Thank goodness it is now October

[TC]

As some of you might know, for the past 2 weeks I have been on Jury Service at Reading Crown Court. First week I was called for a trial but had to declare an interest as I knew some of the prosecution witnesses, and then in week 2 I was selected for a benefit fraud case, but the jury was dismissed after a day and a half because of the incompetence of the defence counsel.

So by and large, a waste of 2 weeks, and having had to take 2 weeks leave, I could have thought of better ways to spend my time

Anyway, yesterday, watching the Moto2 race, she who must be obeyed thought she could hear something hissing. Cut a long story short, pipe under the sink in the kitchen had started to leak and as I tried to turn off the mains tap, the pipe went big time and water was going everywhere. Tap was seized, so went outside to turn off at the mains, and that was bloody seized as well :evil:

So immediately called emergency plumber who also advised that I contact Thames Water to get them out to turn off at the mains, but as soon as I said that we had a leak indoors, their immediate response was that the problem was not theirs even though I told them that the mains tap had also seized.

Anyway, wife, daughter and son in law along with a couple of neighbours help with bailing us out as the kitchen was now quickly flooding.

Emergency plumber turned up about 2 hours later having told him of the problem, but as soon as he realised that he could not turn off at the mains either, he said there was nothing more he could do until Thames Water turned off the mains. So back on the phone to be told that there was a two hour wait on the phone, however, I tried again 20 minutes later and this time I got through to someone who seemed to appreciate the urgency of the matter. Did not help matters when he said though that it could take up to 4 hours for an engineer to arrive :roll:

Hour an a half later, engineer turned up, he couldn't turn off the mains either, so he had to call a gang. The said gang had been directed to fix a leak in the road as they were told that the leaking road was a priority until the engineer at our end said since when has a leak in the road been more important than a flooding house?

2 hours later gang turn up, drill the road, turn off the water only to find out that they have cut the supply to the wrong house. They then had to get a new job number to do the correct mains.

Cut a long story short, at 7.45pm last night, water supply was eventually cut off and the leak stopped pissing everywhere.

Over 7 hours of trying to contain all the water, no breaks, no stopping, no sit downs wife's hands are raw with wringing out all the towels, and although we were lent a wet hoover every 3 minutes we had to stop to empty it such was the volume of water.

Anyway, no water all night, so could not wash, flush the toilet or any of the basics, (thank goodness for bottled water), and then at 9.30 last night we get a call back from the emergency plumber saying that they can come back at 3 - 4am this morning or between 8 and 10 this morning. being so knackered, guess what option we took?

9.45 this morning, plumber arrives, and 45 minutes later, we have water back on with no leaks

Did I enjoy my bath this morning or did I enjoy my bath?

Now all we have to do is assess the damage. Thank goodness we have insurance cover.

Everything is slowly drying out, but I can certainly appreciate what those people who have been flooded have had to endure, and at least our water was clean.

Thames Water got sent a very snotty email this morning on the advice of the engineer who came out to us, it will be interesting to see what they have to say about things.

So, as I said, thank goodness its October!

[Willopotomas]

Working with water, I understand exactly what it's like to have a leak you just cannot stop on your own. At least your water wasn't pissing out at 4000bar..

[TC]

Working with water, I understand exactly what it's like to have a leak you just cannot stop on your own. At least your water wasn't pissing out at 4000bar..

I think what annoyed us most that Thames Water seemed to have no sense of urgency and must have thought that we were quite happy spending the best part of 7 hours just trying to contain the water.

[Aladinsaneuk]

perhaps your insurance company would be very interested in thames waters advice / response......

[flatlander]

Nope they'll pretend to be waste your time for 4 months get you to organise all the copies etc including the copy where the other party admit being in breach and please have an ex gratia payment as an apology. Then they will say there's not enough evidence to go any further to restore your no claims bonus and excess etc.
go on ask me how I know :(

[D-Rider]

What a catalogue of disasters ...... and maybe a cautionary tale to spur on the rest of us to make sure that our stop-taps work properly.
Not that long since I last used mine but probably worth checking again.

[paddyz1]

Working with water, I understand exactly what it's like to have a leak you just cannot stop on your own. At least your water wasn't pissing out at 4000bar..

What industry do you work in?....4000bar is shit loads of pressure Thats sixty thousand psi (give or take a few psi) I have pressure tested up to 390 bar for the rigs and that was scarey enough.

[D-Rider]

Working with water, I understand exactly what it's like to have a leak you just cannot stop on your own. At least your water wasn't pissing out at 4000bar..

What industry do you work in?....4000bar is shit loads of pressure Thats sixty thousand psi (give or take a few psi) I have pressure tested up to 390 bar for the rigs and that was scarey enough.

Water-jet cutting machines do have a bit more of a squirt than the average super-soaker

[slickliner6]

Working with water, I understand exactly what it's like to have a leak you just cannot stop on your own. At least your water wasn't pissing out at 4000bar..

What industry do you work in?....4000bar is shit loads of pressure Thats sixty thousand psi (give or take a few psi) I have pressure tested up to 390 bar for the rigs and that was scarey enough.

I was gonna say the exact same thing
I got hit with 2000psi silicone oil into my hand and that was painful enough

[Gio]

You have my sympathy TC, we had a similar problem in 1983 in London, difference was there was no stopcock in the street and the one indoors was actually quite easy to sort as the pipe was 2 foot away from the wall. We cut the pipe and bent it over and over and over like a tube of toothpaste (lead pipes) then crimped it. fortunately we weren't living in the house at the time cos the plumbing was being replaced

[paddyz1]

Working with water, I understand exactly what it's like to have a leak you just cannot stop on your own. At least your water wasn't pissing out at 4000bar..

What industry do you work in?....4000bar is shit loads of pressure Thats sixty thousand psi (give or take a few psi) I have pressure tested up to 390 bar for the rigs and that was scarey enough.

Water-jet cutting machines do have a bit more of a squirt than the average super-soaker

I am not talking about a jet wash, I am talking about pressure testing pipework that gets used on the oil rigs. I have pressure tested a 24" spool (as we call it). It was supposed to be 120 bar but it popped at 90 bar. I say popped but it was more like a bomb going off. The end blew off and smashed up some concrete, then put a big dent in a side loader. It also flooded the workshop. This was a late night test so we went home as there was not much point in staying.....

The moral of that story was to make sure there was no trapped air in the pipework as water does not compress.......we didn't.....oops

[Willopotomas]

Yerp.. Waterjet cutting. Shit loads of pressure, but not much volume. When the lines go, they go with a bang though. The intensifiers usually shut down when the pressure suddenly drops. We did had one pipe fracture and cut through a 100kva cable.. That was interesting to say the least!

[DavShill]

Sounds like an absolute nightmare TC - hope everyone has settled down and you are still dry now.

[GregD-UK]

Hi all,

Sorry for your bad episode TC. Can't understand why your "Plumber" didn't have any fittings to stop the leak? I carry a couple of whole pipe clamps for such events Hope you have a speedy and smooth claim on your insurance. Suggest some heaters in kitchen and de-ionizers as well. Take loads of pictures as well.....