Water lines plugged with crud... now what?

[Raucina]

Have a mobile home rental, galvanized pipe under, and all the fixtures are gumming up with junk that looks to be flakes from inside that pipe. Replaced the well about a year ago, and the water supply is clean, Did a few rounds of chlorination to clean the sys, and at that time had to clean a few valves. Now, and suddenly, both bathrooms have gummed up, just a trickle at the toilets and nothing at the shower valves. Kitchen and laundry are okay....

I am a contractor and have plumbed many a house, but don't have time or patience to crawl under this dump just now.

Of course its hard to collect rent under such conditions - so the plumber
# 1 says he might blow it out with compressed air, [ he is the roto rooter guy and fixed the plugged drains - another story- and broke the pipes and filled the crawl space with sh*&^t ]

and plumber #2 says $2500 to $3000 to run all new supply in pex. Plumber # 2 also warns me that the renters willl soon ride the toilets into the crawl space from 20 years of moisture. My instinct is to burn the place down, but I heard of laws forbidding that.

How much would you guys get to jerry rig new pex to 2 bathrooms? Cosmetics not important. Or any trick to get a few more years out of the flaking pipes? NO LEAKS in the supply lines yet.... Thanks!

 

[Cass]

Have you tried removing the supply lines from the faucets and toilet and running them into a bucket or just checking the airators and shower head?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Raucina]

Yes, myself and two plumbers. Seem to plug up again or wont come out at all. It plugs up before the valves and stops and never makes it to the aerator

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

Follow your instincts---you have a beauty there

Follow your instincts if you have the courage and ingenuity...
but you probably would get into troubles burning the place down...
cockroach stampedes can be dangerous...

I can almost see the " hell hole" in my mind
a picture of Elvis Presley and John Wayne hanging proudly
in the living room... and 5 to 10 cats and dogs to make the place smell like home......

we never work on them anymore...
I swore never to step foot in another one.....

you could do a cheap pex retro fit for much less yourself...

if this is not in a region that would freeze up..
if it needs to be insualted I would guess its worth
every penny to fool around under that dump...

this is one of the joys of being a landlord....

 

[Cass]

1 thing you can try if you want before a repipe would be to cut the main where it comes up out of the ground, with the curb stop off, and then use a dresser coupling rigged to some sort of hose and try flushing the line from the road to the house and then try blowing the house lines out backwards with air.

This may or may not work and it could solidly plug the lines in the house.

Not sure if you want to pay someone to do this.

 

[hj]

mobile

You might try luring a tornado to the trailer. There is no trailer made that would cost $4,000.00 to repipe in PEX, assuming you can get under it, unless you didn't want to do the job in the first place.

 

[Verdeboy]

I picture a wire brush attached to a long thin snake. That should resurface the inside of those pipes.

Seriously, though, crappy rentals attract crappy renters. You end up in a downward spiral until you get to the point you are in now.

I would either fix it up and raise the rent or drive it to the nearest dump.

Better yet: Put it on E-Bay.

 

[Cass]

If you really want to burn it down you can contact your local Fire Dept. and see if they would like a trailer to practice fire fighting techniques on.

 

[Herk]

For it to suddenly plug like that, I'm thinking you have a disintegrated water heater dip tube. If you can get a sample of the debris, try igniting it with a lighter. If it burns, it's plastic.

You didn't say what color the stuff is, if you know, so it could be sand, rust, gravel, or anything else. But if it's whitish, and burns, the only thing you can do is disassemble whatever's plugged, and you probably know how much fun that is in a trailer. I've seen water heater dip tube debris fill a 1/2" galvanized pipe for a couple of feet.

 

[Raucina]

good thought about the dip tube, but the cold side has the cruds too. Thinking more of a down and dirty way to pex the place quick .... freeezing is not much of an issue here, and it is possible to get under the joint. Sorry, no tornados in this area.

Cutting and back blowing the pipes with air or even water? Maybe a test on one run would make sense...

 

[Herk]

When water heats, the water expands back into the cold line. Yes, you can have dip tube plastic in the cold line, too.

 

[Gary Slusser]

Have a mobile home rental, galvanized pipe under, and all the fixtures are gumming up with junk that looks to be flakes from inside that pipe. Replaced the well about a year ago, and the water supply is clean, Did a few rounds of chlorination to clean the sys, and at that time had to clean a few valves.

Aren't you one of 'them' that argue with me when I say shocking a well can cause serious and expensive problems? And that galvanized pipe for potable water lines should be outlawed?

Galvanized and chlorine really don't get along well together. And once galvanized starts to rust, which chlorine causes, it just gets worse and can block up the pipe in a short time.

 

[Raucina]

Cute reply. The property was condemned due to a well pumping frogs and sewage. THAT was the serious problem. The chlorine, along with a new well saved 2 rentals. Coli tests clean now.

The pipes are 30 years and only in the mobile, and were expected to suffer from the treatment. Galvanized pipe is obsolete, though useful in certain apps.

 

[Gary Slusser]

Just like a know it all slumlord. If you expected the blockage as you say, then you're only here looking for a less expensive solution to replacing it... while your tenants suffer.

 

[Raucina]

If you were my tenant I would have never replaced the frog filled well, and I would have re-piped with iron gas line, or lead pipe if I could find it. Cheers!

 

[Gary Slusser]

I suggest that you only replaced the well because the state or local government folks gave you a choice of doing so or condemning and padlocking your slumlord rental.

And you're a contractor... which I find hard to believe but if I lived in your area I wouldn't be renting from you and you can bet I wouldn't be hiring you to do any kind of work for me or anyone I could tell your story to.

 

[Raucina]

I see you are very concerned about the conditions of my tenants, therefore you would likely re-pipe the slimy mobile for parts cost + $7.00 per hour labor or minimum wage-whichever is less these days. That should knock my $3,000 union guy cost down to under $700, and you get the satisfaction of helping those fine humans suffering at the hands of this tyrant. I would do it myself but my big black top-hat keeps getting knocked off in the crawlspace. I'll throw in a rubbersuit, some penicillin, and a gallon of everclear too. The tenants would probably donate their velvet Elvis print also.

Watchout for the 15 year old daughter missing the one front tooth. I hear she got the last landlord working in the house a ticket to the big house for 5 years - she was just showing him some thanks for repair work....

 

[Raucina]

For what its worth, tenant called today, she is getting water again from the valves after a few days rest and jiggling the faucets. Looks like the crud is dissolving on its own and moving through the valves. So water is flowing, slowly, and giving some time for the final repair. Sorry, Gary, no more everclear for you!