Woke up to a disaster at 3am this morning

[brucoh]

The connection to my RO from the cold water to my washing machine has had a drip for the last week or so (only when I turn on the water going into the RO though, when it's off it's bone dry). I thought it was just coming from the connector on the RO so I unhooked it last night and hooked it up outside to my garden hose spigot to make some water. Couldn't care less if it drips outside. Everything is fine with it unhooked. No water dripping from the y connector. Good to go.

Fast forward to 3 am this morning and my wife wakes me up wanting to know what that water noise is. The end of freakin' y connector blew out from the water pressure and is spraying water full blast all over the laundry room and into the kitchen and flowing into the living room. It had to have been going for about 5 minutes at least because we had a good amount of standing water in the kitchen. I run to turn off the cold water behind the washing machine and the knob is totally stripped! It's just spinning around and not turning anything off. Totally disorientated and panicked, I'm running around in the front yard in the dark trying to remember where the water meter is. Find it and get things turned off. I think the water ran full blast for about 10 minutes during the whole ordeal. When I first ran in there, I grabbed an empty 5 gallon jug and it took about 10 seconds to fill the whole thing up so I don't know how much water went all over the house total.

So it turns out the drip was from the piece of **** plastic y connector all along. It had a crack in the thread area where the RO connected to it. With the RO connected, it kept things together. With it unhooked, it blew out after succumbing to the water pressure.

They make brass y connectors that you can hook your RO and cold water for washing machine, right? Because I'll never use a plastic one again.

I had a 29 gallon tank break on me about 10 years ago while I was sleeping, but this was much worse. What a nightmare last night was. Got me a huge new shop vac to show for it though.

The culprit.
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a96/brucoh/IMG_1745.jpg

The aftermath..
http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a96/brucoh/IMG_1742.jpg

[preef]

What a nightmare to wake up to. This hobby would be so much better if it didn't require water. I've gone through RO floods but nothing like that.

I can't tell from the picture if the fans are on concrete or on gray padding. Just in case it's padding you'll need to pull it out and replace it.

Good luck.

[brucoh]

It's on the padding. I can't just dry the padding out?

[preef]

It's on the padding. I can't just dry the padding out?

Maybe someone else can chime in but IME the padding just holds too much water to dry out well. Maybe you were able to suck most of the water out with the new shop vac. I couldn't get it very dry but I didn't have the big fans like those either.

Since padding is pretty inexpensive I just pulled it out out and saved the carpet in my RO water flood.

[brucoh]

After I read your first response, I did some research. You are right that the padding holds a lot of water and it can also develop mold in 24-36 hours if you don't get it dried out. These fans are doing a hell of a job though. Although, I'm worried that the concrete may have absorbed some water and will release it back. Did you put the new padding back in yourself?

[gruenburger]

One of the toilets upstairs in my [profanity] house broke and the water would keep pumping. It soaked the entire roof and it caved in. Worst wake up EVER.

[preef]

After I read your first response, I did some research. You are right that the padding holds a lot of water and it can also develop mold in 24-36 hours if you don't get it dried out. These fans are doing a hell of a job though. Although, I'm worried that the concrete may have absorbed some water and will release it back. Did you put the new padding back in yourself?

You can try lifting the padding and blow underneath. I would think the carpet is pretty dry by now. If the padding is still wet tomorrow you'll probably start growing mold.

I replaced the padding myself. Bought a small roll at Home Depot and just laid it down. It was cheap. I used duct tape to connect it to the remaining existing padding. The harder part was stretching the carpet back. I rented a knee kick stretcher thing from Home Depot as well. My flood was in a little used office in my basement so getting it perfect wasn't a high priority although it turned out well. Since you are dealing with your living room you may want to hire someone to stretch the carpet back.

[tmgrash]

My wife and I were near napping on the couch one sun afternoon when, CRUSH WHOOSH, 55 gal aquarium exploded, Also got a new shop vac from that! Where did you score those sweet blower fans? I think padding etc will be alright, just thouroughly dry it out. Might take a week.

[cornraker]

whoever said that about wishing this hobby didn't include water is a wise man. it scares me the amount of water that can be spilled or whatever in this hobby

[steamman]

Looks like plastic.

[tdanley]

I had a fright one night around 2am. I wake up to the sound of water coming from my tank, I did not think this was right because I had just topped it off and all was quiet. As I opened the bedroom door the living room was all lit up. As I wonder who left the light on I turn the corner and see three foot high flames coming from the top of tank! The fire is extinguished pretty quick and the investigation reveals a bad powerhead. I had to replace everything including the tank itself, The only livestock lossed was my wifes Wrasse. :mad2:

[scubasteve06]

I had something similar to this happen to me once. About 2 years ago I was doing a water change on my FW 90G tank using a python. After draining out the water I wanted I begin to fill it back up...long story short got sidetracked for about an hour and went to grab something from the living room only to be greeted by about 50-60g on my living room floor. I had to call a professional carpet cleaning service because it had gone all the way to the concrete pad. They used a maching that they stood on to suck the water out of the carpet, and then left 3 of those squirrel cage fans that you are using (they were about 2x that size though) and told me they had to be left on 24/7 for at least 3 days. The worst part was that the tank was on an adjoining wall to my bedroom and it actually leaked up under the wall into the bedroom about 3 inches, and I had to have one of those damn fans in my room for 3 nights. I took a lot of Ambien to say the least those next couple nights! Never happened to me again though....knock on wood!!!

[brucoh]

My wife and I were near napping on the couch one sun afternoon when, CRUSH WHOOSH, 55 gal aquarium exploded, Also got a new shop vac from that! Where did you score those sweet blower fans? I think padding etc will be alright, just thouroughly dry it out. Might take a week.

A local equipment rental place. $20 a piece for 24 hours. I rented them for 2 days. Maybe I should extend that.

[aleonn]

Wow, that's horrible! But it could have been much worse to return from work and seeing the damage. Good thing your wife has good ears!

[travis32]

we had a sump quit in an a small 4plex appartment building we lived in. The owner of the 4 plex had gone on vacation and forgot to check the sump pump. It was spring and lots of spring showers.. I was working night shifts. My wife calls me at 2:am at work, to tell me that there's water coming the appartment.

I come home and by then the living room and hallway were all flooded. The landlord's son made us move all our stuff out, they told us if we don't get our stuff out we'd have to pay for new carpet becuase mold will build up in 24 hours if it's not completely dried out...

They brought in 3 or 4 of those high powered fans shaped like a giant whistle... They pulled the carpet up, placed the fans underneither and we weren't allowed back for 48 hours. Due to needing the high powered fans, they unplugged our deep freezer.. Lost all our frozen food to save their carpet.

Losses aside, get the carpet aired out asap or you'll be buying new carpet and padding. If you have to pull it up and place several fans underneith after you've shop vaccumed it well.

[RocketSurgeon]

Discard the padding. You are asking for trouble trying to keep it.

If the padding is new, you can keep what has not gotten wet. Otherwise, throw out all padding in that room. If the carpet is in good shape, it can be cleaned and reused.

[RocketSurgeon]

Many years ago, I woke up, and stood up out of bed in about inch of WARM water. Fortunately, I was on the bottom floor! My Hot water hose busted to the clothes washer. I opened the front and back doors of my apartment to allow a wave of water out of the apartment. Neighbors on both sides of me were wet as well. I don't think anyone in the complex had hot water that morning! Thank goodness for renters insurance. My neighbors were not happy with me at all.

I now turn off my water connections to the clothes washer when I go out of town, and I use the more expensive braided hoses.

[chimmike]

as long as the padding is dried, you'll be fine. Water remediation companies regularly dry out both carpet and padding with success.

Yes, there are brass Y's, I use one in the exact same spot as yours was.

[RocketSurgeon]

as long as the padding is dried, you'll be fine. Water remediation companies regularly dry out both carpet and padding with success.


I agree that IF the padding is dry you are good to go.
I personally haven't ever been recommended to dry the padding, but I've always been FLOODED with "dirty" water. I've never been fortunate enough to only spill clean water out of a faucet.

The padding is not the expensive part, the carpet itself is.

It sounds as though you may not be filing an insurance claim. the last thing you want is a mold issue 6 months from now because 1 square foot of carpet padding did not get completely dry. Usually children and elderly are most susceptible to mold allergies and irritants.

I suggest calling a couple local water remediation companies and asking their policy to remove and replace vs dry and reuse.

[iwishtofish]

Jeez - and I'm still using mine...

http://i211.photobucket.com/albums/bb113/bjdoyle64/y.jpg

Really sorry to hear of your misfortune!

[Noobeef]

I had a horror story that’s similar that ended up OK. I woke up in the middle of the night to here a pump running dry, and I knew immediately the tank had to be leaking. I ran out to the living room to see my 29g half empty. I stopped in the puddle forming in front of the tank. God was with me on that one cause there was a surge protector sitting in about an inch of water that didn’t electrocute me. Yea for my idiocy.

The bottom pane had cracked. I was able to grab my QT tank (10 gallon and stuff all the live rock, corals and fish into it. The only things that ended up dying were a couple snails and my aquarium innocence.

My tank is now a 115 gallon (under construction) and is standing on hardwood flooring. I have since made sure that there is NEVER a surge protector on the floor where a flood could get to it and my tank has a dedicated circuit with a GFI. Floods are scary, but mine was a blessing in disguise because it made me rethink the way I handle electricity.

[Uncle Salty 05]

Sorry to hear of your mishap.
In answer to your question, yes they do make brass versions of the Y connectors. That is what I use.
I would never use the rubber hoses in some of the pictures I saw either.
Braided stainless steel all the way.
There was a story on 60 minutes or one of those news shows about how much insurance companies pay out each year because people leave on vacation and the line leading to their washer blows and water flows for days.
Neighbors seeing water pouring out the front door is the first indicator.

[aleonn]

I had a horror story that’s similar that ended up OK. I woke up in the middle of the night to here a pump running dry, and I knew immediately the tank had to be leaking. I ran out to the living room to see my 29g half empty. I stopped in the puddle forming in front of the tank. God was with me on that one cause there was a surge protector sitting in about an inch of water that didn’t electrocute me. Yea for my idiocy.

The bottom pane had cracked. I was able to grab my QT tank (10 gallon and stuff all the live rock, corals and fish into it. The only things that ended up dying were a couple snails and my aquarium innocence.

My tank is now a 115 gallon (under construction) and is standing on hardwood flooring. I have since made sure that there is NEVER a surge protector on the floor where a flood could get to it and my tank has a dedicated circuit with a GFI. Floods are scary, but mine was a blessing in disguise because it made me rethink the way I handle electricity.


Holy cow, that's a scary thought. Glad you now have a GFCI. I have to consider a wet floor alarm or something on my controller.

[bigdog0598]

WOW....makes me glad that the RODI is in the garage and tank on tile....Also if your married....god help you i could only imagine my wife.....WOW!

[ahud]

I had a leaking canister filter drain a 65 gallon tank while I was away for the weekend. Called a professional carpet cleaner who used a suction matt type thing. I think he charged me $120 which is way less than buying/renting a lot of equipment. I did not replace the pad and I am still living in the same apartment, the spill was 4 months ago.

[Sharpie_]

I've worked for two years doing carpet removal for a team (they do the install), depending on the underpad yes mold can set in quickly. If it's a standard composite foam mat then you'll be fine so long as it's dried out. If it's a fiber woven mat then you very well may have to say goodbye to it, or at least get air moving under that as well.

When ripping out carpet in dorm rooms at McMaster University, we encountered an entire floor (50+ apartments) of green mold on top of the carpet. A carpet cleaning company had a week prior cleaned the carpets and then shut the doors on the rooms (I just now for the first time questioned as to why they cleaned it... maybe the mold was why that floor was on ripout??). We were required to wear our hasmat suits, gloves, goggles, and respirators for the rip out.

Lesson being: if you do in fact notice mold, it can and will spread. The stuff is mucho dangerous and needs to be dealt with accordingly. I have seen and experienced full floods dry up with the aid of a few large fans and no ill effects come of it though.

Best of luck and I HTH.

[brucoh]

Well, the fans are doing a great job of drying things out. I've got them rented for a week and I'm going to run them the whole time to make sure everything is dry. I've pulled up more carpet and exposed everything that got wet. It could of been a lot worse.

Sad thing is that I had to take down my tank tonight. Water got around and under it and it has one of those particle board Oceanic stands and I could feel the bottom edges starting to expand and warp. I had to get it out of the way anyway so I could dry the carpet around it. Sucks though, because I've had this tank going in its current form since the end of may and it been the best looking tank I've had so far. It's only a 50 gal Oceanic so I split everything between a 20 long and a 20 high for now. I'm just paranoid about the water damage to my stand, so this will give me an excuse to build a real one. Might be a while on that though, I'll be extremely busy at work for the rest of the year.