Ding goes the doorbell.
Out of bed roll I, into skirt and shirt hastily fumbling and down the stairs to see who disturbs my slumber. Water department, nice fellow, finally here to tell me the good bad news - "the leak, madam, is on your side of the meter." and "I'm sorry to have to bring you bad news..."
Not bad news - I was expecting this, and just wanted them to let me know. He is surprised that I've been waiting for three weeks - he had no idea. I mention blue-polybutelene (sp?) pipe and he groans...we both know what that means.
He offers to turn off our water...but how am I supposed to live in a house with two men, one child, three cats and me with no water? No thanks.
Now begins the hunt for a plumber who can come dig up my yard and find the leaking pipe and hopefully simply repair it...but I am not holding out much hope for that. No one works with it any more, and I imagine most plumbers are going to tell me to dig the whole thing up and replace it. Sigh.
He apologizes again and I tell him I'm just glad to know.
Good thing we haven't put in that patio I've been dreaming of, out front.
'Scuse me, I have some calls to make...
Kyddryn:
ReplyDeleteClose. It's polybutYlene.
A tip: We have that stuff from the meter to the house, too. When ours sprung a leak maybe 24 years ago, we had to dig up a bunch of stuff and still had a hard time finding it. So I got a trencher to rent for cheap and dug a trench from the meter to the inlet valve at the house. Then I got a 4" corrugated plastic pipe and put it in the trench and pulled the plastic pipe through that.
Had one leak about a year after putting it in; turned out to be a bad spot in the pipe. But it's really easy to find as the water all runs down the 4" pipe and out the meter box and onto the street. All I had to do is tie a rope around the pipe, pull it out, use the rope to pull a new pipe in, and that was the end of that.
No problems since.
Thanks for the spelling - I've always simply called it "blue poly" and left it at that. We've known we'd have to replace it eventually...I'd just as soon be rid of the stuff and put in something new. So far, the estimates haven't made me cry, so hope springs eternal...
ReplyDeleteOf course, the estimates are based on the idea that the line runs straight to the house, and for all I know it runs under the driveway, through my neighbors yard, and into an alternate dimension before finally coming into the house. Sigh. We'll soon see.
Bummer.
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents: go ahead and replace, don't patch. It ain't worth it with the blue garbage- you'll be back in the same boat (heh) in no time.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the line runs a sensible, straight path and the whole operation will be relatively painless.
one of my worse nightmares...My kids bathroom actually needs work and keep putting off because of the expense.
ReplyDeleteNot fun. We had to dig up a valve last winter. Well, not "we", but plumbers we paid a pretty penny too.
ReplyDelete