Unbelievable

[Expertboy]

Been out to a customer today as an emergency.

Knocked on the door to be greeted by a screaming woman who pushed me upstairs as quickly as possible, i walked into the bedroom to see her husband sat on the floor with his thumb over the top of a pipe and a lovely cream carpet covered in black dirty water.

The guy said "all i did was cut this pipe to put another valve on" why he cut it to do this is beyond me anyway !!

What he had done was turned off the flow to the radiator and cut the return pipe thinking it was safe and that no water could pass through the radiator.

the funny thing is that the guy did not want to let any more water out and had been sat there for 2 hours with his thumb over the return pipe (still leaking out in a fine spray) until his wife came home.

Lets just say i had a right giggle when i left.

 

[Steve]

ROFL! thats one of the daftest things ive heard for a while.

but it reminds me of when me and my mum were preparing my grandma's house for their return from america. They used to go there for 5 months every winter, so they would turn the water off and drain the system, leave the heating on a froststat.

So i turned the water on and let the tank fill up. 5 mins later, I hear this trickling sound, but thought it was just the cylinder filling up. 5 mins later, i go and check the pipework in the airing cupboard for leaks etc (5 months is a long time). Said trickling had been the DRAIN COCK at the base of the cylinder gushing water everywhere! Some dosy so-and-so had gone and left the thing open when he drained the system! So i capped it with my finger, and got my mum to hold her finger there while i went and got some pliers!

 

[JohnD]

Knocked on the door to be greeted by a woman who pushed me upstairs as quickly as possible

I know how you feel, funny thing is, hasn't happened to me recently.

 

[Whitegum]

Carrots work wonders as emergency low-pressure stops - I was also recommended to try turnips after my last episode with the heating! Holds long enough to get to the local hardware store and get some end-feed 10mm caps.

 

[Breesey]

Carrots work wonders as emergency low-pressure stops - I was also recommended to try turnips after my last episode with the heating! Holds long enough to get to the local hardware store and get some end-feed 10mm caps.

If the pipe is full of water how on earth do you solder your cap on? If you have a method share it

 

[astrab00y]

ive heard of a product called pipe freeze many of you have probably heard/seen it before- its a bag that wraps around the pipe that freezes the water so u can do any work.

 

[mike++]

A mate at work told me about his relative who found a fault on some agricultural machine that had a hydraulic leak. On close inspection he found the fine mist escaping, put his finger in it and promptly lost the end of it!

Oh, and never let compressed air blow onto your skin either!

 

[Nige F]

Comp. air...........and certainly not around anyones anus.........it is NOT a joke and can cause serious internal injury

 

[Sylvan Tieger]

Many years ago my next door neighbors wife came screaming like a lunatic to please come over to her home right next door to mine.

Seems her husband hired a handyman to bleed the hydronic radiators as he said plumbers charge to much.

This handyman started to bleed the air out of the radiator and he unscrewed the bleeder valve and the stem came it spewing 190+ deg F water out and he tried o put the stem back and burned his hand severely.

The dirty black heating water was now pouring all over the white carpeting and was starting to flow through the ceiling below and the home owner then tried to screw the stem in and also received severe burns for his effort.

The handyman with one hand decided it was time (after 1 hour passed) to shut the hot water tank and they waited and waited and waited 2 more hours and no let up in the flow or the temperature as now the wall paper was starting to peel off the walls from the steam vaopr.

AFTER they both had swollen hands and skin just peeling off both their hands the wife said enough is enough and came to my home.

I walked in and saw the water cascading down the stairs and down the walls like a water fall.

I went to the basement with the home owner and handyman following me saying they had shut the water but nothing happened. I gave them that knowing smile us plumbers are known for when someone really screws up.


I shut the water supply to the boiler turned on the domestic hot water again bled some water from the boiler relief valve, went up stairs and reinstalled the valve stem turned on the boiler water supply lifted the fast fill feature to build up the pressure and went. said have a great Day mate and left.

I no sooner got past the front door before I heard the wife giving her husband hell as I had to hold my mouth tight until I got past ear shot and busted out laughing wondering what this bloke was going to tell the insurance company and the blokes at the hospital as he did have really bad burns on both his hands

 

[Sylvan Tieger]

Comp. air...........and certainly not around anyones anus.........it is NOT a joke and can cause serious internal injury

When I was 17 years old I was in the US Navy and working in a boiler room and to find the steam leak 1,500 PSI super heated we used a broom handle as the steam would just cut right through it like a hot knife through butter

 

[Softus]

I gave them that knowing smile us plumbers are known for when someone really screws up.

You're an odd category of plumber who has the time and volition to feel smug during someone else's crisis. Please don't assume that other plumbers would feel the same as you.

...said have a great Day mate and left.

And this was your neighbour?

I no sooner got past the front door before I heard the wife giving her husband hell as I had to hold my mouth tight until I got past ear shot and busted out laughing wondering what this bloke was going to tell the insurance company and the blokes at the hospital as he did have really bad burns on both his hands

Do you know what? I think you're just making it up. Nobody could be that much of a callous idiot.

 

[Sylvan Tieger]

Has nothing to do with callous it is because many people think plumbing gas fitting should be taken lightly and thus when something goes wrong the sarcastic look is more or less I told you so.

There are many,many people scalded in this day and age because they are to stupid/ cheap /ignorant to install a pressure / temperature protection devices that are readily available.

Many DIY folks do not take the simple precautions of at least looking at a local code

 

[Sylvan Tieger]

Carrots work wonders as emergency low-pressure stops - I was also recommended to try turnips after my last episode with the heating! Holds long enough to get to the local hardware store and get some end-feed 10mm caps.

If the pipe is full of water how on earth do you solder your cap on? If you have a method share it

Trick question as YOU can't solder the cap on with the pipe full of water.

But one can use a compression fitting Copper x male adapter and then screw the cap on EH

 

[mick.]

Carrots work wonders as emergency low-pressure stops - I was also recommended to try turnips after my last episode with the heating! Holds long enough to get to the local hardware store and get some end-feed 10mm caps.

If the pipe is full of water how on earth do you solder your cap on? If you have a method share it

Trick question as YOU can't solder the cap on with the pipe full of water.

But one can use a compression fitting Copper x male adapter and then screw the cap on EH

But whitgum never said pop to the hardware shop for a compression cap......did he.

 

[nani]

Easy fix. Plug the pipe with a bung.