With Bill’s help and oversight, I was ready to turn on the water and was expecting the worst. Bill was under the house in the crawl space and I was upstairs where the switch for the water pump is located. Bill announced when he was ready and I threw the switch expecting some drama. None.
Bill reported that the bladder pressure was increasing and was therefore filling properly. A few quiet moments passed and then Bill announced that he saw a small leak. “Not too bad, though!”
Once the bladder had a chance to fill completely, we found two leaks in water feeder pipes and two more in drain pipes. Still, considering the house wasn’t in use and wasn’t in good shape, this didn’t seem too bad.
After a short discussion about my plans to replace much of the plumbing Bill suggested a “quick fix” and I was all ears. The pipes that were feeding the water are 1/2″ copper pipe which have the same OD* (outer dimension) as the ID* (inner dimension) of an engine hose. Bill retrieved some engine hose, a few clamps and a pipe cutter from his garage. He cut out a section of pipe around each leak, put the hose in the gap and clamped it down. Lo and behold – running water without leaks!
The result looks like this:
This is not a permanent fix (although Bill reports it could last as long as a copper pipe). If nothing else, the engine hose is not likely too sanitary, but at this stage, I just want to wash my hands and flush the toilet, so this is perfect. You can also see from the photo above that the pipes were basically “dangling” and that adds stress leading to leaks; so the hose has the added benefit of flexibility. (Again, until I can do a full replacement.)
We didn’t tackle the drain leaks that evening, but I went back and made some improvements on the next visit. One was simply a clogged p-trap, so that was an easy fix. But then there’s this mess to the right. That flat blue hose was connected to the end of the main drain pipe. It’s hard to explain, but apparently there was a problem with the septic at some point so the owners decided to just bypass it and drain the gray waste (sink and tub water) through this hose. It didn’t hold up well.
They basically cut off the main drain just before it reached the 4″ septic drain and ran it into the flimsy hose. (Thankfully the black waste [toilet] wasn’t cut off.) So as a temporary (and barely better) fix, I rigged the end of the gray water drain to a garden hose. It effectively does the same thing as their flat hose, but it’s sturdier. And I have no intention of leaving it this way.
So now there’s running water to wash my hands, use the toilet, and, if needed, use the shower to remove landscaping/demolition/construction grime. But with only cold water right now (we’ll get to the water heater “eventually”) I’m not sure a shower would be all that comfortable.
* OD and ID are very important plumbing terms. I’ll never forget the first time I went into a hardware store for plumbing supplies and I asked for a 1/2″ connector for a copper pipe. “Half inch OD or ID?” was the response. I’ve never made that mistake again.
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