# Can you figure this one out?



## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

Let's see if you guys can figure out a call I went on today. I'll give you the info I had when I showed up and what I initially found, but then you'll have to ask questions to get more info. 

Here we go. Guy calls, I answer:

Him - "I need you to come assess my lines" followed by a long pause

Me - "ok"

Him - continues awkward pause

Me - what kind of lines

Him - pvc and another pause

Me - ok, sewer or water?

Him- water

Me - ok, what kind of problem are you having?

Him - low pressure 

At this point I've had enough pulling teeth to find out what his problem is and it sounds like he doesn't know much about what is going on

I schedule the job and went today. Place is a total dump. My van in the driveway triples the property value. Literally. 

He shows me the kitchen and it's not getting much flow from either side. The baby roaches aren't concerned with my presence. Neither is the spider hanging out in his web on the dish drying basket thingy, whatever the hell those things are called. 

We go to the bathroom. The cold side on the lav seems ok and the hot isn't working at all. Maybe turned off underneath, he doesn't know. There is no aerator so it sprays out and splashes, but that doesn't seem to bother the spider that has made I never little home on the left side of the sink. When say the left side of the sink, I mean INSIDE THE SINK! He was just hanging out. I don't know if they never wash their hands or brush their teeth or if they just have an agreement with the spider. Actually, the woman did move her dentures for me when I started messing with the kitchen faucet so maybe that answers that. 

So I go to the kitchen faucet. I pull the aerator but the guts are already out of it. What's next?


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

Green Country said:


> Let's see if you guys can figure out a call I went on today. I'll give you the info I had when I showed up and what I initially found, but then you'll have to ask questions to get more info.
> 
> Here we go. Guy calls, I answer:
> 
> ...


Pack Your tools up leave ASAP,these idiots ain't gonna anyways:laughing::yes:


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

X2 on packing tools and leaving, they couldnt pay the service call more or less for any work..and it will cost more to fumigate truck and clothes from all the critters that will come home with you...:laughing:.ill take a guess , they sold the water heater for scrap hence no hot water.....ok real question..where is the hot water heater ? and what kind of piping goes to it?
Sorta reminds me of a call I went on once, house sounds the same, it was for clogged toilet, when shown the bathroom, there was a kid taking a dump on the clogged toilet that was filled to the rim with toilet paper and crap....excuse me I have to go to truck and get something..thats when they saw my taillights going down the block....put that address on the nogo list....


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## KoleckeINC (Oct 22, 2011)

Did you brave to open the cabinet? garbage can lid in hand, self lighting torch ready-aluminum foil hat shaped into horns! THIS IS SPARTA! Back naves! To the supplies!


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## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

The water heater is out in another little building that also has the washer and dryer. There is galvanized pipe coming through the floor but he says they replace the line outside with cpvc. 

I did look under the sink. I tried to avoid it because when you ran water you could hear it draining into a bucket or something. The faucet is relatively new. Two handle with sprayer. The supply lines are braided and look to be in good shape. Multi turn angle stops on galvanized pipe coming through the floor. 

.


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

does the washer out with the hot water heater have hot water?


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## Optimus Primer (May 20, 2009)

I would have left as soon as I saw the spider.


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## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

Didn't check the washer, but the kitchen had low flow on both sides, only the lav didn't have hot.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

So how come you did not take pictures??? Those would become 
treasured memories in years to come when you re-tell the story you can pull them up on your phone for everyone to see.....:yes:

I have been in that situation before and seriously felt that I was in danger from the "crazy nut lady" that owned the home.....the place was filled with dog crap and pet roaches.... I backed out of the place with her almost in my face the whole way telling her I needed to make her up an estimate in my truck.... ........

Just find a reason to "call the boss" to come back out with him to make a better diagnosis ...... They dont need to know that you are the boss.....:no:

you just have to leave the place because something you have not thought of is they could be seriously mentally ill, you dont know what medications they are on ..........

" Texas chain saw massacre ill" is not something you want to tangle with and you are all there by yourself, they could claim anything went down while you are in their home......

there is really no need to be polite...just get the hell out


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

I usually go to the last chapter of a mystery novel to find out who did it...LOL...did you find out what the issue was?


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## Jessedog11 (Feb 6, 2016)

Check the water main valve, Galvanized main? check pressure at service first, maybe rust/debris in water Meter. Galvanized water lines usually clogged. Sounds like a complete repipe to me. Some Low Pressure areas have Booster systems in the house as well. Any Gate valves? List is long.


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## Plumber (Jan 18, 2009)

Green--you in PNW? Sounds liek my neighborhood. 

Bet it's the supply lines and their 1/8 orfices.


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## 89plumbum (May 14, 2011)

ShtRnsdownhill said:


> X2 on packing tools and leaving, they couldnt pay the service call more or less for any work..and it will cost more to fumigate truck and clothes from all the critters that will come home with you...:laughing:.ill take a guess , they sold the water heater for scrap hence no hot water.....ok real question..where is the hot water heater ? and what kind of piping goes to it?
> Sorta reminds me of a call I went on once, house sounds the same, it was for clogged toilet, when shown the bathroom, there was a kid taking a dump on the clogged toilet that was filled to the rim with toilet paper and crap....excuse me I have to go to truck and get something..thats when they saw my taillights going down the block....put that address on the nogo list....


Reminds of a time I went to a call with my dad once. He was the one service plumber at the company we worked for and I was helping him that day. 

We did enormous houses and had to do a warranty back-up call where the HO said raw sewage (what he called it) had backed up into the lavatory.

When the nanny took us into the master bathroom there was a couple of banana sized fresh turds in the lavatory :yes:.

Being young I didn't really get why my dad got so mad, and honestly I didn't know what was going on?? He told the nanny to immediately get the two twin rich kids into the bathroom! 

When they entered he blurted out... "Which one one of you kids took a sh*t in the sink"! The nannies eyes opened wide.

Neither one answered. One more time he said, "either you tell me who sh*t in the sink or I'm getting out of here"!

Finally one of the kids confessed. My dad then grabbed some toilet paper, picked up the turds and tossed them in the toilet. 

He told the nanny, look, I'm sorry to be so abrupt, but I don't do like to be treated like I'm naive. She actually thanked him and said the parents needed a good talking too also.:laughing:


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## KoleckeINC (Oct 22, 2011)

Green-I'm still playing-did you check the well and tank? Or did you verify that only the Hot was galv underground? Then did you check the tank and main valves for being partially open? Don't tell me they replaced the Cpvc main with 1/2". 

How was the tub? Did you need a reverse flush of the lav hot and clean the diverter of the kitchen faucet?


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## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

I tried the sprayer and got nothing. I removed the diverter and got good flow. Thought I was done when the right side dropped to almost nothing. 
I never got brave enough to look in the tub. 

Wish I could have take pics but he followed me everywhere


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## DesertOkie (Jul 15, 2011)

You need to get a few cards of some plumbers you don't like. Hand the guy his card and tell him he is a low pressure expert.


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## KoleckeINC (Oct 22, 2011)

So I assume by right you mean cold. Which means pressure was good-volume was not. Good job cleaning the diverter. Didja Open the main valve that the last guy closed when they tried to sell him a repipe?


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## bowta360 (Jan 17, 2016)

This is some very entertaining stuff. Green,I love the way you described this, had me laughing. But I agree with those saying this is a re pipe job. I doubt they'll end up paying tho.


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## Master Mark (Aug 14, 2009)

bowta360 said:


> This is some very entertaining stuff. Green,I love the way you described this, had me laughing. But I agree with those saying this is a re pipe job. I doubt they'll end up paying tho.




folks like that are not gonna pay you nothing...:no::no: 

and you got to be pretty desperate to even want to consider working for them in the first place.......

you got to realize that it took them probably 5 years to finally get up 
the gumption to " climb out of their funk" just to call a plumber to come out in the first place, 

now that they have a general idea what is wrong , it will take them another 5 years to save up the money to pay for the work......then they still got to remember what plumber they called out way back when..........

they are living in their own filth and stink, and just breathing the same air in their homes could make you physically ill........

for gods sake dont leave them your business card...


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## bowta360 (Jan 17, 2016)

Been doing remodeling work at an apartment complex here in Austin. I REALLY wish I still had some pictures I took. It was all section 8 housing. The people paid like 20 dollars a month in rent and just let the apartments go to waste. Removed an stove oven that literally had an inch of grease caked onto the stove top. I apologize for switching subjects, but it just blows my mind how some can live.


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## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

KoleckeINC said:


> So I assume by right you mean cold.


I mean right.


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## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

There is quite a bit of assuming going on here. I thought you guys were the best of the best! 

You guys are quick to jump to a repipe!

While that would fix the problem it would cost about 30x what it took for me to fix it. Given the conditions it would probably be more like 50x!

Let's do a little recap. The left side of the lav is not working, possibly turned off underneath. The right side of the kitchen will work for a second then dribble to a stop. Left side has full pressure and volume. 

I know you just want to get the hell out of this house, but a little detective work will be much quicker than a repipe.


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## gear junkie (Jun 20, 2008)

Insults aside, some people live different then others. For me, I can't work for someone who won't respect their own house......if they won't respect their house, how will they respect my work? 

There are only so many hours in a day and not not everyone needs to be your customer. Better to have 4 quarters then 100 pennies. I applaud your efforts but I would've moved on.


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## saysflushable (Jun 15, 2009)

I want to know what was the trouble. Was it one problem or a couple individual troubles?

Hey at least with a pig sty I don't have to worry about getting white carpet dirty&#55357;&#56833;


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## KoleckeINC (Oct 22, 2011)

This is fun-did you check for volume at the angle stops (what I called supplies sorry). Did you check for volume anywhere else? Did you do a visual inspection of the line that was replaced?


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

they used right hand faucets on left hand sinks....................


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## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

I pulled the right side supply line off the angle stop and flushed the faucet from the left side with my thumb on the aerator. The bucket the kitchen sink drained into came in handy!

That didn't help so I put a new supply on the angle stop and tried it just dumping into the bucket. 

With the stop partially on it ran great, but if I opened it up too much it would stop, almost completely. I did notice that the water was warm...(free hint!)


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## sparky (Jan 8, 2014)

You got a big leak under house


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## chonkie (Jul 31, 2014)

Since you said fairly new faucet, some of them have a screen at the inlets to keep trash out of the cartridge. Galvy could have flaked off and clogged one side.

Where is the lav in relation to the kitchen? Other side of the wall?

Possibly the rubber washer from the multiturn stop could have dislodged and is sitting right at the outlet of the stop ... partially open it lets a little water by, fully open it gets pushed more into the outlet thereby blocking the flow more.

You still haven't said for certain if the stop under the lav was off or on.

Is there any kind of recirculation system?


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## Nevada Plumber (Jan 3, 2009)

It sounds like the water heater is a brand that used a nipple with a little ball inside it to act as a check valve on the cold water side. The ball gets free after a while and blows around the hot water lines. With low water flow it won't cause a problem, but full flow will push it and it will get stuck. 

Take apart the hot water line at the water heater and blow it back out of the line. I have had to do that several times over the years.


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## KoleckeINC (Oct 22, 2011)

Ok here's a few possibilities. water heater backwards, the "moan" cartridge in the lav backwards or the washing machine solenoid broken-and broken hot line on full blast where they replaced the old line and left it cut off.


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## Cajunhiker (Dec 14, 2009)

DesertOkie said:


> You need to get a few cards of some plumbers you don't like. Hand the guy his card and tell him he is a low pressure expert.


I would have told them to call Roto Rooter. 

"Mr. Customer, Roto Rooter is a big company. They give a better warranty than I could ever offer and are a lot cheaper than me. Here's their number ..." (snicker snicker)


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## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

chonkie said:


> Since you said fairly new faucet, some of them have a screen at the inlets to keep trash out of the cartridge. Galvy could have flaked off and clogged one side. Where is the lav in relation to the kitchen? Other side of the wall? Possibly the rubber washer from the multiturn stop could have dislodged and is sitting right at the outlet of the stop ... partially open it lets a little water by, fully open it gets pushed more into the outlet thereby blocking the flow more. You still haven't said for certain if the stop under the lav was off or on. Is there any kind of recirculation system?


No one asked if the stop was off! It was, and the faucet was leaking in the hot side. Delta knockoff so it was a simple fix. 

The lav is about 15' from the kitchen.


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## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

Nevada Plumber said:


> It sounds like the water heater is a brand that used a nipple with a little ball inside it to act as a check valve on the cold water side. The ball gets free after a while and blows around the hot water lines. With low water flow it won't cause a problem, but full flow will push it and it will get stuck. Take apart the hot water line at the water heater and blow it back out of the line. I have had to do that several times over the years.


Really close!


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## Green Country (Mar 6, 2009)

KoleckeINC said:


> Ok here's a few possibilities. water heater backwards, the "moan" cartridge in the lav backwards or the washing machine solenoid broken-and broken hot line on full blast where they replaced the old line and left it cut off.


Possibilities, but none of those turned out to be the culprit.


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## The Plumber Man (Sep 27, 2015)

Was the water lines crossed?


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

It was the handful of plastic bbs the last plumber put in the water line from not being payed for the job....


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