Water Line

Walking down the driveway to get the newspaper I noticed a large puddle by the apple trees. A large puddle is not out of the norm considering all the rain we get. But it hadn't rained in two days and every other puddle on the property had soaked in. Upon closer inspection I could see water bubbling up. Fantastic - the water line is broken. Time to shut the water off and dig a big hole to inspect the damage.

I learned from our last plumbing adventure (reattaching the pipe out to the pasture) that before shutting the water off we need to fill some extra pitchers and such. So I put about 6 gallons of water in various containers in the kitchen. Jeremy shut the water off and started to dig. More than an hour later he came up to the house, covered in mud, and said "We need to call a professional."

The break was on the main line to the house and the pipe was about 1 ft from an electrical line. Rather than risk electrocution and maybe not fix the main correctly, Jeremy decided we should get some help.

About 2:30pm the plumber showed up. He took one look and said he'd have to go back

to the shop for some parts. An hour later he was back. Jeremy had dug the hole larger so the line was well exposed. The plumber removed the broken part, cut a replacement and put the PVC glue on each end (it was a T piece, so three ends). Turns out he cut the pipe about 1/2 inch too long; so he wrenched and wrenched to force it into place. It finally popped on. He said "Well, in about 2 hours turn on the water. Hopefully it will hold. If there is a slow leak, leave the water on and call me tomorrow. It there is a big leak, turn the water off and call me tomorrow." And he left. But not before charing us $300.

At 7:30pm we turned the water back on. No visible leaks from the new, slightly to long, T section. This morning, still no visible leaks. I guess we're good. Now Jeremy just has to fill the hole back in. He's really looking forward to it.