I Asked For It

I jinxed myself yesterday when I said I had been leading a pretty uneventful life.  Yesterday as I was doing laundry, I noticed that our old plastic pipe that ran to the refrigerator was draining water into the basement sink.  We had cut the line a few months ago and had closed off the valve to stop the water from running.  The valve, however, was now leaking.  After trying to tighten the valve (which didn't do a thing), I decided I needed to do something, and I wanted to try to solve this myself.  Usually I would call Mr. Fix-It, and I know he would have fixed this for me, but I've been urging Mitch to learn to do things for ourselves, and thought I better take my own advice.

This morning I went to work armed with my Home Improvement book from the Home Depot and placed a call to Dad to ask for some advice.  He gave me a few suggestions, I read up on replacing valves, and then went to the local Ace store to get some more advice and supplies.  Joe at Ace was very friendly, and did a great job of explaining all of the options, and gave me the pieces I would need to take care of this.  

So, I came home after work, and in the 45 minutes I had between teaching school and teaching lessons, I took the old flexible pipe out of the valve and screwed on a cap.  It stopped the constant running of water, but still had a decent drip going into the sink.  Problem temporarily solved, and I felt better knowing that my water bill was going to be smaller now because of that cap.  Off to lessons I went.

I came home at eight o'clock and decided to just take the valve out completely and put a plate over the hole in the piping, which is what Joe said I should do if the valve continued to leak.  I shut off the water, made sure I had the tools ready and the plates, nuts and bolts set out, and started to unscrew the valve.  

I was delusional to think that shutting off the water would mean no leaking/spraying/shooting water, as of course there was still water in the pipe.  As the valve came off, water went EVERYWHERE.  I panicked, thinking that I have gotten myself way over my head, that the basement was going to flood, and wondering who I could call to come help me (Mr. Fix-It lives over 25 minutes away - I could float away by then!).  I decided that I just needed to work fast to put the new plate over the hole, took a deep breath, and got to work.  

Here is the fruit of my labor:

You can see that there is NO WATER coming out of this pipe anymore!  I'm not sure if it's the greatest long-term solution, but it has now stopped the leaking.  I had some pretty major clean-up in the basement to do, since the water was everywhere, but for the most part, I think problem is solved.

OK experts....I'm still nervous that this bracket might just break off and water will start spraying everywhere again.  I'm hoping the four bolts will be stronger than the water pressure.  What else should I do?/is this a permanent fix?/will this hold through the night?/should I have a good cry over this?