitching in here.

So what job do you do terribly for a living?

 

[mizzou]

I must have like 100 PSI water pressure. It shredded three plastic shower heads before I went with the cheapest generic all-steel version that everyone avoids.

It's not fun taking a shower, and having the showerhead slam into your face unexpectedly!

It is however, very nice when I am filling up my pool in the summer

 

[Number1]

So what job do you do terribly for a living?

Did you get it fixed yet. I do ALL my plumbing and there are NO leaks or pressure problems.

Where do you live? I am in Halifax. I could come over and fix it for you.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that install looks scary. Barely any hangers, and what's with the pipes going right through the foundation? That can't be below frost level. :hmm: Normally water lines pass well under the footing and it comes up through the floor.

I'd definitely redo all that.

 

[Number1]

Any progress yet?

 

[phucheneh]

Update: Assfuck has still not returned to fix this. Drip. Drip.

So, like any reasonable person, I'm doing some midnight plumbing. Fuck, I should've been a plumber. Plumber's tools:

As opposed to my usual tools:

...well, some of them. And yeah, that shit is a disaster right now; I know.

You can see I already soldered one piece. Huzzah! I'm gonna go stick that on, measure for that vertical pipe and get everything fitted. How the fuck is this hard? Goddamn plumber.



also JESUS FUCKING SHIT SPIDERS GOD DAMMIT SPIDERS EVERYWHERE

 

[Tsavo]

i would love to get 50psi here. mines closer to 40psi.

I can get you 200 PSI. All I need in return is a 24-pack of beer, a box of twinkies, and an alibi.

 

[phucheneh]

Aw fuck, I have no idea how you're supposed to get these sharkbite pieces of shit off.




Oh wait, no, I have a special tool for that.

...I probably should've bought that fitting while I was at Home Depot. And they were open and stuff. For tonight, I'd saying 'fuck it' and shoving a pipe into that. And no, I couldn't have cut further, as far as I know. I guess that's a special fagbite fitting, and I didn't see any option other than taking it past the o-ring groove.

 

[phucheneh]

I can haz plumber now ATOT?

Doesn't look quite so awful in person. The solder's not lifting; that's the ridge in that POS fitting that I was trying to adhere it to. It looked better, but I was worried about getting full penetration and kept heating it, at which point it got some black spots. What be those black spots?

 

[ManBearPig]

deleted

 

[phucheneh]

My pipe connections weren't like that*. I just know that piece is fuckin' sketchy.

This is all kind of a practice run, anyhow. I noticed that tee past the outlet of the PEX is pretty damn gnarly. I think the joints have already started cracking. So I'll be redoing all the piping under there.



*the ones I soldered together while I wasn't under the house. I got sloppy once I was hunched over in spiderville. Also, that upper 90* that went where the end of the PEX hose was...well, I learned the lesson about water there.

Opened all the faucets in the hose. Kept jiggling the pipe...heating the pipe...it was obvious that I gave in too quickly when I went to do it and my solder would not fucking melt at all. I melted the goddamn plastic roll, instead, the shit got so hot.

 

[phucheneh]

Turned on the main...no leaks.

Turned on the new shutoff. Fucking ballsack. One leak. On the wrong side of the valve.

Why would there not be some way to drain the goddamn water out of the house? Another tee in that long pipe, facing down, with a damn cap. Bam, problem solved; no constant, hours-long dribble of water out of the motherfucking place I'm trying to solder.

 

[phucheneh]

This is all fine. My leak is where I joined the elbow I put on the valve to the old pipe. Sigheth.

Here's my ghetto 'adapter' to his PEX garbage. Notice how it does not leak...but the piece behind it does. What the fuck is the deal with that thing?

And lastly, here's the valve behind the regulator that he put in, which I had previously not really paid any attention to. HOLY SHIT IT LEAKS, I AM SO SURPRISED IN MY MOST SARCASTIC CAPS LOCK VOICE.

I am going to fuck this motherfucker up. He's refunding the original repair + paying for all my supplies AND my fuckin' labor, or we're going to court. Dumb fucking hillbilly.

 

[bignateyk]

I am going to fuck this motherfucker up. He's refunding the original repair + paying for all my supplies AND my fuckin' labor, or we're going to court. Dumb fucking hillbilly.

Doubtful considering you never even contacted him to give him a chance to fix the leak before you went out and tried to do it yourself. There is nothing legally wrong with using pex and sharkbites.

 

[surfsatwerk]

Doubtful considering you never even contacted him to give him a chance to fix the leak before you went out and tried to do it yourself. There is nothing legally wrong with using pex and sharkbites.

srsly

 

[Squisher]

Turned on the main...no leaks.

Turned on the new shutoff. Fucking ballsack. One leak. On the wrong side of the valve.

Why would there not be some way to drain the goddamn water out of the house? Another tee in that long pipe, facing down, with a damn cap. Bam, problem solved; no constant, hours-long dribble of water out of the motherfucking place I'm trying to solder.

I'm sure someone in this thread mentioned bread as a water stop for soldering wet pipes (I'm not reading the whole thing).

Take some white bread and ball it up and shove it in the pipes as a temp plug for soldering. When you turn the water on have it do so into a bucket so that the bread doesn't travel into a faucet or some valve somewhere.

 

[phucheneh]

Doubtful considering you never even contacted him to give him a chance to fix the leak before you went out and tried to do it yourself. There is nothing legally wrong with using pex and sharkbites.

Why in the retarded-ass fuck would I want someone who could not make one single non-leaking junction to touch ANYTHING again?

Let alone the fact that I've been taking goddamn disgusting-ass baths because there's been no water pressure. SURPRISE, I have water pressure now that I removed his lovely human 'repair.'

I have no tolerance for people who suck dick at what they do.

 

[bignateyk]

Why in the retarded-ass fuck would I want someone who could not make one single non-leaking junction to touch ANYTHING again?

Let alone the fact that I've been taking goddamn disgusting-ass baths because there's been no water pressure. SURPRISE, I have water pressure now that I removed his lovely human 'repair.'

I have no tolerance for people who suck dick at what they do.

I never said you would want to, but you don't have any ground to sue him or demand he pay for your time and parts since you never even told him there was a problem. You're best bet is to just get your money back from him.

 

[iRONic]

Disgusting-ass baths for your disgusting-ass mouth/post language. Fair...

 

[phucheneh]

I never said you would want to, but you don't have any ground to sue him or demand he pay for your time and parts since you never even told him there was a problem. You're best bet is to just get your money back from him.

The bigger problem is that I'm probably going to be digging up the front yard again. I'm all but certain he buried a sharkbite, as he doesn't appear to know how to do anything else anything at all.

 

[bignateyk]

The bigger problem is that I'm probably going to be digging up the front yard again. I'm all but certain he buried a sharkbite, as he doesn't appear to know how to do anything else anything at all.

If you can find he did anything against code you would have grounds to have your repair effort paid for. Using pex and sharkbites in a repair in your crawl-space isn't against code. It may be questionable practice for a professional, but it isn't "wrong". Having a small leak after a plumbing repair job isn't all that uncommon that you could sue someone over it.

If you want to dig up your yard to see what he did, that's your prerogative, but if he didn't do anything against code in that job either, you aren't gonna be able to get reimbursed for digging up your yard.

You still need to document that you had a conversation with the guy about it.

Sounds like you're learning the hard way that if you want something right, you need to do it yourself. I don't hire contractors for anything.

 

[phucheneh]

I don't hire contractors for anything.

...neither do I. Complicating matters and all that, as mentioned earlier. Not that I expect anyone to read everything, I was just providing an update for anyone who did read the thread and/or wanted to engage in a little schadenfreude by watching my efforts.

I was under the impression that burying a sharkbite is against code, but I was trying to find a concrete answer for that last night, and could not. Everything was just a discussion that was basically the same as what has been said here: Sharkbites are amateur, but allowed as long as [blank].

That blank used to be filled with 'they're accessible;' as in, not in a wall or something. A 3-4' high crawlspace is pretty accessible. 3-4' down in my front yard is not.

But the newer the posts, the more people were saying 'actually, they're allowed everywhere now.' I don't believe that to be true, but I could not locate any 'rulebook,' so to speak, which stated otherwise.

FWIW the anger and cursing is just my MO. I can see the humor in it; but I guess to some it all just comes across as me spewing hatred instead of being separated into 'this is just me doing work' and 'okay, now I'm fucking pissed.' TBQH, a lot of the anger is simply towards another member of the household, who insists that a) a professional plumber, even the guy that did this, does better work than me, b) they will call the plumber back, and c) I am not to speak with said plumber, as I will rip him seventeen new assholes and possibly engage him in fisticuffs.

 

[Red Squirrel]

This is all fine. My leak is where I joined the elbow I put on the valve to the old pipe. Sigheth.

Man that makes me cringe, whoever built that house and ran the plumbing that way is an idiot. Not much you can do now though unless you want to get the city involved and shut the street main and rerun a pipe. $$$$. I don't get why they did not make the pipe come out of the floor like it's suppose to, then run along the wall instead of sticking out from the side above frost level like that. That's not the cause of your problem though, but I just can't help but notice how crappy that install is from the get go (not your work, but the way it comes in).

As for the leaks, you need to ensure you sand the pipes real good, the inside of the fitting with a wire brush and the outside of the pipe with sand paper, and use flux equally throughout the sanded section. (I like to apply to both) Then solder until it starts to stick out a bit, but you don't need a ton of solder to be visible, it's what's inside that counts.

Here's some soldering to give you an idea:



I would not say that's expert though, was my first time, just practicing.

No leaks at around 100psi.

 

[phucheneh]

I think my soldering is okay, just messy. It took a little bit for my confidence to grow enough to start being a bit more minimalist.

I ended up having to cut the top pipe again, try and dry it out better, and redo it. It still turned out like shit, but it's sealed. When I go to replace the long overhead pipe, I'm going to put a jog in the middle that lets it clear the AC duct, and then I was thinking I'd put a T with a little downspout there. I guess just solder in a brass fitting with a plug at the end. That way, in case of future plumbing repair, the water will just drip to that low point and not be a pain in my ass.

In general, once the long pipe is cut, water should drain more easily. The inlet for the water (above new valve) happens to be the low point in the system, which seems like something someone would have changed a long time ago.

And yeah, that main is shitty. Near the beginning of the thread, you can see the old one coming out at the floor.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Man that makes me cringe, whoever built that house and ran the plumbing that way is an idiot. Not much you can do now though unless you want to get the city involved and shut the street main and rerun a pipe. $$$$. I don't get why they did not make the pipe come out of the floor like it's suppose to, then run along the wall instead of sticking out from the side above frost level like that. That's not the cause of your problem though, but I just can't help but notice how crappy that install is from the get go (not your work, but the way it comes in).

As for the leaks, you need to ensure you sand the pipes real good, the inside of the fitting with a wire brush and the outside of the pipe with sand paper, and use flux equally throughout the sanded section. (I like to apply to both) Then solder until it starts to stick out a bit, but you don't need a ton of solder to be visible, it's what's inside that counts.

Here's some soldering to give you an idea:



I would not say that's expert though, was my first time, just practicing.

No leaks at around 100psi.

Nice idea. I need practice with the soldering and couldn't figure out a way to test. I guess that's just a water hose from your house?