Not all Plumbing Problems Have a Simple Solution

So, Like I was saying...

I came home Sunday night to find water on the floor in my laundry room. My original thought was that it was leaking from the hot water heater. After further investigation I deduced that the water was coming from the AC. So, I turned it off right when this super nice guy, Stephen, from C&P Plumbing called to let me know he was on his way. When he got there he immediately concluded that the condensation drain was clogged. So he attached a hose from the hot water heater to the drainage pipe and attempted to blow out the clog. This resulted in a powerful gush of water shooting out all over my laundry room when he removed the hose. So, I ran out to get more news paper. Needless to say he was right about the clog. So, he suggested that I call in another plumber w/ more knowledge of the AC system in this unit to find out where the drain leads.

So, on Monday morning I called the guys at John C. Flood and they sent in the super terrific Jason. He was probably the most talkative and energetic plumber I ever met. He came id and did a bunch of stuff. He also speculated that the drain may have been backed up, but he was able to blow air through it w/o any problems. So, he felt the plumber from C&P was able the unclog it last night. But since he was there he decided to check everything else to make sure my system was in perfect working order. He even went up on the roof twice. He gave it a clean bill of health and told me to run it for the rest of the day and call if I saw anymore water. I came home on Monday it was still leaking....

So, here it is Tuesday morning the AC leaked slowly throughout the night. I called John C Flood as soon as I got to work and told then to send Jason back out to finish what he started. I'm really glad I did because when I got home on Tuesday night the laundry room was flooded again. So I turned off the AC and got to moping.

Wednesday, Jason's triumphant return. He got straight down to business and finally concluded that the drain was indeed backed up. But he too didn't know where it lead. So, I called my condo association and they patched me thought to the communications center. I tried to explain my situation but then I handed the phone to Jason who told them exactly what the problem was. They contacted their plumbers who immediately called me back. Luckily Jason was still there and he wasn't going to let them off the hook. After he explained what he's already checked for then said they were coming right away. Thanks to Jason they came out within the hour.

Still Wednesday and the guys from Kidco plumbing were not happy campers. Don't get me wrong they're disappointment was not directed to wards me, but more toward the problem at hand. They seemed puzzled from the word go. They also finally decided that the drain was backed up but where. That waste the big question. Then they finally turned to me and said that they had to cut into the wall. No! No! Not my wall again! But luckily this time I had the wallpaper to replace it once they were done. So I said go ahead. I couldn't look. They brought in some heavy equipment that made a lot of noise. So, I went outside and tried not to listen to what was going on. About an hour later they were packing up and still didn't look like happy campers.

Long story short the pipe was broken somewhere 40ft away from my AC Unit. They had to come back the following day w/ even more high tech equipment to figure out where.

So, this is where my story ends. I'll let the pictures tell the rest of my tale.



This is the hole they dug right outside my living room window.



Caution: Faulty Plumbing in the Area

This is the hole they dug in the dining room wall.







This is where the little green hose leads. Apparently there were other units above mine that were draining into my laundry room.






Here is the 5 gallon bucket that they left in my laundry room to catch any further leakage from the AC unit.






That's the end of my story for now. The Good news is that the Condo Association is going to cover the bill on this one. So, I can rest easy until the next plumbing catastrophe.

Later Dudes