How Did an Attempt to Fix a Dripping Tap Turn into a Fiery Disaster?

  • Thread starter wolram
  • Start date
In summary, the employee was asked to fix a dripping tap but found out the tap was corroded and needed to be replaced. They went to the boiler house to dry off and then turned off the main valve. Next time they were asked to fix a dripping tap, they had to go to the boiler house again because the pipe had dropped through the ceiling.
  • #1
wolram
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Ok, at work i am asked to fix a dripping tap, so thinks i a five minute job, just
change the washer, so off i go, but find out the tap is to corroded to repair,
so off i go to get a new tap, new tap in hand i take the old one off an the
new one on, only to find the pipe just will not seal, so off comes the pipe, i
find the pipe has a tiny split just by the olive, the pipe goes through the ceiling
so into the roof space i go, before i was using the check valve in the pipe to
turn off the water so i could have just changed the pipe from check valve
to tap, but the pipe joints to the valve were also corroded so i though replace
the lot, so i turn off the gate valve and undo the pipe, water gushes every
where, the valve hadn't sealed, and the pipe had dropped through the hole in
the ceiling, i had no option but to turn off the main valve, luckily only about
twenty feet away, next time i am asked to fix a dripping tap :grumpy:
 
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  • #2
You had an eventful day, at least..:smile:
 
  • #3
arildno said:
You had an eventful day, at least..:smile:

Yes but i had to go to the boiler house to dry off. :grumpy:
 
  • #4
Oh Sir, you're quite slow in doing these kind of jobs, aren't you?(can I use ! at the and of my sentence. Please say yes.)
 
  • #5
Lisa! said:
Oh Sir, you're quite slow in doing these kind of jobs, aren't you?(can I use ! at the and of my sentence. Please say yes.)
lisa!... do you remember this post?
 
  • #6
yomamma said:
lisa!... do you remember this post?
Thanks! How lovely you are!
 
  • #7
edit that post :grumpy:

dot--> .<--dot
do it
 
  • #8
yomamma said:
edit that post :grumpy:

dot--> .<--dot
do it
I hate you!
 
  • #9
Lisa! said:
Oh Sir, you're quite slow in doing these kind of jobs, aren't you?(can I use ! at the and of my sentence. Please say yes.)

Grrrrrrrrrr, i have so many things to fix in a day, every now and then a job
goes tits up, can you use what at the end of a sentence?
:confused:
 
  • #10
Lisa! said:
I hate you!
I am trying to help. <--
_______________^
 
  • #11
yomamma said:
I am trying to help. <--
_______________^

What the eky thump you and lisa on about ?
 
  • #12
Lisa! has a fascination for !'s.
Personally, I don't see the problem with that.
 
  • #13
arildno said:
Lisa! has a fascination for !'s.
Personally, I don't see the problem with that.
Thank you esp. because you didn't forget to put "!" in my username!
 
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  • #14
yomamma said:
I am trying to help. <--
_______________^
No, you're not!
 
  • #15
arildno said:
Lisa! has a fascination for !'s.
Personally, I don't see the problem with that.

?? I can only think little things please little minds :uhh: or it is just another
ploy, she does need lots of attention.
:biggrin:

But every one should be sorry for me and all i have to put up with :grumpy:
 
  • #16
wolram said:
But every one should be sorry for me and all i have to put up with :grumpy:
So you want cuddle&sympathy, then?
 
  • #17
Wolram, all the plumbing here at the zoobie brush shelter is the same way: an apparently small, straighforward job turns out to require extensive replumbing, and there is always a flood thrown in somewhere for good measure.
 
  • #18
Mr wolram said:
?? I can only think little things please little minds :uhh: or it is just another
ploy, she does need lots of attention.
:biggrin:
Sorry Sir! You're probably right but you're not allowed to pay attention to me anyway!
 
  • #19
Ha! I know how that feels. When we got the new house me and my dad thought a similar job would be a 30 mins job. It ended up taking a whole day and from then on I don't do any plumbing jobs unless I really know what I'm doing because they can go way wrong.

Last semester (second semester in college majoring in mechanical engineering) I was just a freshman and got this job in the engineering dept. They had nothing for me to do but shred boxes and boxes of paper from like 30 years ago...The secretary gave me a shredding machine that stops on its own when it gets hot (of course she forgot to tell me). I was shredding paper with the staples since the machine said that was ok, but then suddenly the machine stopped! Of course I think a staple got stuck in it and sit there for 15 mins trying to open it. One electrical engineer walks in and sees me trying to fix it so he tries to help too. He can't figure out why it doesn't want to open so he gets another electrical engineer (they were both in their 40's I think). They spend an hour trying to open the thing and it doesn't want to open so they break it open (engineers...ha!). We then figure out that we were missing a screw hidden under the warning sign on the back. They take EVERYTHING appart and find no staple stopping the thing and then this one guy finds a sensor that stops it when it gets hot or something. We put it back together and of course it never worked again (my first day shredding). Secretary replaces it since it was a new machine and everyone's happy :biggrin:.

This summer I got a job in the library and after a few days, they find out that I'm a mechanical engineering major. They get a problem with the printer and ask me to fix it...I went to check it out and see if there's any paper jam but there wasn't any. I told them that I didn't want to mess anymore with their $400 printer and they better get someone who knows what they're doing (I learned my lesson).
 
  • #20
zoobyshoe said:
Wolram, all the plumbing here at the zoobie brush shelter is the same way: an apparently small, straighforward job turns out to require extensive replumbing, and there is always a flood thrown in somewhere for good measure.

I think i will wear a full body condom next time. :biggrin:
 
  • #21
Wolram, I do feel sorry for you. That's exactly how I ended up re-plumbing everything leading to the shower in my bathroom last winter, except there was no shut-off valve in the wall, so as the project got progressively more complicated and the main shut-off valve to the house was off longer, I had to plan trips to the restroom to coincide with trips to the store for more supplies...no small feat I tell you! Though, I finally wised up and installed shut-off valves just on the water supply lines I was working on when I decided I had worked back far enough in the wall to not need to remove any more pipe to finish the job. The new owner will get to inherit the toilet with the shut-off valve that doesn't shut off and that will require knocking out a chunk of wall to replace. :biggrin: I decided not to touch that one, but when I replaced the toilet valve, that was another project that required turning off the main water supply to the house.

It's always the small jobs that quickly get more complicated. I've now learned that if a job looks like it should take 10 minutes, plan to spend a whole day on it. If it looks like it will take 2 hours, plan to spend a whole weekend on it, and if it looks like it will take a weekend to complete, call a contractor! :rolleyes:
 
  • #22
wolram said:
I think i will wear a full body condom next time. :biggrin:
Wimp! Kids pay a lot of money to go to amusement parks and get doused with water in the summer, and you got it for free, and even as an on-the-job perk. You should be grateful for how kind your employer was. :biggrin: :approve:
 
  • #23
Physics_wiz said:
Ha! I know how that feels. When we got the new house me and my dad thought a similar job would be a 30 mins job. It ended up taking a whole day and from then on I don't do any plumbing jobs unless I really know what I'm doing because they can go way wrong.

Last semester (second semester in college majoring in mechanical engineering) I was just a freshman and got this job in the engineering dept. They had nothing for me to do but shred boxes and boxes of paper from like 30 years ago...The secretary gave me a shredding machine that stops on its own when it gets hot (of course she forgot to tell me). I was shredding paper with the staples since the machine said that was ok, but then suddenly the machine stopped! Of course I think a staple got stuck in it and sit there for 15 mins trying to open it. One electrical engineer walks in and sees me trying to fix it so he tries to help too. He can't figure out why it doesn't want to open so he gets another electrical engineer (they were both in their 40's I think). They spend an hour trying to open the thing and it doesn't want to open so they break it open (engineers...ha!). We then figure out that we were missing a screw hidden under the warning sign on the back. They take EVERYTHING appart and find no staple stopping the thing and then this one guy finds a sensor that stops it when it gets hot or something. We put it back together and of course it never worked again (my first day shredding). Secretary replaces it since it was a new machine and everyone's happy :biggrin:.

This summer I got a job in the library and after a few days, they find out that I'm a mechanical engineering major. They get a problem with the printer and ask me to fix it...I went to check it out and see if there's any paper jam but there wasn't any. I told them that I didn't want to mess anymore with their $400 printer and they better get someone who knows what they're doing (I learned my lesson).

You shouldn't worry, where i work every thing has to be fixed ASAP, some
of our tool kit consists of graded hammers, most times they work well, but
some times, oops, i think we need a new £2000 one of these.
 
  • #24
Moonbear said:
Wimp! Kids pay a lot of money to go to amusement parks and get doused with water in the summer, and you got it for free, and even as an on-the-job perk. You should be grateful for how kind your employer was. :biggrin: :approve:
I think he's employer is very tolerent and patient too, isn't he?
 
  • #25
Moonbear said:
Wimp! Kids pay a lot of money to go to amusement parks and get doused with water in the summer, and you got it for free, and even as an on-the-job perk. You should be grateful for how kind your employer was. :biggrin: :approve:

Well at least i didn't have to keep my legs crossed while drying out in the boiler house :biggrin:
 
  • #26
Lisa! said:
I think he's employer is very tolerent and patient too, isn't he?

My employer owes me a bazillion quid for all the down time i have prevented :biggrin:
 
  • #27
Moonbear said:
I've now learned that if a job looks like it should take 10 minutes, plan to spend a whole day on it. If it looks like it will take 2 hours, plan to spend a whole weekend on it, and if it looks like it will take a weekend to complete, call a contractor! :rolleyes:
This is called "job dilation" and is an oft-ignored effect predicted by Relativity.
 
  • #28
zoobyshoe said:
This is called "job dilation" and is an oft-ignored effect predicted by Relativity.

I thought it was sods law, E=MC, engineer=massive cock up.
 
  • #29
zoobyshoe said:
This is called "job dilation" and is an oft-ignored effect predicted by Relativity.
:rofl: Is there an established equation for predicting the effects of job dilation? It would be really helpful when determining how long a job will actually take compared with how long the contractor says it will take.

wolram said:
I thought it was sods law, E=MC, engineer=massive cock up.
There's no "u" in the equation! :bugeye: :blushing: Oh, maybe that's why I like dating engineers. :tongue2:
 
  • #30
Well, I don't believe in sod's law. I've met a lot of engineers, and the law is untrue.
 
  • #31
Moonbear said:
:rofl: Is there an established equation for predicting the effects of job dilation? It would be really helpful when determining how long a job will actually take compared with how long the contractor says it will take.


There's no "u" in the equation! :bugeye: :blushing: Oh, maybe that's why I like dating engineers. :tongue2:

I will gladly put, "u", in the equation Moonbear, but as you are as bad as me,
we may end up with a Humungous :bugeye: :rofl:
 
  • #32
I guess it is about time to post a link to davinci's notebook's site, where you can listen to a clip of their groundbreaking hit "E.P.":
http://www.davincisnotebook.com/sounds.asp [Broken]
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #34
Moonbear said:
. :rofl: :rofl:
I never knew about that one!
Here's a link to the (not X-rated) music vivideo:
http://music.yahoo.com/ar-253946-videos--King-Missile [Broken]

However, I find more joy when having an E.P. session*, than with the other option..





*LISTENING SESSION, that is.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
  • #35
arildno said:
. :rofl: :rofl:
I never knew about that one!
Here's a link to the (not X-rated) music vivideo:
http://music.yahoo.com/ar-253946-videos--King-Missile [Broken]

However, I find more joy when having an E.P. session*, than with the other option..





*LISTENING SESSION, that is.

I don't know what you and Moonbear are on about, but i was going to tell
the story about extracting the main shaft from this machine, now that was
a job, it was four inch diameter s/steel, we got it out so far, but then it
picked up, no amount of lubrication or me hammering away at it could make
it move, i had been knocking 21 bells out on it for an hour, when the factory manager rolled up, i told him that it may take drastic measures to get it out,
and he told me, "well that's ok as long as your finished in 10 minutes", i told
him that he may consider going forth and multiplying, but i don't think he
knew enough about engineering to under stand.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

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