Posted by Mike on July 31, 19100 at 06:34:39:
Shortly after movng into my very old house, I found a leak in the basement. It appeared to bve coming from an abandoned pipe that was split from freezing near the basement wall. I suspected that the water was coming in from the outside thru this pipe. I started to take the pipe apart to plug with expansion concrete, and found the water was coming from the inside of the home rather than the outside. As I went further up the pipe, taking things apart as I went, I found the source as water came streaming out of the pipe. -- The previous owner had blocked off the flow with a tapered candle. He had just taken a union apart and pushed a tapered candle in to prevent flow. It had evidently lasted a little while, long enough for me to buy the house!!
Can you imagine leaving wuch a "repair" in for minutes? When the thing went, it would flood the basement!