Water, water everywhere...

... but luckily, not filling my basement.

Back a number of months ago, I noticed a pinhole leak had started in one of my copper water pipes. It was in the basement. I put a bucket under it until I could deal with it. Dripping only once every ten minutes or so, it was so infrequent that I sort of forgot about it.

Then a couple of months back, I noticed that one of the joints in the new piping over to the radon tank had developed a little leak. I thought that they hadn't caught quite the PEX right with their crimping tool, so I gave them a call.
"Nope," John the Radon Guy said when he came out. "You have acidic water. It's eating the metal." Then he showed me all the other places that were corroding. The light bulb went on. He confirmed that was likely the culprit of the pinhole leak and gave me the name of a water guy, Dave. Then he fixed the active leak in his line.

The little pinhole started dripping with more intensity in the last few weeks, so I went to Home Depot and got one of the epoxy putty/plaster "cast" fix kits. I wasn't feeling adventurous enough to cut up my pipes for a sSarkbite fitting.

I thought I did a nice job. It stopped the leak anyway.

I had put aside calling the Water Guy, because I was dealing with some work stuff the past couple of months. ("stuff" = layoffs.) Yesterday I finally summoned up the energy to do a lot of adult-style activities:
a) dealing with getting ready to renew my RealID Driver's license before my birthday,
b) finding a new GYN, and
c) calling Dave the Water Guy. (Who, come to find out, put the well pump in 17+ years ago. That's his really old white sticker on the control panel. Looking back in my records, he also did the water test for the former owners when I bought the place.)

The diver's license is dealt with until 5/9, when I go to AAA and they take care of the rest.
The new GYN search is a debacle; I need to call the practice back and reschedule.
Water Guy Dave called me right back and came right out that afternoon.

The 32 gallon well tank and control panel.

 

Dave was quite jovial, took one look at the tank and connecting pipes and got quite serious. "Sarah," he said, "there's a tremendous amount of pressure behind this pipe," gesturing at the pipe sticking out of the bottom of the big blue tank. "And there's nothing to tell the pump to stop running if it goes. See this gauge? There shouldn't be water *in* the gauge."

Huh. Look at that.

"If this lets go while you're at work, you're going to come home to an indoor swimming pool."
Huh.

I have a lot of stuff in my basement, including but not limited to my furnace, hot water heater, and a LOT of tools, stained glass and otherwise. But what he was talking about didn't sound inexpensive either. New pressure tank, a neutralizer tank, a bunch of shutoffs, PEX and stainless steel pipe, and the media to neutralize the water.
"We can put you on tomorrow." Dave said. "I really don't like how this looks."

In the days of contractor wait-lists of weeks to months, the fact that he sat at my table and moved things around to do it told me everything I needed to know about the basement. "We can do all the parts for $3800," he said. "Parts, labor and removal."

Taking a deep breath and letting out a sigh, I kissed my tax return goodbye and told him to do it. Leaks the basement are one thing, but leaks in walls are different.

Dave and Darren came back today, and in only about 5 hours, I have a shiny new tank that's 3 gallons bigger (35 gallons!) and a neutralizer tank that conditions the water before it goes anywhere else in the house. The only drawback is that this system has to flush once a week, and that water has to go somewhere. In new construction, they blow a hole in the house and send it outside, or into a sump pump, etc. There were no good options for me, (including an old water pipe we determined went nowhere.) We wound up tapping it into the kitchen waste water pipe that drains to the cess pool. Not a great solution (45 gallons at a clip into the cesspool isn't great) but it was the only decent option. I'm moderately concerned about potential blockages where the pipes meet up, but we'll burn that bridge when we get there. Someday when plumbers show up to deal with the bathroom, I'll have it readdressed.

Shiny new system. Well pump (out in the ground) and the little control panel box up to the left are still the same, but everything else is replaced.

Stainless steel fittings and a gravel filled hole under where the old tank had been.

So that's taken care of. Now the water will stop eating my pipes, and I should never have to replace these parts again due to corrosion. Hopefully my water-bearing structures and appliances will last longer. (The reason my electric kettles die so quickly makes sense now.)
Water Guy Dave will come back in a year to see how the media in the neutralizer is holding up to determine how often it needs to be serviced.

Never a dull moment.
Never a lazy, bored dollar.

Pheasant's Eyes are blooming!