When Homes attack!

[PlannerGirl]

Gather round for a story that will leave you laughing
Ok so last night i was home, I had a buttload of "stuff" to do. So I get a good bit done and had just finished chewing the fat with my room mate, went and let the dogs out, was washing my face when the fun started....



I had just finished washing my face and was turning off the hot water when i noticed there was some water in my hand, i think "thats odd" and finish turning the water off. Well the water did not turn off-it EXPLODED! Im not sure exactly what happend but i got hit in the jaw with a flying handle fixture thingie *high tec term* then with more HOT water moving faster and harder than i thought possible. Said water, in the span of a second or two, burned my face (im ok today) went up my nose, dislodged a contact and filled my ear. Water was litteraly bouncing off the celing and with in seconds running down the hallway toward the living room.

ACK it BURNS and its EVERYWHERE in seconds-im soaked to the skin and fighting to cover the little hole with my hand to stop the water from hitting the celing and light fixtures (thank god it was not cold water or they would have exploded and id have been covered in glass and water). I try to reach under the sink and turn the valve to turn the water off to the sink-its not about to budge. At this point im freaking out trying to stop the water, im sloshing around in my robe (with nothing under) slipping on the floor trying to turn the handle and nothing is happening. I start screaming for help-thank god my roomie was home and heard me (and old faithful in the sink) he comes running (the dogs are now in full freak out mode, trooper is screaming like a bitch in heat and oreo is barking and running up and down the hall in the water) DOGS!

Roomie got the water valve cut off and stood there covered in water looking at me covered in water-we were hot steamy wet rats. after a few min of making sure i was ok and preventing more water running down the hall we bust out laughing our asses off. I swear the whole thing was like some slap stick old black and white Laurel and Hardy movie.

We got the water cleaned up, took every towel we had, there was water IN everything even my books and TP were soaked. Heck this AM i opened the med chest and what do you know even my makeup brushes INSIDE it were soaked. Roomie tried to fix the sink but some part is gone (i think exploded) so the hotwater is still turned off to my sink. left a message for the landlord so he should be able to fix i hope today. What a freaking mess!

Went to bed with ice on my face on one side to deal with the scalding from the hot water but its ok today just a bit sore. I got a lump on the jaw where the fixture thingie hit me but no bruise that i can see.

I will now think of bathroom fixtures as deadly weapons waiting to happen.

 

[SGB]

Damn! Scary and hillarious at the same time.

Glad you weren't seriously hurt.

 

[tsc]

so... I guess you didn't get your crap load of stuff done,, huh??

 

[ecofem]

While funny (after the fact), it's kind of scary as well. I'm glad you didn't get seriously scalded!

 

[michaelskis]

Wow… I have mixed thoughts. I am happy that you are OK and that nothing too bad happened. Yet it is funny the way that things worked out.

 

[PlannerGirl]

yes im fine, a bit sore from the burn but ok
i want to hear other crazy stories of goings on with peoples homes

come on there has to be other funny or strange stories

 

[Jeff]

This is your chance to get rich.....LAWSUIT!!

 

[Chet]

Too bad I didnt get my secret web cam installed in time! Glad to hear you're okay though.

 

[kms]

I'm glad you can laugh at it, and glad you're OK.

 

[donk]

PG, sounds funny after the fact and a PITA during. Glad you were not hurt, other than your pride. At least you did not slip and get knocked out to have your roommate find you have clothed and passed out on the floor.

Living in an old house I have a few

1) Renovating Scare - Live Wires

When I was gutting my house I ran into a few live wires that ran no where and where just laying in the ceiling. The scariest part was that they were the old tarpaper covered aluminum wires (read fire starters). It was no fun to hit one with the chain saw. I got a few good shocks.

2) When pipes burst - try wading around knee deep in February in the basement trying to turn the water off and having the main valve break off in your hand. Not pleasant.

 

[Tranplanner]

Ouch - glad to hear you're okay. Gotta be careful with the plumbing ya know. From your description I'm having a hard time figuring out exactly what happened to cause the "explosion".

I had a toilet attack me once...the filler hose for the tank became disconnected, so it wouldn't shut off. I only realized this after lifting the lid of the tank and having water spray all over the place. After standing there for a bit trying to direct the hose into the bathroom sink, I finally realized that I was going to have to suffer a little bit of flooding so I could turn off the valve.

 

[donk]

Tranplanner posted

I had a toilet attack me once...the filler hose for the tank became disconnected

I've had that happen too, fixed it with a zip tie, but it still happens everyonce in a while.

 

[nerudite]

Oh man... I hate it when stuff like that happens. I'm glad you had a good laugh over it though and that you are okay. Roomie moved in right in time for all the fun!

 

[carlomarx]

Sue your landlord, but please don't sue the builder

PG- I don't know what kind of lousy tenement building you're living in, but I think I know what happened.

Water's not supposed to have the kind of pressure you're talking about. On the hot water pipe going from the water heater to everything (Hot water main), there is (or should be by law) a valve called a "Temperature/Pressure Valve" which should open if the heater fails to self-regulate. It's like an exhaust pipe. Without the Temp-Pressure Valve, the heater could overheat the water, increasing pressure in the lines throughout the apartment and leading to the event you described.

Thing is, both the self-regulating unit inside the heater AND the valve would have to fail. Hopefully this never happens, but when things get old, who knows? That's why I wonder about the condition of your building.

Good to hear you're safe and alive.

Oh, everyone else... I think those valves need to be checked once a year. The valves are easy to find and the instructions to test them are usually right on the unit.

Oh, it could be something else. Something soil-related. I'd check to see if your building was constructed on a native American burial ground. This is probably a less likely answer, but it's possible.

Best of luck with your reconstruction.

 

[PlannerGirl]

Toilets do it too?

great that will happen next ive already had a flooded basement

 

[SlaveToTheGrind]

...im sloshing around in my robe (with nothing under)... screaming like a bitch in heat...and we were hot steamy wet after a few min...

WOW....

 

[PlannerGirl]

hey knock it off this is about the house not the people that live in it :-(

 

[biscuit]

Re: Re: When Homes attack!

WOW....

I was waiting on someone to pick up on that urmmm...provocative description of events.

Plannergirl: Glad to know you made it through the home attack without any serious injury. Since it was your hot-water, I'd have to second carlomarx's assessment of what happened. It certainly sounds like a faulty pressure valve. Although I've never seen one fail before.

 

[SlaveToTheGrind]

I actually had a much longer version but realized it was only a joke and did not want to take it too far.

 

[michaelskis]

Girl vs Toilet

I have a friend that got in a fight with her bathroom when she was drunk, and the bathroom lost… big time.

A few of us dropped her off at her apartment after a night of drinking, and we where worried about her so another friend, we will call her Liz, came in with me to make sure that she was going to make it to bed ok. Well she walked into the bathroom, a few moments later we here this squeak, then a crash, then a splash, and then water started to run from under the door into the hall way. Liz and I looked at each other and started knocking on the door, and out walks our friend, She looks as us and in the calmest voice I have ever heard, she says “I think the toilet is broken” Well I look over at it, and the reservoir on the top, was broken off” So I run in, and shut off the water. And helped Liz dry up the mess as our friend fell asleep.

Later we found out that the toilet was leaking, and our friend slipped when she stood up, fell back, hit the reservoir on the toilet, and that is what broke it off. She was lucky to only have a scratch on her back.. But it was crazy at the time.

She did not get burned, and it was her fault that she was drunk, but I seem to think that it would have happened to anyone, she just had to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

[PlannerGirl]

there seems to be a broken o ring or such in the handle thing thats broken

i recall the water did drip and wouldnot go all the way off-but i never and one blow

 

[Tom R]

toilets

I was told this by a friend, so you rightly might question its veracity, but here goes.

This friend was working for a drain opening service one summer after being laid off from his regular job. He was called to a service station where the men's toilet was clogged. They took off the toilet and ran a power snake down the drain. Then they heard a scream. Apparantly the men's and ladies' toilet drains came together at a tee and the snake, instead of going down the drain went up to the ladies' drain and broke through the toilet on which an unfortunate woman was sitting at the time. I guess she ran out screaming with her panties around her ankles. My friend and his co workers couldn't work the rest of the day. Fortunately the woman wasn't hurt.

 

[SkeLeton]

good thing you're ok... I laughed a bit, but then I felt bad, because it happened to you...

better be carefull with the house, you never now what can happen...

 

[Queen B]

We had a pump once that brought water into the house, there was a rubber hose connection that burst one day. The pump sat in the room where the main breaker box was. The water was pumping full force shooting on the breaker box and the pump was plugged into the recepticle behind the pump. There was no way to kill the electric safely.
So standing in water I said a quick prayer, stood with my weight shifted so if electrocuted my body would fall away an hopefully break the current. I grabbed the electric cord and pulled and then checked to see if I was still alive.

PlannerGirl, glad you are ok, sounds like a real mess!

 

[Zoning Goddess]

This did not happen in the house, but it is kind of related since it was an explosion. After a boyfriend took me home to meet the folks, I asked him to stop and get me something for a sore throat. He came out with a bottle of Chloraseptic. Sitting in my car, I unwrapped the bottle, hit the pump one time, and the bottle exploded all over me and my side of the car. And that stuff stinks. We had to go right back to his parents' house so I could clean up and I left wearing a t-shirt and a towel. Most embarrassing.

 

[Rem]

PG - happy to hear you are OK.

A colleague of mine was heading away with his family for a weekend visit to his outlaws. His wife turned the dishwasher on just before leaving, expecting to return home to clean dishes. When they returned the dishwasher had malfuntioned, buring out the dishwasher and spewing water. Water had been pouring out into the kitchen, through the floor and into a downstairs rumpus for the whole weekend. They had to renovate the kitchen which suspiciously had been a desire of the wife for some time.

We have a flat, Lakeside suburb in our City called Swansea. Most of the area is barely above mean sea level and can be flooded when king tides occur with high rainfall. The flat, low lying nature of the area presents problems for sewer servicing with surcharges a common problem (though a vacuum system is being progressively installed to overcome the problem). Cottages have yard sinks installed which allow sewage to surcharge into the yard if a blockage occurs. Unfortunately many home owners don't understand the prupose of these sinks and often modify or cover them when landscaping their properties. The outcome of that is, when they suffer a surcharge, the toilet will flood and they become the neighbourhood sewer outlet. If it is particularly bad, sewer can surcharge into laundries and kitchens. I don't personally know anyone this has happened to but have read plenty of letters from residents that want Council to fix the problem (we are not the sewer authority for our City by the way). The only upside is that those residents that receive a surcharge into their yards feel pretty fortunate.