Help! There is a hole in my water pipe!

I am having my house painted and the wood panels change. The painter was installing the wood panels when he pooked a hole in my water pipe. They said they will replace and fix it. I had a doubt with the guys because they are painter not plumbers. So when they opened the pipe there was a rod inside of it , it looked like a clothes hanger straighted and twisted. The guys took it out and saying it does not have any use. I am very worried that it was there for a reason. Now its 3 days since they patch the hole, it seems the pressure on our shower upstairs is low. Then there are black pieces of i dont know what is coming out of our bathroom upstairs. Can an expert help me out on this mystery....

While you're waiting for an expert to reply, let me suggest that the wire was indeed a clothes hanger some previous owner, perhaps, stuck in there to loosen up a clog. He lost it in the pipe, decided it wasn't worth retrieving, and sold the house. Now that it's out of there, any debris and disgusting gunk it might have been holding back is now free to travel to wherever the pipe leads -- apparently your bathroom. I'd take off the showerhead and run the water full bore through there for a few minutes to allow the pipe to clear. You may also have to remove the aerator on the lavatory faucet and possibly disassemble the toilet valve to clean them out as well. If you ultimately call a plumber, save the "coat hanger" and some of the gunk for him or her to look at -- they might provide clues to determine further action.

I'd also be curious as to how the painter/plumbers "patched the hole".

The painters called a "plumber friend" cut the pipe and weld a new one to it. It took about the whole day to do it and we left it open for 24 hrs to see if it has any leaks. It seems ok so they continue to place the new panel and I am hoping they did the right thing.

Mikey thanks for the advice and for kind'a solving the unsolve mystery. I figured out that probably the ex-owner did loose a clothes hanger and sold the house. I just wanted to know if water pipes really have nothing in it except water and of course some gunk in it that accumulated in years. There is no such thing as special rod to attract sediments or make sure it does not get clogged.

That's really wierd. Why would you lose a coat hanger in a supply line? Of course wierder stuff has been happened. I could see it being lost in DWV line, but that wouldn't explain the black stuff ....

Jason

3 months ago I was replacing a main shutoff in a home in the middle of a city, galvanized line. When I removed the old valve there was a 10" peice of #12 well wire laying in the supply line.

You just never know what you will find.