I'll start
The day was going good. Meeting at the jobsite this morning with the new superintendant, Director of Construction for the GC, my Project Manager, etc, etc. They want us (meaning me) to come up with a way to provide them with temporary roof drains, which I do. I steer a lead toward my buddy who scans post tension cable slabs, he likes me, and so does the GC for connecting them.
Then, at 3 PM, my Project Manager calls me. One of our people was supposed to go do a service call at an apartment project that we completed early this year, but didn't go do it, and he was catching unholy heck about it. So he met me at an exit near the office with our company's idea of a sewer machine, and some fittings, as he didn't know just what I was getting into.
I knew about 2 problems, and after about an hour's drive, I got there about 5 PM. The first call was for a toilet that just wouldn't flush. Supposedly the maintanence guy had run a snake down the line, replaced the bowl, nothing was working. Nothing else in the bathroom was backing up, so I knew that the problem was really close to the toilet. I pulled the toilet, and brought in my K60 with a single 15' length of cable with a funnel retriever head. As soon as it turned the short sweep 90 at the base of the toilet riser, I felt it hit something. Spun the cable, and felt it grab something. I pulled back a water bottle.
As I am carrying stuff back to my truck and getting prepared to reset the toilet, I meet the maintanence man. He is getting a call about a water heater, and takes of to look at that. I chuck everything into the back of my truck as soon as I am done, and go to look at the other call, a leaking tub. Hey, I had a cookout planned tonight, I want to get home.
The assistant maintanence guy had tried to fix the tub, and had crossthreaded the drain. The waste shoe is plastic, and I am praying that I can catch the threads straight so that it will be a 15 minute job. But as soon as I unthread the drain and wiggle the shoe, it falls off. When we cut a hole behind the tub, we find that the sanitary tee was set too low and was not pointing directly at the drain, so the glue joint on the branch of the tee had popped loose when the "installer" had forced it over. After an hour of brainstorming and effing with it, I get a temporary fix in place that will work till the guy who is responsible for this job can get back out to fix it properly. In the meantime, the maintanence man's phone has died.
As I am carrying my tools back out to the truck, a guy pulls up and asks me if I am the plumber. Apparently, he is the tenant in the apartment with the water heater problem. He tells me that his unit is filling up with steam. The maintanence man walks out with the rest of my tools, I tell him we need to get over there NOW!!.
As soon as I hear the hissing noise when I walk in, I start looking for the breaker panel, to shut the water heater off. The college kids living here have a Jack Daniels poster hanging over it!
Longish story short, lightning struck this building a few weeks ago, and fried the water heater element, and stuck the thermostat open. The tenants moved in 2 days ago, and didn't have any hot water. The assistant maintanence changed the element, and left. The head maintanence guy misdiagnosed the tripped T&P valve as a leaking water heater, and came over to help me get the tub leak fixed. In the meantime, this water heater is continuously firing, and the water was literally boiling inside of this water heater. $50 dollars in parts at Home Depot, and I completely rebuild the water heater.
And at 8:30 PM, I leave for home.
The day was going good. Meeting at the jobsite this morning with the new superintendant, Director of Construction for the GC, my Project Manager, etc, etc. They want us (meaning me) to come up with a way to provide them with temporary roof drains, which I do. I steer a lead toward my buddy who scans post tension cable slabs, he likes me, and so does the GC for connecting them.
Then, at 3 PM, my Project Manager calls me. One of our people was supposed to go do a service call at an apartment project that we completed early this year, but didn't go do it, and he was catching unholy heck about it. So he met me at an exit near the office with our company's idea of a sewer machine, and some fittings, as he didn't know just what I was getting into.
I knew about 2 problems, and after about an hour's drive, I got there about 5 PM. The first call was for a toilet that just wouldn't flush. Supposedly the maintanence guy had run a snake down the line, replaced the bowl, nothing was working. Nothing else in the bathroom was backing up, so I knew that the problem was really close to the toilet. I pulled the toilet, and brought in my K60 with a single 15' length of cable with a funnel retriever head. As soon as it turned the short sweep 90 at the base of the toilet riser, I felt it hit something. Spun the cable, and felt it grab something. I pulled back a water bottle.
As I am carrying stuff back to my truck and getting prepared to reset the toilet, I meet the maintanence man. He is getting a call about a water heater, and takes of to look at that. I chuck everything into the back of my truck as soon as I am done, and go to look at the other call, a leaking tub. Hey, I had a cookout planned tonight, I want to get home.
The assistant maintanence guy had tried to fix the tub, and had crossthreaded the drain. The waste shoe is plastic, and I am praying that I can catch the threads straight so that it will be a 15 minute job. But as soon as I unthread the drain and wiggle the shoe, it falls off. When we cut a hole behind the tub, we find that the sanitary tee was set too low and was not pointing directly at the drain, so the glue joint on the branch of the tee had popped loose when the "installer" had forced it over. After an hour of brainstorming and effing with it, I get a temporary fix in place that will work till the guy who is responsible for this job can get back out to fix it properly. In the meantime, the maintanence man's phone has died.
As I am carrying my tools back out to the truck, a guy pulls up and asks me if I am the plumber. Apparently, he is the tenant in the apartment with the water heater problem. He tells me that his unit is filling up with steam. The maintanence man walks out with the rest of my tools, I tell him we need to get over there NOW!!.
As soon as I hear the hissing noise when I walk in, I start looking for the breaker panel, to shut the water heater off. The college kids living here have a Jack Daniels poster hanging over it!
Longish story short, lightning struck this building a few weeks ago, and fried the water heater element, and stuck the thermostat open. The tenants moved in 2 days ago, and didn't have any hot water. The assistant maintanence changed the element, and left. The head maintanence guy misdiagnosed the tripped T&P valve as a leaking water heater, and came over to help me get the tub leak fixed. In the meantime, this water heater is continuously firing, and the water was literally boiling inside of this water heater. $50 dollars in parts at Home Depot, and I completely rebuild the water heater.
And at 8:30 PM, I leave for home.
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