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I planned on going to a party with a friend. It has been years since I got caught up in a repair emergency on one of my apartments. But it happened yesterday.
I have been screeching about our need for customer service and satisfaction for our residents. One property in particular has had some bouts of maintenance issues with hot water and sewer backups. It became such a concern for me that I actually developed and helped write some maintenance programs in order to stave off these types of issues.
I caught wind that we had a main water line leak at this same property. As I headed over to the property, my liason at the management company asked me to stay out of the way so they could get the issue resolved. I was a plumber back in the late 70's and felt that I could be of assistance.
When I got there, one lone person was in the middle of a tight section of the parking lot starting to bust up the asphalt. There was water seeping out through cracks in multiple locations in the parking lot. The manager had already given notice to each of the 125 residents that the water was going to be shut off on them at some point in the day.
Three more maintenance personnel showed up. I told the manager we needed to find a leak locator service. She and I started calling around while the others started digging holes in the parking lot and chasing the direction of the water.
I found the original set of construction plans that were falling apart due to age (built in 1984). I leafed through each and every page of this large stack. The plumbing page was the only one that was no longer legible. The locations of the main supply line were on a section of the page that had completely disintegrated. Of all the luck.
Most of the plumbers that we talked to said that their equipment would not work to detect leaks outside and pointed us to one service. I called that service multiple times including their emergency line and could not get through to anyone. The manager was calling the network in the company trying to find a recommendation for another source. In the meantime, she was working through constant interuptions from residents inquiring about the water (it was not off yet but they wanted to know if and when it would be).
I went down and picked lunch up for the team because I did not want them to stop working at this point. When I got back, there were three large holes in the ground and barely enough room for residents to drive through. We had still not located the leak.
It was now after 3:00 pm and I was worried that we were not going to be able to get it repaired.
The manager told me that she got through to a plumbing company and that I would be getting a call. When he did call, he said "I can do the repairs but you need a locator to find the leak". No shit... He did give me a couple of numbers. One of which was the number I had been trying to call all day.
The other number was answered though. The lady on the other end of the phone told me that she could send someone out the next day at $350/hour. I pleaded with her to send someone today. She called me back after a few minutes and said I was in luck. Someone would be there in 30 minutes.
We have 4 holes opened up now that I instructed the team to begin backfilling. All the dirt was just a soupy mess.
The leak locator shows up and it is now close to 4:00 pm. He slowly walks around the complex looking at the different lines. I tell that to the best of my knowledge, there are 2 meters and that eack one runs down the entire backside of the buildings. He went to each meter and shut them off individually and came to the conclusion that both lines were tied together at some point in a loop.
He then informs us that he uses air in the lines and sound detection to determine the leak locations. In order for it to work, the line needs to stay sealed. That means that an entire complex of people need to avoid turning on water faucets or flushing toilets while he works. All these people are just getting home or are in preparation mode for a party that night. Everyone scrambles to knock on doors. Of course many of the residents are now asking questions and holding up the process.
I am in doubt that this is going to work.
The locator gets to work on pumping air ito the lines. It takes a full 30 minutes before air starts coming out of the ground. He gets his sound detector and walks around the parking lot listening. We need to stop curious children from riding scooters nearby as it is interfering with the sound.
It is now getting dark. The locator starts drilling holes at various locations and poking with a probe. I thought that this entire exercise was futile. Then he casually says "here is the pipe" as he slides his probe in and out of the ground. He proceeds to drill more holes and probe for the pipe. He uses the detector on the probe as it is resting on the pipe and exclaims "the leak is here". It is only about 18 inches from where we were last digging.
We dig up the hole and uncover a pvc pipe about 2.5' deep. There is a crack and the water is leaking furiously. The pipe size is 2.5 to 3" in size but difficult to tell. There is no doubt that Home Depot does not carry parts of this size though.
I jump in my car and head to Home Depot in hopes that I can find something to temporarily patch it. They were closed! I called Lowes which was at least 10 miles away. They told me that they were shutting the doors in 20 minutes. I rushed over there and made it in time. I found a 3" rubber sleeve with hose clamps that looked like it might do the trick.
The break was on a coupling and was deep enough and water covered at the time that I headed out. I was not able to get an accurate picture of the exact size that was needed in my haste. I called the complex and told them that we would need a sharp exacto and the water extracted from the hole when I arrived.
The clamps were barely too small. I ran to the local auto parts store to see if they had larger clamps. They were preparing to close down as well. No larger clamps. But, they had some smaller ones that we could combine with the others.
We wrapped the crack with the heavy rubber sleeve and tightened the clamps. No leaks!!!
We pushed all the soup and asphalt pieces into the holes, covered them with wood, cones, and tape and called it a day.
I missed my party.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
I have been screeching about our need for customer service and satisfaction for our residents. One property in particular has had some bouts of maintenance issues with hot water and sewer backups. It became such a concern for me that I actually developed and helped write some maintenance programs in order to stave off these types of issues.
I caught wind that we had a main water line leak at this same property. As I headed over to the property, my liason at the management company asked me to stay out of the way so they could get the issue resolved. I was a plumber back in the late 70's and felt that I could be of assistance.
When I got there, one lone person was in the middle of a tight section of the parking lot starting to bust up the asphalt. There was water seeping out through cracks in multiple locations in the parking lot. The manager had already given notice to each of the 125 residents that the water was going to be shut off on them at some point in the day.
Three more maintenance personnel showed up. I told the manager we needed to find a leak locator service. She and I started calling around while the others started digging holes in the parking lot and chasing the direction of the water.
I found the original set of construction plans that were falling apart due to age (built in 1984). I leafed through each and every page of this large stack. The plumbing page was the only one that was no longer legible. The locations of the main supply line were on a section of the page that had completely disintegrated. Of all the luck.
Most of the plumbers that we talked to said that their equipment would not work to detect leaks outside and pointed us to one service. I called that service multiple times including their emergency line and could not get through to anyone. The manager was calling the network in the company trying to find a recommendation for another source. In the meantime, she was working through constant interuptions from residents inquiring about the water (it was not off yet but they wanted to know if and when it would be).
I went down and picked lunch up for the team because I did not want them to stop working at this point. When I got back, there were three large holes in the ground and barely enough room for residents to drive through. We had still not located the leak.
It was now after 3:00 pm and I was worried that we were not going to be able to get it repaired.
The manager told me that she got through to a plumbing company and that I would be getting a call. When he did call, he said "I can do the repairs but you need a locator to find the leak". No shit... He did give me a couple of numbers. One of which was the number I had been trying to call all day.
The other number was answered though. The lady on the other end of the phone told me that she could send someone out the next day at $350/hour. I pleaded with her to send someone today. She called me back after a few minutes and said I was in luck. Someone would be there in 30 minutes.
We have 4 holes opened up now that I instructed the team to begin backfilling. All the dirt was just a soupy mess.
The leak locator shows up and it is now close to 4:00 pm. He slowly walks around the complex looking at the different lines. I tell that to the best of my knowledge, there are 2 meters and that eack one runs down the entire backside of the buildings. He went to each meter and shut them off individually and came to the conclusion that both lines were tied together at some point in a loop.
He then informs us that he uses air in the lines and sound detection to determine the leak locations. In order for it to work, the line needs to stay sealed. That means that an entire complex of people need to avoid turning on water faucets or flushing toilets while he works. All these people are just getting home or are in preparation mode for a party that night. Everyone scrambles to knock on doors. Of course many of the residents are now asking questions and holding up the process.
I am in doubt that this is going to work.
The locator gets to work on pumping air ito the lines. It takes a full 30 minutes before air starts coming out of the ground. He gets his sound detector and walks around the parking lot listening. We need to stop curious children from riding scooters nearby as it is interfering with the sound.
It is now getting dark. The locator starts drilling holes at various locations and poking with a probe. I thought that this entire exercise was futile. Then he casually says "here is the pipe" as he slides his probe in and out of the ground. He proceeds to drill more holes and probe for the pipe. He uses the detector on the probe as it is resting on the pipe and exclaims "the leak is here". It is only about 18 inches from where we were last digging.
We dig up the hole and uncover a pvc pipe about 2.5' deep. There is a crack and the water is leaking furiously. The pipe size is 2.5 to 3" in size but difficult to tell. There is no doubt that Home Depot does not carry parts of this size though.
I jump in my car and head to Home Depot in hopes that I can find something to temporarily patch it. They were closed! I called Lowes which was at least 10 miles away. They told me that they were shutting the doors in 20 minutes. I rushed over there and made it in time. I found a 3" rubber sleeve with hose clamps that looked like it might do the trick.
The break was on a coupling and was deep enough and water covered at the time that I headed out. I was not able to get an accurate picture of the exact size that was needed in my haste. I called the complex and told them that we would need a sharp exacto and the water extracted from the hole when I arrived.
The clamps were barely too small. I ran to the local auto parts store to see if they had larger clamps. They were preparing to close down as well. No larger clamps. But, they had some smaller ones that we could combine with the others.
We wrapped the crack with the heavy rubber sleeve and tightened the clamps. No leaks!!!
We pushed all the soup and asphalt pieces into the holes, covered them with wood, cones, and tape and called it a day.
I missed my party.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
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