- Nov 28, 2001
- 22,205
- 44
- 91
Yes this is a long brool story co, so if you don't like my blog.anandtech.com stories turn away now. Anyway I'll update this as things progress. Cause... I have nothing better to do 
The complex we live in here has had a long history of water problems. It seems like whoever did the inter unit piping did a REALLY shitty job. 4 or 5 times in the past 15-20 years there has been a major break at some point underground in the piping. Last time this happened I heard what sounded like a waterfall "hmm that's strange why would I be hearing a waterfall?" I went outside and there was a literal waterfall cascading over the side of a concrete wall next to our garages. When they dug down to the pipe it looked like there was never any proper connection holding the two pipes in question together. There was just a large bolder sitting on top of the two pipes keeping them together. W.T.F!?
Before that there were 2 or 3 other similar incidents a few years before we moved in. Only these were underneath the concrete driveway so they had to break the concrete and dig down to the leak. Since the last incident 10 years back we had a pressure reduction valve installed right where we get the water from the city and this reduced the pressure below what is average for our houses (maybe 40psi or something), apparently this worked as we haven't had any issues in the past 10 years.
Anyway a few days back we noticed that water was coming out of drainage pipes near our concrete garage, these pipes drain the lawn above the garage, (the garages are sunk down lower than the lawns and there is a concrete retaining wall with drainage pipes in it. Well it hasn't rained the past week or so so there is no reason for water to be coming out of these pipes. About 2 days ago it got worse and we shut off all the water to the complex. We have a plumbing company coming in with a geophone to look for the new leak.
Since then though we have jury rigged a system of hoses to get water from our neighbours. We've run lengths of pipe between our outside taps. Only problem? Apparently our neighbours tap from which we are getting this water from is at city pressure. 140psi!! He has a pressure reduction valve on the other side before it goes into his own house but not on the tap side we are using. Now remember about 10 years back we had a pressure reduction valve installed in our own city link so we have had lower than normal pressure for the past 10 years. First thing I think when they get all this hooked up. Wow we have some nice pressure now Didn't know 140psi was way more than it should be lol. So yesterday we noticed that there was water leaking in the kitchen and lo and behold a pipe and the dishwasher has sprung a leak. Then we noticed that the hot water heater had overflowed a bit. We had a separate plumber come in to fix these small leaks and he said, yeah 140psi in your house is almost dangerous.
We have since got a small plastic pressure reduction valve which we installed at the neighbours tap to lower the pressure, now it's only like 20-30psi, which is not fun either
Update 1 Ok the plumber is here and we opened the valve to the city water again to expose the leak. Below you can see the water coming out of the drainage pipes near our garage. Remember this water is coming from a burst pipe, it hasn't rained in a week so there is no reason for water to be coming out of there. The guy is listening with that stethoscope thing for running water behind the wall. Looks like we might have to jack hammer through the wall
Update 2 Well the solution is going to be to replumb this whole section. Everything from under the concrete back up to near the city connection. Looks like it will cost about 4 to $6000. However we are although thinking of redoing ALL the interunit plumbing through the whole complex. That would cost around $30,000 or more and would be done through a special assessment. Would probably cost each of us $6000 or so. Father doesn't like that too much, he never saves up for anything and basically has 0 life savings at 64 lol. Yeah I need to move out don't I.
Will update with pics of the dig up, whether you want me to or not
The complex we live in here has had a long history of water problems. It seems like whoever did the inter unit piping did a REALLY shitty job. 4 or 5 times in the past 15-20 years there has been a major break at some point underground in the piping. Last time this happened I heard what sounded like a waterfall "hmm that's strange why would I be hearing a waterfall?" I went outside and there was a literal waterfall cascading over the side of a concrete wall next to our garages. When they dug down to the pipe it looked like there was never any proper connection holding the two pipes in question together. There was just a large bolder sitting on top of the two pipes keeping them together. W.T.F!?
Before that there were 2 or 3 other similar incidents a few years before we moved in. Only these were underneath the concrete driveway so they had to break the concrete and dig down to the leak. Since the last incident 10 years back we had a pressure reduction valve installed right where we get the water from the city and this reduced the pressure below what is average for our houses (maybe 40psi or something), apparently this worked as we haven't had any issues in the past 10 years.
Anyway a few days back we noticed that water was coming out of drainage pipes near our concrete garage, these pipes drain the lawn above the garage, (the garages are sunk down lower than the lawns and there is a concrete retaining wall with drainage pipes in it. Well it hasn't rained the past week or so so there is no reason for water to be coming out of these pipes. About 2 days ago it got worse and we shut off all the water to the complex. We have a plumbing company coming in with a geophone to look for the new leak.
Since then though we have jury rigged a system of hoses to get water from our neighbours. We've run lengths of pipe between our outside taps. Only problem? Apparently our neighbours tap from which we are getting this water from is at city pressure. 140psi!! He has a pressure reduction valve on the other side before it goes into his own house but not on the tap side we are using. Now remember about 10 years back we had a pressure reduction valve installed in our own city link so we have had lower than normal pressure for the past 10 years. First thing I think when they get all this hooked up. Wow we have some nice pressure now
Didn't know 140psi was way more than it should be lol. So yesterday we noticed that there was water leaking in the kitchen and lo and behold a pipe and the dishwasher has sprung a leak. Then we noticed that the hot water heater had overflowed a bit. We had a separate plumber come in to fix these small leaks and he said, yeah 140psi in your house is almost dangerous.We have since got a small plastic pressure reduction valve which we installed at the neighbours tap to lower the pressure, now it's only like 20-30psi, which is not fun either
Update 1 Ok the plumber is here and we opened the valve to the city water again to expose the leak. Below you can see the water coming out of the drainage pipes near our garage. Remember this water is coming from a burst pipe, it hasn't rained in a week so there is no reason for water to be coming out of there. The guy is listening with that stethoscope thing for running water behind the wall. Looks like we might have to jack hammer through the wall
Update 2 Well the solution is going to be to replumb this whole section. Everything from under the concrete back up to near the city connection. Looks like it will cost about 4 to $6000. However we are although thinking of redoing ALL the interunit plumbing through the whole complex. That would cost around $30,000 or more and would be done through a special assessment. Would probably cost each of us $6000 or so. Father doesn't like that too much, he never saves up for anything and basically has 0 life savings at 64 lol. Yeah I need to move out don't I.
Will update with pics of the dig up, whether you want me to or not
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