Memory Leak

As part of moving into our new house, my family decided to expand the laundry room to make it large enough to actually do laundry and to allow for a new bathroom. Moving the wall out means anything in the way must go, and in the way was a dogwood tree and a baby pine. My father wanted to be as environmentally friendly as possible, so we tried to move the dogwood instead of just cutting it down, but it proved too large for us to do so. We settled for saving the baby pine tree that was growing right beside it.

Across the pool, my father pointed out a spot that the baby pine would look nice when planted. We all missed the ominous sign of a total lack of plant growth in the area; there weren’t even weeds or any kind of grass. I started digging and hit a root. We had an axe handy, so I tried to cut the root away. It turns out that the “root” was actually a water pipe. I sent a considerable chip of the pipe flying before realizing what had happened. My shock was followed by a burbling sound and then water coming out of the pipe. It was fairly obvious that I had struck a pipe leading to/from the pool; that explains the lack of plant growth as roots can crush PVC pipe.

A quick call to Rotor Rooter later, we found out that nothing could be done about the pipe until the water stopped flowing. It was going well into the evening, so the Rotor Rooter guy volunteered to come back the next day. My father thought the water might be coming from the main heading into our house, so he closed it for the night. My brother and I were desperate for a shower, so I opened the main so he could take one and went outside to inspect “El stupido creek” (as brother dubbed it). The water had stopped and the only thing that remained was a stagnant pool of water. I thought this a good sign and determined that the water main didn’t have any connection to the cracked pipe, so I left it open for the night.

The next morning, my suspicion proved correct. The puddle had completely evaporated, leaving only a muddy hole in the ground. My father and I made a trip out to Home Depot and bought new pipe, along with the necessary connectors. My brother and my father put the new pipe segment into place, and since then, everything has been fine. I discovered that the particular pipe I hit was either the input or output pipe for the spa that’s attached to our pool. That explains why the main was affected, as the only source of water for the spa is its pump and the pool. The pump was off, so the pool just drained to the level of the line connecting the spa and the pool, which is less than a foot from operating height.

So, the lesson here is: dig very carefully around a pool, lest you need to exercise plumbing knowledge unwillingly.