Water heater rust

This is from a commercial electric 80 gallon, 480 volt water heater we replaced  in Burlington, Wa.

Ferndale Wa Sewer Stoppage

On the day of the announcement of the Ferndale building inspector resigning for being a drunk, I'll post this nightmare job we did yesterday in a 9 year old house in Ferndale, WA.

The first two pictures are blurred, yea I know. I'm trying to get used to this I-Phone 5 camera.

What you are looking at is a sewer filled with pebbles and dirt. The riser came loose enough to allow the stuff to fill the pipe over the course of years. The third picture is the riser.

What makes matters worse is the sewer makes a u-turn to go all the way across the front lawn to join a shared sewer before it goes into the city sewer.

Bellingham Copper Pipes

We are replacing a water service (pipe from the meter to the house, when I discovered this piece of art.

I call it the DIY Experience:

Forgot the pipe wrench

Look closely at the rust colored thing in the picture. That's a pipe wrench that was left when they installed the water meter 10 years ago. All that water in the hole is normal ground water.

If water can rust out a pipe wrench that badly, imagine what water does to pipes in the ground.

Sewer Roots

Ball Plumbing does drain and sewer cleaning, too.

The picture below is in a Mt. Vernon, WA basement. They had water coming up a floor drain when they ran water anywhere in the house.

I ran the sewer machine through the stack clean out  to 120 feet. In that part of Mt Vernon, the house sewers can go across alleys, down sidewalks, across neighbors' yards and tie into a storm drain. I'm not kidding.

I was able to clear the sewer stoppage for them for under $425.00 (including tax) on a Saturday afternoon. Cheap at half the price, huh.

Sewer Replacement

This is the one that had the metal eletrical ground put through the pipe 20 years ago and not one plumber caught the problem until I did four years ago. I replace that short section of sewer pipe, but the rest of the sewer pipe was 70 years old and falling apart.

The owner finally had us replace it.

Kitchen Faucet

When the phone rings before 8:00 a.m., I know there's a problem.

This customer's husband really tried to repair the 25 year old faucet, but it died.

Before and after photos: