I drove this rod into the ground at 7:45 this morning. Got the water back on at 4pm. The damage is still unassesed.
Last edited by K2; 08-13-2008 at 07:33 PM.
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It really wasn't too funny. Butt, there was a very bright side. The fellow that came out to do the repair, turns out I had worked with him quite a bit in the last millennium, and when we were all fixed and waiting for the inspector he told me his story of his battle with "Parkinsons" and how he may have beat it. A fifty year old man very happy to be back in a mud hole making a waterline repair again. Made my little issues of the day seem very trivial.
Trade:
Plumbing & HVAC, I specialize in Hydronic Heating and more specifically in Radiant Floor Heating
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 826
Quote:
Originally Posted by K2
It really wasn't too funny. Butt, there was a very bright side. The fellow that came out to do the repair, turns out I had worked with him quite a bit in the last millennium, and when we were all fixed and waiting for the inspector he told me his story of his battle with "Parkinsons" and how he may have beat it. A fifty year old man very happy to be back in a mud hole making a waterline repair again. Made my little issues of the day seem very trivial.
Sorry, I was referring to the comments, not your "problem".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divining_rod <---Search the threads here, these things actually work (finding water). If it makes you feel better I hit a water pipe nailing siding and it cost me 6 hours of labor plus the expense of a plumber at 9pm on a Saturday.
Hey K2, that sucks! You deffinetly couldnt have done that again if you tried. But atleast its all fixed, hopefully the damage isn't too bad. Heck it could have been a gas line! Good luck with it.
I'll tell you guys one of mine. A little while back me and dad were at my grandparents house on new years eve replacing their hot water tank. We had to shut the main water off. I turned it back on and the packing nut was dripping, so I figured no problem just a little tighten. Well it was an old lead line and the nipples and valve were so rotten that the valve just busted off like nothing. I had full street pressure spraying into the basement! Needless my dad was pretty mad until he realized hot rotted it was. Luckily the township supervisor lived a few doors up, located the curb box and we got it shut off.
K2, you any good at finding poly water lines, or are you only skilled with copper?
Could have been worse. A Comcast guy burned down two houses and killed an old woman when he drove a ground rod through a plastic gas line last year.
I'm starting to question the value of ground rods and especially the value of two rods, (this was rod #2). But the value of locating services is undeniable. Glad it wasn't gas. The city told us there would have been a fine for gas on top of any other problems.
Even if you called to get it marked out there only accurate within 4', and you would not have pot holed that deep. This is just a case of bad luck there is no way to have stopped this from happening. But it is still darn crazy that you got that sucker smack dab in the middle.
I don't know if I've ever hit the water main before, but I have hit an old oil heat tank that was no longer in use and buried in the back yard (thankfully). If I would have looked more closely on the inside I would have noticed the little feeds coming through the wall that were capped off. Lesson learned, huh.
You should feel lucky you hit water and not a gas or suer line.
Just imagine if it didn't leak! I remodeled an apt. about a year ago. About 6 months ago, I get a call that there is a water leak. I wondered what the hell was going on. I go over, and find I had put a nail through a 3/4 copper pipe when I had put the baseboard on. I guess it wanted to hold on until I was all done!
You guys ever use ground plates here in the US? I remember they electricians in Canada used to dig two feet into virgin soil, drop it in and it was done, plus only one was needed.
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