Leo_S
New Member
OK, I have a mystery that I need expert help solving. I'm going to tell you the whole story as it happened since there are probably clues in the story that I would not notice. Before we start, I'll tell you that I'm one of those DIY types, not a plumber. In remodeling my Seattle house, I put in new copper supply lines everywhere up to the 1" galvanized pipe that came through my slab. Starting at that galv pipe in order, I have a shut-off valve, a whole house water filter (Whirlpool Model No: WHKF‐DWHBB) with sediment cartridge, a pressure regulator (my water pressure was too high for my boiler), another shut off valve, and a combi boiler. And now to my story . . .
I was getting ready to go on a date with my wife and had just stepped out of the shower when our home alarm went off, I got a text message, and my phone started ringing at the same time. The IRIS leak detector had triggered the alarm and alerted me of a leak. I ran downstairs and slipped through two inches of water--naked--and had the shut off valve closed in about 30-45 seconds. Frantically, we wet vac'd and mopped up the water in about 45 mins. Fortunately, the cork floors (on concrete slab) look mostly unaffected. What caused the leak was the polycarbonate filter canister cracking literally in half. It didn't crack slowly and leak for a while because the leak sensor was positioned 2ft away. It cracked suddenly and opened up the flood gate, so to speak. Where the canister cracked, the plastic is 3/8" thick--really, really sturdy looking. (Link to photo of cracked filter housing: https://goo.gl/photos/i6ZmHy62EfJDX2eY6) When I was examining the filter, I could hear the sound of water moving. Thinking that was strange considering I had shut off the valve to the house, I went outside and turned off the valve at the meter. No more sound, but there was the tell-tale wet ground right outside the house where the water line comes in. I assumed I would be replacing my water line the next morning. Then, my wife and I started our date by going to Lowe's, bought a new water filter and a new garden hose to back flow our water from the neighbor's house. And then we went to the pub, ordered dinner, and had a well-deserved beer. Or two.
Next morning, I connected the hose to our neighbor's spigot. This is an unoccupied house that is really old, with plumbing that is ancient and has really low pressure. I figured I was going to be replacing my water line back to the meter, but when I dug up the line where the wet ground was, I found that there was a copper line that ended one foot from my foundation and connected to the old galvanized water line. The former homeowner replaced the main water line from the meter, but didn't pay for the four more feet it would take to bring it into the house! But, I looked at it as good news since now I could save a lot of time and expense. I removed the 1" galvanized which had ruptured badly, and plumbed from the copper into the house, and was reconnected by dinner time. (I also installed an IRIS automatic shut off valve in case I'm not home next time there's a leak.)
With the water back on at full pressure, I decided to run the dishwasher after dinner. When I opened it up and turned it on, I got an error code saying that there was water in the overflow tub. (I've had this error in the recent past, so I'm familiar with it. I was having a problem recently with the dishwasher not pulling enough gpm to activate the hot water sensor from the boiler and causing the dishwasher to use cold water. My 7 yr old boiler was working at about the right spec for min flow sensing. I replaced the water valve on the DW, but that didn't help. Then, I took the valve apart and made a tiny little cut in the rubber washer that limits pressure and reinstalled. Then there was too much pressure and the overflow tub would fill up and give me this error. I then took the other rubber grommet from my old valve, made an even more minuscule cute and the DW has worked flawlessly ever since.) The next morning, I pulled the DW out to find that the overflow tub overflowed onto the floor under my cabinets and damaged the floors. Not a tragedy since it's covered, but annoying. I mopped up the water in the overflow tub, turned on the DW, and it ran totally fine. No leaks at all. Whatever happened seems to have been an isolated event.
Finally, after getting the DW going, my wife tells me that the hot water is way too hot now. It defintely felt hotter than before the leaks occured. I go down to the combi boiler (Laars Mascot) and watch it fire up. The temperature range for the HW was reading between 56c and 51c between firing cycles. Seems like a bigger range than I remember. It does seem like the performance of the boiler has been affected, though it's harder to know since I don't have any hard data from before the leak.
So, what the heck happened? I called Seattle Public Utilities and asked them if anything could have caused a pressure spike. They told me that since their system is gravity fed, the pressure remains constant and cannot be changed dramatically. Sounds reasonable (though doesn't pressure rise inversely with pipe diameter or possibly a constriction?)
If you have a possible answer to this mystery, I would love to hear it.
Thanks in advance for hearing me out.
Leo
I was getting ready to go on a date with my wife and had just stepped out of the shower when our home alarm went off, I got a text message, and my phone started ringing at the same time. The IRIS leak detector had triggered the alarm and alerted me of a leak. I ran downstairs and slipped through two inches of water--naked--and had the shut off valve closed in about 30-45 seconds. Frantically, we wet vac'd and mopped up the water in about 45 mins. Fortunately, the cork floors (on concrete slab) look mostly unaffected. What caused the leak was the polycarbonate filter canister cracking literally in half. It didn't crack slowly and leak for a while because the leak sensor was positioned 2ft away. It cracked suddenly and opened up the flood gate, so to speak. Where the canister cracked, the plastic is 3/8" thick--really, really sturdy looking. (Link to photo of cracked filter housing: https://goo.gl/photos/i6ZmHy62EfJDX2eY6) When I was examining the filter, I could hear the sound of water moving. Thinking that was strange considering I had shut off the valve to the house, I went outside and turned off the valve at the meter. No more sound, but there was the tell-tale wet ground right outside the house where the water line comes in. I assumed I would be replacing my water line the next morning. Then, my wife and I started our date by going to Lowe's, bought a new water filter and a new garden hose to back flow our water from the neighbor's house. And then we went to the pub, ordered dinner, and had a well-deserved beer. Or two.
Next morning, I connected the hose to our neighbor's spigot. This is an unoccupied house that is really old, with plumbing that is ancient and has really low pressure. I figured I was going to be replacing my water line back to the meter, but when I dug up the line where the wet ground was, I found that there was a copper line that ended one foot from my foundation and connected to the old galvanized water line. The former homeowner replaced the main water line from the meter, but didn't pay for the four more feet it would take to bring it into the house! But, I looked at it as good news since now I could save a lot of time and expense. I removed the 1" galvanized which had ruptured badly, and plumbed from the copper into the house, and was reconnected by dinner time. (I also installed an IRIS automatic shut off valve in case I'm not home next time there's a leak.)
With the water back on at full pressure, I decided to run the dishwasher after dinner. When I opened it up and turned it on, I got an error code saying that there was water in the overflow tub. (I've had this error in the recent past, so I'm familiar with it. I was having a problem recently with the dishwasher not pulling enough gpm to activate the hot water sensor from the boiler and causing the dishwasher to use cold water. My 7 yr old boiler was working at about the right spec for min flow sensing. I replaced the water valve on the DW, but that didn't help. Then, I took the valve apart and made a tiny little cut in the rubber washer that limits pressure and reinstalled. Then there was too much pressure and the overflow tub would fill up and give me this error. I then took the other rubber grommet from my old valve, made an even more minuscule cute and the DW has worked flawlessly ever since.) The next morning, I pulled the DW out to find that the overflow tub overflowed onto the floor under my cabinets and damaged the floors. Not a tragedy since it's covered, but annoying. I mopped up the water in the overflow tub, turned on the DW, and it ran totally fine. No leaks at all. Whatever happened seems to have been an isolated event.
Finally, after getting the DW going, my wife tells me that the hot water is way too hot now. It defintely felt hotter than before the leaks occured. I go down to the combi boiler (Laars Mascot) and watch it fire up. The temperature range for the HW was reading between 56c and 51c between firing cycles. Seems like a bigger range than I remember. It does seem like the performance of the boiler has been affected, though it's harder to know since I don't have any hard data from before the leak.
So, what the heck happened? I called Seattle Public Utilities and asked them if anything could have caused a pressure spike. They told me that since their system is gravity fed, the pressure remains constant and cannot be changed dramatically. Sounds reasonable (though doesn't pressure rise inversely with pipe diameter or possibly a constriction?)
If you have a possible answer to this mystery, I would love to hear it.
Thanks in advance for hearing me out.
Leo