Re: Emergency Water Turn-Off?

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"wkearney99" <wkearney99@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

> > I've had a massage showerhead in a clip holder
> > blow off the wall in one case and go flying around the room soaking the
> > place before I caught it.
>
> Heh, I've seen exactly the same thing happen.  Like sumpthin' out of a
> comedy skit.

It managed to crack the plastic nut that holds the head to the flexible
hose.  So even when I got it back in place, there was a stream of water
hitting me right in the face.  I was not a happy camper THAT day.

> > I guess that's the best solution.  But I worry about false alarms
inducing
> > air into the system.  It's never happened to me, but I'll bet you could
> get
> > an icemaker into trouble with too much cycling.
>
> Not as much trouble as serious water damage.  I can replace an ice maker a
> heckua lot easier than dealing with destroyed drywall, wiring, stud walls,
> flooring, carpets....

Yeah, that's true.  A woman I worked with lived in a four story townhome.
She went away for two weeks and when she came back she found that a toilet
tank on the top floor had cracked.  Total damage was over $80K and she never
felt that they did a good job drying out and cleaning up the place.

> > De/Repressurizing is a fairly serious event for a plumbing system.
>
> Yes, as is water hammer.  Not something to ignore.  Pipes and various
> plumbing fixtures are a LOT more sensitive to these problems that people
> thing.  If during the course of normal use anyone's got banging pipes they
> should get them looked at and SOON.

I would recommend looking around to make sure that no 500 pound bureaus are
placed where plumbers might need access.  We had redesigned the kitchen
without paying enough attention to that issue.  When I had a serious problem
with a corroded shower valve assembly, it was hell's bell's getting to it.

I read an interesting description of how water heaters can bang from the
accumulation of sediment.  They also talked about how some HW heaters expel
air from the HW taps.  Lots of interesting information at:

http://www.waterheaterrescue.com/

> > We probably should crosspost this thread to alt.home.repair, as that's
> where
> > I found a wealth of useful plumbing data.  There ARE legitimate uses of
> > crossposting.  It's just too bad we haven't been seeing them
ately.  )-:
>
> Got that right, sad to say.

Well, it just means we all have to be super-careful not to fall into a
deliberate crosspost trap meant to rekindle the flamewars.  The problem is
that a lot of newsreaders don't make it easy to detect a crosspost in
progress.

--
Bobby G.