So what is in your water anyway?

12-Dec-09
The rains have come to the Bay Area and none too soon. We need water in California badly but I must admit that I greet the rains in with mixed emotions. I am rather happy to see the water form in the sky but it will slow work considerably. The roofer is currently had delays of his own and the rains will most likely compound that. I inspected the tarp job that was done last week and it seems to be holding. It slows the leaking down a bit, not stopping it completely, but it should hold until the roofer arrives. At this rate I am guessing early January.

Today’s task was to remove the old hot water heater and the cabinet in the basement. This is in preparation to remove the pipes and reroute the pipes properly. The water heater was in very bad shape and not very safe.




I took a couple of fuzzy shots of the offending items.









A whole lot of pipe going on there. This was only the beginning of the snaked pipe work throughout the basement. (And yes, that is a 'mix' of metals connecting both to and from the water heater.)





After removing the water heater I made the mistake looking down the pipe that connected to the heater from the main line, and what an eyeful I got. I am not an expert but but this can not be good.



What the $#%!$#% it that!






My wife and I guess this that because the house had been left abandoned for almost 2 years the sediment in the pipes has probably collected here. I am removing that pipe and I will do further inspection. I'm hoping that the salvaged pipe that we were able to keep will be suitable for reuse. I will have to see , and likely flush the lines at minimum to make sure that they are suitable for reuse. I definitely do not want to drink that.

Approximate Labor time 3.5hr
MVP Tool of the day: 18" Pipe Wrench. (Tool on the bottom )