RxMike

RxMike’s Week in Plumbing Purgatory

// March 6th, 2009 // Funny

It all started off as innocent as could be, with a broken garbage disposal. I headed off to Lowe’s to purchase a new disposal and one of their friendly associates explained that they would come out and install it for only $84 (which I found rather insulting). How hard, after all, could it be to replace a garbage disposal – even for a novice “do-it-yourself-er”? I would soon find out.

The next morning (Saturday) I gathered all of the necessary tools and embarked upon removing my old garbage disposal and installing a new one. Six hours later, I was finished (and sore). I tested out the new disposal and then ran a load of dishes…everything was running just fine. At least for a few days.

On Tuesday evening, while making dinner, I started to hear a strange psssssssssssstttttttttt sound in the kitchen, which I tried ignoring for a while. After about 20 minutes, I looked down and my tile floor near my kitchen sink was covered in water. I opened the cabinets to find a leak spewing from some connector attached to some hose that was inserted into some pipe. I quickly turned off the water and went to get a batch of towels to soak up that which I had tried to ignore.
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After dinner, I got my tools and flashlight out and attempted to fix the leak. I was successful. The leak was fixed, but in it’s place were two new leaks coming from other tubes connected to other pipes, so I turned off the water valve and decided to leave it till the next day.

On Wednesday I made a trip to Lowe’s seeking advice and of course left with a bag full of parts that I had no idea of what they were or what they did…but I had parts, regardless. Wednesday evening I went back under the sink and went to work on the two new leaks. After a few hours I had successfully fixed the two leaks….only to discover three new leaks. Figuring that this was heading in the wrong direction, I turned in for the evening.

Thursday came with two additional trips to the home improvement stores and another attempt to resolve my plumbing crisis. I was fully aware that at this point I should have just called a plumber (even the associate at Lowes suggested this by providing me with a business card of a local plumber) but my ego was on the line…definately a guy thing. Thursday evening I spent several more hours under the sink, tinkering away. I turned the water valve back on…no leaks. While laying under the sink, I reached my arm up and turned on the faucet. Water was running and no leaks. After several minutes I stood up and realized that my maid had inserted a stopper into the sink, which was now full of water, and instinctively I inserted my hand into the sink full of water and removed the stopper. Flood gates opened – this time the entire drain was leaking. Within seconds I had a sink full of water all over my kitchen floor.

On Friday, I made two visits to Home Depot and one to Lowes, buying more and more parts and seeking any advice I could get. Appearently, all of the leaks were associated with my reverse osmosis water filtration system that was installed underneath my kithcen sink. By the time I figured out how to fix everything, I had broken numerous critical pieces that are not available at Lowes or Home Depot.

Saturday morning I resolved to purchase a brand new water filtration system ($150) and simply start over. Six hours later, I had successfully installed the new reverse osmosis water filtration system and had resolved all of my plumbing problems.

During the period of one week, I learned all about P-Traps, compression nuts, valves, drain pipes, tube fittings, pvc pipes, etc. I also had spent over $500 on the new disposal, new water filtration system, parts, tools and three trips to the chiropractor. The lesson I learned was pricess however – “A man’s ego can become quite expensive.” A lesson that I am sure most women already knew.