Help, I Can’t Turn the Water Off!
Posted by jefferson on Jul 26, 2012 in Eliminating Debt | 35 comments
Note: The situation below occurred several weeks ago. Since that time, our local government has initiated a voluntary water conservation to prevent shortages. As such, we have stopped watering our yard, and have instead started doing nightly rain dances.
It was a fairly typical Friday evening in the SDR household. The kids were all asleep, and Michelle and I were cleaning up. When you have three kids at home, there are always things to keep you busy. Michelle and I folded laundry, washed out baby bottles, and took turns commenting on some of our favorite blogs. The whole time we were doing this, the sprinkler was running outside, providing our parched grass with some much-needed life support.
It has been a truly brutal summer here in the Midwest, with more than a dozen days over one hundred degrees already. In addition, we have had virtually no rain at all. As such, most people’s yards have turned into a barren brown wasteland where only weeds can possibly thrive. On the night in question, we were moving the sprinkler around every 30 minutes, to make sure that every part of our small suburban yard got a little bit of H2O love.
Just before heading off to bed at midnight, I went outside to turn the sprinkler off. The hose was connected to the house via an old metal faucet, similar to the one in the picture at the top of this post. I stumbled out to the faucet and attempted to give the handle wheel a few turns. Much to my dismay, the handle wouldn’t budge… at all. I applied a little bit more force, but still couldn’t get the wheel to move. Houston, we have a problem. But then things got worse.
I wondered if the wheel had just gotten off-center a bit, so I then attempted to shift it up and down a bit to see if that would free it up, but it didn’t work. I then put my foot up against the house for leverage, and gave it one last yank to see if I get things moving. This extra leverage didn’t cause the wheel to turn, but instead broke the handle clean off! I picked my jaw off the ground and walked inside to tell Michelle about the situation.
When we went back outside with flashlights, it was clear that the faucet was absolutely fubar, and there was nothing that we could do to fix it from the outside. I am not afraid of DIY projects, but it was clear that replacing the faucet was going to involve cutting up my basement ceiling and somehow soldering on a new connection in a very small work-space. This “project” was definitely out of my league. To top it off, there was no way to turn the water off without the handle, which meant that there was no way to turn off the sprinkler!
All homes have a main water shut-off valve that stops the water flow to the entire house, and ours is in the unfinished part of the basement. We went ahead and brushed our teeth, used the restroom, and I then headed downstairs to turn off the main valve. Much to my dismay, the shutoff valve was stuck in exactly the same way, and wouldn’t budge! Having learned my lesson outside, I knew that applying a lot of force to the handle can have severe consequences. Only, if this happened inside (with the main valve), water would start flooding into my basement, and I would truly have no way to shut it off.
Instead, Michelle came up with an idea to just kink the hose outside, which would at least stop the water from shooting out of the sprinkler until we could call a plumber in the morning. Do you know that scene in “The Goonies” where the toilets start exploding and a guy who is using the restroom gets launched into the air? I was concerned that kinking the hose would potentially cause water pressure to build up inside the house causing a that scene to occur in real life. But a little bit of Google research calmed my fears, and we went ahead and kinked the hose and went to bed knowing that the following morning was going to be an expensive one.
The next day was a Saturday, and it seemed like 90% of the plumbers listed in the yellow pages tacked on a large “emergency charge” for weekend calls. When we found a company that advertised “No extra fees for after hours or weekends,” we gave them a call. They came out an hour later, and confirmed our suspicions. There was no way to replace the faucet from the outside of the house, and they would have to cut up our basement ceiling to get to the pipe. They also examined the main shut-off valve and told me that I should be very glad that I didn’t attempt to force it. The water line coming into the house from outside was made of fairly brittle hard plastic. If I had somehow snapped that line with excessive force, we would have to dig up the yard on that side of the house in order to get to the intake. That would have meant that we would potentially have been without water for days or even weeks.
All in all, the plumber did a fantastic job. It took about 2 hours and he replaced the outside unit with a newer model that featured an easy-turn plastic handle. He left the main shutoff valve as is, but further up the pipe added a second shutoff switch that simply required pulling a lever up and down. I asked him what caused the handles to get stuck in the first place, and he thought that excessive heat was the most-likely culprit, especially outside.
While we were relieved to have it fixed, the total bill for his visit was $400. We certainly didn’t budget for a random plumbing bill of this size, but luckily– we were able to raid our emergency fund to pay for the repair. In the past, these type of unexpected expenses always went straight to the credit card, which makes this a case-in-point as to why having a proper emergency fund is such a critical part of getting out of debt. Accidents and emergency repairs will always happen, and you need to be ready for them!
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It’s cool to hear your view of this situation too. I guess you just don’t know your own strength. It would be pretty stressful for that to occur late at night on a weekend. Luckily you found someone without the emergency fees tacked on. I assume that company probably jacks up their regular rates just to be able to promote the lack of extra fee. At least it’s now all fixed without becoming an even bigger problem.
Modest Money recently posted..How To Save Money While Moving
It was a major chain company, and their “anytime” scheduling is the center of their marketing scheme. From what I’ve been told by friends and family– we got a competitive price for the work that was done.
Yikes! I’m always nervous when it comes to messing with water lines. I don’t know enough about them to know what to do in an emergency.
Back at our condo, we had a bit of a situation where our contractors accidentally snapped a pipe while renovating our bathroom – I didn’t even know where the water shut off valve was. One giant flooded bathroom and an irate neighbour later, it was fixed. I think you were smart to call in the experts when you did!
CF recently posted..My weekly meals #2
Water lines can be a pain to deal with, for sure CF. I can do basic plumbing and electric.. But when a blowtorch is needed (to set the solder), I call in the pros. I don’t want a leak behind my drywall..
That’s great that you didn’t have to put this purchase on a credit card. The emergency fund definitely comes in handy in situations like this!
Mackenzie recently posted..Farewell to Fear: The Update
No kidding.. that is the big difference between the past, when we weren’t prepared.. and the present.
I wish it was as entertaining to go through as it was to read about
I’m once again reminded of how important an emergency fund is and how glad I am to have one!
Jessica @ Budget for Health recently posted..Healthy and Cheap Snacks for the Road
Thank you for the kind words, Jessica.
I am glad that you have an e-fund as well!
Whew! What a night! Glad to hear it has all worked out. Also good to have found the problem with the main shutoff valve when the issue was so relatively minor. Yay for emergency funds saving the day.
Anne @ Unique Gifter recently posted..4 Wedding Food Savings Tips (for guests)
We had a bit of trouble sleeping that evening.. Especially with me worrying about the possiblity of a “goonies” type of scene in the morning!
I almost feel like I was a part of this event since it was the weekend we had our meet-up. Luckily for me I just got to hear the story and didn’t have to deal with the bill or the hassle!
Glad it’s fixed and that you didn’t have to go into debt for it!
Jason @ WSL recently posted..The China Study Diet and 8-Week Fitness Challenge – Part 1
Hah.. yeah.. I left that part out of the story. The next morning, we were supposed to meet Jason & Toots from Work Save Live and John from Married with Debt. We showed up to our lunch about 20 minutes late because we were waiting for the plumber to finish up. As such, those guys heard this story well before the rest of you
Another reasons emergency funds are good to have. Glad you fixed it, and didn’t break the bank while doing so.
Eddie recently posted..Seven High Paying Part-Time Jobs
There are so many reasons why an emergency fund is one of the most critical parts to getting out of debt. We are now in the process of building ours back up!
Wow, good thing you had an emergency fund! I can’t believe the heatwave that’s hit the Midwest this summer (and since my parents live in Ohio I’ve been hearing a lot about it). Hopefully things will let up and you all can catch a break!
Shannon-ReadyForZero recently posted..Living on a Budget in the Big City
This heatwave is just unrelenting, Shannon.. It actually rained for like 2 minutes yesterday, and I swear I heard my yard breathe a tiny little sigh of relief. Hopefully more is on the way!
That’s brutal – I hope you get some more rain very soon!
Shannon-ReadyForZero recently posted..Should It Be Easier to File Bankruptcy for Private Student Loans?
Oh, I’m so glad it wasn’t worse — and how glad are you for that emergency fund? THIS is what that money is for!
Kathleen @ Frugal Portland recently posted..Frugal Portland was featured on Fox 12 Oregon!
Yeah.. I am too, Kathleen. I am thankful that there were no leaks on the inside.. As that would have been disastrous
Oh man the joys of home ownership. We just went out with our realtor to look at some homes last night, and this definitely scares/excites me for what is to come!
DC @ Young Adult Money recently posted..My Crazy Idea: A Coupon Database
DC.. There are always things that come up. But overall, home ownership is definitely my recommended route. First and foremost, you earn equity without even trying! And those sweet tax breaks don’t hurt, either!
W00t W00t! Emergency funds rock! Water damage is no joke, good thing you didn’t flood the basement! You get your water bill yet?
Jacob @ iheartbudgets recently posted..Buying a Home (Part 2)
Very true, Jacob.. Water damage in the basement would have meant new drywall and new carpeting, and possibly redoing a bunch of electric.. The costs would have been in the thousands, instead of in the hundreds.
Our last water bill was right at $100.. not pretty. But not as bad as it could be.
I’ll best honest, stories like this make me glad I’m renting for now because it sure does seem like there are a lot of unexpected repair costs when owning a home. Good thing you were prepared with an emergency fund!
If something like this had happened in a rental.. you could just call your landlord. But what are the chances that they would deal with it in a timely manner? Long ago, I used to rent.. and it seemed like repairs were never a top priority.
Wow, what an ordeal! Good thing you guys had your emergency fund! We have a household maintenance category, and my in-laws have an unplanned maintenance category, I think we are going to adapt that name instead
Nurse Frugal recently posted..Mortgage Payoff update 7/2012
We should probably do this, Nurse Frugal.. Because some sort of household maintenance costs will always be there. We do budget for “home supplies”, a category that includes TP, detergent, cleaning supplies, etc.
That sucks! My parents have always had plenty of household emergencies. Their A/C broke just a month ago, pipes have frozen or broken, toilets have clogged. Home ownership is scary. Fortunately, for my parents, my dad is pretty handy and fixes everything.
SavvyFinancialLatina recently posted..Aiming High, Hopefully We Land Somewhere Close
I have never been especially great at DIY, but I am learning as I go. It does feel good to take care of your own castle. But in this plumbing emergency situation.. I was clearly out of my league.
Ouch that four hundred dollar bill would hurt, but I had to smile when you referred to your pipe as fubar. lol it’s been such a long time since I have heard that term used. Glad you got it taken care of!
Ouch that four hundred dollar water bill must have hurt. But I had to smile when you referred to your pipe as fubar lol. It has been such a long time since I have heard that term used. Glad you got it taken care of.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve had these emergency problems. There was the fire I started in the middle of the night, because I was sanitizing baby bottles in boiling water, forgot about them and went to bed without turning off the oven. There was the time I turned off the main to the circuit breaker and it wouldn’t turn back on. The time I somehow got the garage door pulley system messed up and couldn’t close the garage door.
I could go on if I moved onto cars.
These circumstances are exactly why you want to have an emergency fund.
JP @ My Family Finances recently posted..Why Stores May Be Charging You a Fee to Use Your Credit Card and What It Could Mean for Your Family
This is why I let experts do things that I can’t do efficiently. It’s good to tackle small jobs on your own, but this example proves that it’s cheaper to hire a pro even if it costs money because a mistake can cost even more. Thanks God that you are not without water, Jefferson! That would have been tough for the family.
Shilpan recently posted..10 Reasons Why it’s Easier to Build Wealth Now
Glad to hear there was a happy ending. That could have been a flooded basement. You really do appreciate those business that have emergency services though. Would turning off the main have temporarily solved the problem?
Mark recently posted..Vampire Power: Which Electronics are the Worst?
The main wouldn’t turn, unfortunately.. We are SOL, so to speak..