# Worst thing ever !



## losnoratos (May 13, 2016)

What's the worst plumbing issue u guys have had ?


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## Oorgnid (Apr 5, 2016)

It wasn't so much the plumbing issue as it was the clients house. She had 4 large dogs that she let use her house as a back yard. There were so many piles of feces and urine stains it was disgusting. Needless to say, my boss made me install the boiler despite the condition.


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## UA25 (Jan 11, 2013)

Any pipe or interceptor that has grease or food in it. The smell makes me want to gag.....


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## Qplumb (Dec 19, 2015)

After plumbing for so many years it's hard to pick the worst. You tend to get wiser with age and experience and start working smarter, what used to be a PITA becomes pretty easy. 
I think some of the houses you go in or the people you deal with become the problem & not the plumbing itself. 
I've walked out of 3 houses in 18 years because of how filthy they were. When the homeowner says she wants to replace the garbage disposal & you can't find it while standing in the kitchen means it's time to leave. I told her " I have to grab something from the truck" & I never went back. It still amazes me how some people live.


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## fixitright (Jan 5, 2012)

I had a house so dirty you could sh*t in the corner and no one would notice.

Actually more than one house.


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## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

All my worst was during my service stint with a plumbing/ac/electrical shop. Went to one apt to change an air handler. Place reeked of cat pee, i go into the bathroom where the unit was, go to move the floor mat and realize, once i grab it bare handed, that it was soaked with the cat pee making the odor problem.

Another apt complex, we were changing out all the electrical outlets. I ended up getting a unit that was gag you nasty all over. The kitchen had so many roaches all over the crap in the sink. They were in all the cabinets, in the plugs, mounds of their poop and mouse poop behind the microwave, refrigerator. Ended up using gloves on that one due to the odd film covering everything. Sad thing is, wasn't a bad complex, and the neighbor's apt was well kept. I saw a few roaches, but assume they were from the nasty neighbor.


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## losnoratos (May 13, 2016)

I been doing new construction for 13 years already, but just started doing service calls for my own personal business. .. a lot of crazy stuff you see outthere. .. one time a lady made me and my helper put on a body suit .... lol , I had to , it was good money. ..lol


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## dclarke (Dec 22, 2012)

Oorgnid said:


> It wasn't so much the plumbing issue as it was the clients house. She had 4 large dogs that she let use her house as a back yard. There were so many piles of feces and urine stains it was disgusting. Needless to say, my boss made me install the boiler despite the condition.


If it's to bad I'm finding a new job. I'll work in some nasty situations but there's some things I will not do.


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## Debo22 (Feb 15, 2015)

Changing a broken plastic grease trap at a sushi restaurant


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## Michaelcookplum (May 1, 2011)

Fishing pipes can be a pain, although it raises your creativity level even more. I Remember one time heating up 3" pvc to make it down to basement from top floor. Holes were off set and there was all kinds of stuff in the way. Cutting holes anywhere on main floor wasn't an option. Old house with plaster walls that were painted like a mural. I was just a helper at the time, learned a lot from the old man!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Plumber (Jan 18, 2009)

Plumbing would be fun, if it wasn't for people.


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

Oorgnid said:


> It wasn't so much the plumbing issue as it was the clients house. She had 4 large dogs that she let use her house as a back yard. There were so many piles of feces and urine stains it was disgusting. Needless to say, my boss made me install the boiler despite the condition.


Pump on the supply or return of the furance?


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

The worst for me was having to repair a urinal arm that constantly stopped up with body salt and this was a gay bar,,,.. had to cut the line and install a clean out with this stuff pouring out everywhere.......

The second worst thing I have had to deal with was an Embalming room with dead bodies ... their drain stopped up and I did not have the common sense to walk away from that one.... 

I ran the drain with a K50 sewer machine and I brought back body fat stuck in the cable that they have to cut out of the way to find a vein to drain them from......:blink: 
That just about made me hurl at the time...
Then later, I realized later that my cables had the smell of death on them and it stank up the truck so I had to soak them in lemon scented ammonia to kill the smell....and spray the truck down too..
.. That was pretty rough on so many levels.
... I threw away the gloves after that fiasco and got new ones.


Cat and dog crap hell-hole homes are simply par for the course, and their are just too many to name.......


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Master Mark said:


> The worst for me was having to repair a urinal arm that constantly stopped up with body salt and this was a gay bar,,,.. had to cut the line and install a clean out with this stuff pouring out everywhere.[
> 
> You sure that was body salt running out of the drain????what were you doing in a gay bar to start with???:laughing::laughing::jester::jester:


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## Oorgnid (Apr 5, 2016)

rjbphd said:


> Oorgnid said:
> 
> 
> > It wasn't so much the plumbing issue as it was the clients house. She had 4 large dogs that she let use her house as a back yard. There were so many piles of feces and urine stains it was disgusting. Needless to say, my boss made me install the boiler despite the condition.
> ...


It was a boiler and circ was put on return.


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## Oorgnid (Apr 5, 2016)

I have to agree with the fact that it isn't so much the jobs themselves as it is the homes you have to enter and the home owners.


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

Oorgnid said:


> It was a boiler and circ was put on return.


Wrong place for the pump.. unless it's a mod con... into the furance hell with others


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

I gots two that rank up there together,one was you could smell the house 15ft before you got to front door,went in and dogs and cats crapped all over carpets and whatnot,women was walking around barefooted stepping in the crap like it wasn't there,then she sat down in a recliner,rated back with that crap all over her bare feet,bugs and all everywhere,her husband died a few months later from some kind of brain infection from bugs or whatnot,

The other one was I went in a house,it was dark and as eyes adjusted to dark could see things movin on walls,it was covered with water bugs,little baby laying on couch and bugs were crawlin on that baby,never seen nothing like it ever,told lady you got to get rid of bugs before I can do anything and left,she acted like them bugs were no big deal:laughing:


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## Roto-Rooter (Jan 31, 2015)

I guess mine would be when the top of a septic tank caved and I went in. Went completely under and the concrete came in on top of me. Guess I was lucky I did go all the way under. If I hadn't the concrete probably knocked me out. Had 9 staples in my head and my back looked like a mountain lion had had hold of me.
My wife said " I cam see the obit now " I didn't think it was funny at the time.


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## Letterrip (Jul 28, 2013)

sparky said:


> what were you doing in a gay bar to start with???:laughing::laughing::jester::jester:




Maybe he was looking for one of those gender neutral bathrooms.


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## Razzy7 (Nov 16, 2015)

Removed a pound of hair out of the bath sink and gagged the same time my boss walked by. He still tells the story!


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## Qplumb (Dec 19, 2015)

Master Mark said:


> The worst for me was having to repair a urinal arm that constantly stopped up with body salt and this was a gay bar,,,.. had to cut the line and install a clean out with this stuff pouring out everywhere.......
> 
> 
> This is off subject but the gay bar reminded me of it.
> ...


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Qplumb said:


> Master Mark said:
> 
> 
> > The worst for me was having to repair a urinal arm that constantly stopped up with body salt and this was a gay bar,,,.. had to cut the line and install a clean out with this stuff pouring out everywhere.......
> ...


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## fixitright (Jan 5, 2012)

sparky said:


> Qplumb said:
> 
> 
> > That is just wrong and so not right,kids menu at a gay bar=scary:yes:
> ...


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## Oorgnid (Apr 5, 2016)

Millions in one gulp. Ba dum tssss. Too soon?


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## PLUMB TIME (Feb 2, 2009)

Section 8 housing in Cook County (Republic of Chicago).

To numerous to mention, but as a hardened veteran of the the trade,30+ years, we still have yet to come up with a solution. And PEOPLE, are still people

Not a rant, just an observation.


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## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

Roto-Rooter said:


> I guess mine would be when the top of a septic tank caved and I went in. Went completely under and the concrete came in on top of me. Guess I was lucky I did go all the way under. If I hadn't the concrete probably knocked me out. Had 9 staples in my head and my back looked like a mountain lion had had hold of me.
> My wife said " I cam see the obit now " I didn't think it was funny at the time.


RR wins! I would rather deal will all the issues combined than to unexpectedly take a swim in a septic tank. 

How sick did you get RR?


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

chonkie said:


> RR wins! I would rather deal will all the issues combined than to unexpectedly take a swim in a septic tank.
> 
> How sick did you get RR?


Agreeeeee,I can't imagine falling into a full septic tank,and he is so lucky he didn'tt drown:laughing:


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## mtfallsmikey (Jan 11, 2010)

2 come to mind, both sewer calls:

1. Waaay back when... funeral home mortuary sink drain clog.

2. Grocery store, trough drain from deli, full of plastic shards from lunchmeat slicing, and spoiled milk dumped down the drain, will never forget that smell.. but normal s*it and p*ss or female appurtenances don't bother me.


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## Beck327 (Jan 28, 2016)

chonkie said:


> RR wins! I would rather deal will all the issues combined than to unexpectedly take a swim in a septic tank.
> 
> How sick did you get RR?


My son worked as a plumbers helper for us before going to college. Once him my boss and a couple other guys were working on a huge commercial septic drain. It finally got cleared, but in the process soaked my son and another kid. My boss laughed at them for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Carter took it well. 
2 days later he was in the doctors office and we couldn't figure out why he was so sick. The doc says, you have a bacteria infection. Have you been out of the country or around any unclean standing water?
Carter and I just looked at each other and cracked up. 
My boss said, well son, you can thank me for building your immune system. I haven't been sick in 30 years! Haha


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## Roto-Rooter (Jan 31, 2015)

chonkie said:


> RR wins! I would rather deal will all the issues combined than to unexpectedly take a swim in a septic tank.
> 
> How sick did you get RR?


 Chonkie
Didn't get sick thank goodness. I guess after 50+ years of doing this I have developed a little amunity to it, or maybe I was just lucky!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

Roto-Rooter said:


> I guess mine would be when the top of a septic tank caved and I went in. Went completely under and the concrete came in on top of me. Guess I was lucky I did go all the way under. If I hadn't the concrete probably knocked me out. Had 9 staples in my head and my back looked like a mountain lion had had hold of me.
> My wife said " I cam see the obit now " I didn't think it was funny at the time.



You win the prize here...... but I wonder what did it take to get the stink out of your skin and body after plungeing into that soup??? I have accidently put my hand down in raw crap before and it took a few days before the smell finally left my skin..........

I have heard that lemon juice will finally cut it over time ..... so what did you do or how many weeks did it take before you did not catch a wiff of sewage .......from your own self????????:laughing::laughing:


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## rjbphd (Feb 5, 2010)

Master Mark said:


> You win the prize here...... but I wonder what did it take to get the stink out of your skin and body after plungeing into that soup??? I have accidently put my hand down in raw crap before and it took a few days before the smell finally left my skin..........
> 
> I have heard that lemon juice will finally cut it over time ..... so what did you do or how many weeks did it take before you did not catch a wiff of sewage .......from your own self????????:laughing::laughing:


Took about a week to get rid of the cat lady house smell...


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