DIY HOMEOWNER... could use professional opinions on copper and roots ?

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darque

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Hi pros+ ?
my names michael, and this is my first post, so thanks and i hope you can answer a couple of questions for me please, not life or death but for peace of mind and a follow-up concern.


brief history...
1960-1970 (+-) single story 1300 sq ' home on a concrete slab in city of orange california.
(ME) a slightly average problem solver +- diy handy-man...bought home 1995 and most of the homes problems were here upon arrival; my sewage line connects to the city sanitation line

only after a fixture or an appliance that needed to be moved, repaired, or replaced has problems been discovered. i have more time than money so i try to solve what i can, if it overwhelms me, and i can afford it, i call a professional. one of the first things i did was to upgrade electrical panel 200 amps (by professional)...he placed a huge grounding rod under panel in dirt... the home originally used cast-iron pipes/connectors for drains. over the years i have tried to update to copper and or plastic plumbing. usually during random bathtub drain replacement, "oh look the iron pipe under the shower is broken and theirs a huge hole..." good times.

like most homes, a sink will need a small snake out or a draino type of product to open back up once in as while. but, occasionally, about 5 times in the past 10-15 years, the sewer line will send up some nastiness through the lowest point~ in a bathroom shower or tub, if i recall it is usually during a rain strom. about ten years ago, crap literally backed up through every orifice & went everywhere ...THAT WAS JUST WRONG. if i recall the plumber mentioned he had to snake 150-200 ' and found a huge root clump and the water flowed again... last year a small shower sewage backup...called plumber had to snake 100-200 feet and said he found roots and maybe part of the sewage pipe material... he thought the pipe was compromised, broken, or infected with roots and that i should use a camera & find the problem; financially at the time i could not.

advance to this week and first problem.
it just rained this week and my kitchen sink is the one stopped up this time. i don't get the water blockage anywhere else in the house except both sides of the kitchen sink; much higher than the showers. i removed the under sink trap, clean as a whistle. replaced kitchen sink, faucet + plastic pipes under it a year ago. i opened p-trap outside and clean water poured out from the sink w/little to no sewage. the p-trap is on the outside kitchen wall directly below the kitchen sink. sink drains from both sides into the trap, further down past the outside p-trap, then continues out of sight straight down... from there i can only speculate a 90˚ sharp turn out towards the street connecting to the cities line. i called the city to find out if they would help and they speculated sewer line issue, and that, of course, in most cases the financial responsibility was on me, the homeowner.

Also, if i called a plumber and they used a camera the city wanted to be there when the camera asses the situation. if it was something they needed to fix they would help financially. interesting...seems odd my issue but they want to be there...

the sink clog is a little different this time though, so i'm confused...why wouldn't sewage be in my shower, dark in color like it has been before? i think this is a clue that leads me to believe it is past the under the sink trap past the outside p-trap and somewhere before the bath and kitchen pipe hook up, long before the root issue? the city said don't call a plumber till i receive their packet ? what do you guys think i should do?


other issue or questions .
in an unrelated kitchen issue i discovered an electrical problem and was going to have to rip apart kitchen walls in order to track and replace wires. the previous owners liked the modern outlet look but didn't add grounds anywhere in the kitchen.
goodtimes...
i had always wanted to change a few things around in the kitchen and i might as well do it now. so a small water-heater relocation was required for optimal home and kitchen changes. i built out my hallway closet to accommodate the 40 gallon water heater that was in the kitchen pantry. i ran copper pipes and natural gas about 6-10 feet from original location, up into the small attic and down into the closet.
upon moving and installing the water heater, it had only one small pin-hole leak in the last copper coupling at the end of the hot water line. this water heater has always had some white/ green corrosion on the heater top where the braided lines connect. i figured eventually it would corrode and done.

well skip to about a month later my 10 year old water heater decides to finally die. :( really after all that?

ok weird...so i replaced it with a new water heater and new braided lines. the one small leak that had almost gone away (light corrosion at leak eventually stopped leak ) is bigger and is not going away. i will need to take water heater back out and fix this coupling...big pain in ass.

now my questions have to do with the copper pipes. i think i read somewhere that an incorrectly grounded house can cause my waterheater to corrode. and that nowhere along the copper pipe's travel should it touch concrete, electrical wire, or metal of any kind except copper ? is that correct? I KNOW I USED 3/4 aluminum conduit clamps along the way, so i have to remove those? anything else i should know that i have idea about?

follow up questions
1. how does electricity get to the gas water heater?

2. is the meaning of a bad copper ground defining literally the copper ground-rod outside in the dirt, or the copper pipes have metal touching them thus grounding them individually? would the ground issue occur at only one location, assuming pipes and item causing ground issue were isolated?
for example: my bathroom copper lines wont corrode if they never come in contact with isolated ground w h pipes ? or if there is a ground touching copper anywhere in house it touches everywhere copper pipes are in house ?

3. how do i locate the ground problem to stop the corrosion?

4. should i stop the corrosion ?

5. does the fact that my last w h being 10 years old with corrosion mean its likely this water heater could as well.

6. future corrosion damage aside; if i repair the copper coupling where it leaks, and it holds~ would/could water find a weak point elsewhere in the same pipeline and possibly leak there instead?
or is it more likely that pipe would have leaked in two spots if it was gonna leak at all, right away. im afraid if i fix the leak in the closet it will travel up and leak in the attic...? is that likely ?

7. if the copper pipe corrosion means metal is grounded incorrectly somewhere in the home~ then is it possible that electricity is being used, similar to a gas leak, and this trickle ground is something im charged for? i swear... my electricity bill has sky rocketed since i bought this house...


sorry to be such a pain i hope you guys can at least try to assist thanks again
 

Jimbo

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Don't jump to conclusions that you have a ground issue. An electrician would have to evaluate that. Galvanic corrosion, an entirely different problem, simply occurs between dissimilar metals. This is the reason pipe clamps should be copper, or plastic lined. Usually it is recommend for copper not to contact concrete directly due to action of the chemicals which can leach from the concrete.
 

hj

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That posting is so extensive and convoluted, that I got lost half way through it. Many of your conclusions, or assumptions, are invalid, i.e., aluminum clamps on the copper lines would only be a problem IF they were in water and then the aluminum would "dissolve" not the copper. You need professionals IN YOUR HOUSE to evaluate all your concerns.
 
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