Got a lot of new respect for being wet and cold after cutting into a 1/2" cold water line with 90 psi behind it. Had been installing a new sink where one had been before so the old lines were there and capped off. Working with pex so had all the new connections done down to a ninety that only needed one crimp to complete.
Water lines coming into the condo office unit were clearly ID'ed, owner had shown me the lines and watched me turn them off then I did a drain back until there was low flow on both hot and cold lines. Water should be back on in 10 minutes tops.
Then the fatal cut....holy crap, crap happens fast. So there I am on my knees in front of this mini fire hose trying to do something. Had the tap open so tried pushing in the fitting.....now water is flowing out the faucet but those damn low flow restrictors are causing a fountain to happen at the connection......OK so I'm thinking ...you are all alone, on your knees, holding onto a water connection that is getting colder by the second and your next move is.....it didn't get better.
So even though it seemed like hours I was able to get the attention of a secretary who got the owner and some other staff. They couldn't find any other shut off. Phone calls, more phone calls, I am getting soaked trying to come up with a solution. Hands are numb and I lose grip, try again to gain some control. I am totally soaked and getting sprayed at one time hard enough to knock my glasses off.
At one point I was crouched down, holding a 2 inch vacuum hose over the pressure line and then holding the other end in the vacuum bucket. Even though the pressure line was only in the 2 inch hose by 8 inches and the back end wasn't plugged one of the helpers using a plastic waste can couldn't keep up by bailing from the bucket into the sink. And I could feel the dazed and confused part of being cold and wet coming on.
Finally get some info on the main shut off.....it's in another condo unit in the basement. I've got to go cause no one else knows what it may look like. Did I mention it's snowing out....oh joy ...I must have been quite the sight doing a stumbling run to the other runit and past the secretary into the basement. OK so where is the shut off....nothing on any door, check out a couple, see some pipes, no ID, look again around the piled up junk, see a 1 1/2" line that is cold and sweating. Turn off the valve and do my stumble run back.
It's off and I start to shiver. I need to connect the lines but my hands won't work properly. I can't remember if the cold supply goes to the left or right tap. Doctor from another office comes in and tells me I am going hypothermic and need to get out of my clothes. He needs to use the authority voice on me cause I don't get it. Struggle with my t shirt and get a towel to dry myself off a little then put on my heavy jacket. Man that was a good feeling. He had me sit down and collect myself. Had a gulp of some rot gut office coffee.
Took a couple minutes then was able to crimp the lines and turn the water back on to the complex. No leaks. Not sure how my wallet in my back pocket got saturated but had to dump my shoes at one point and they didn't get filled because the water was deep just running off me.
So I have ridden in cold, been wet, worked outside in winter conditions but I have never been that cold that fast. I have a whole new respect for folks like Navy Seals.
Scariest part was not being able to think clearly, I was going to have to give up at some point and it was going to be in a fairly quick time frame.
30 hours later and my hands have quit stinging even though the palms are bruised and I have cuts I have no idea how I got. Took a couple of hours to dry my tools out and rub the rust off some of them this morning.
Spent 3 hours cleaning up the mess, got lucky in that directly below where most of the water was running into the basement was a floor drain.
So no one died, damage was actually minimal, thank the powers that be for tile floors and wet vacs.
Stay warm.....and BTW the line was backfed through another condo units system.....I'm letting someone else deal with that....VBG
