On Thursday I was working up at the Comfort Suite of Comstock Park doing a side job with by buddy Bill of installing a dishwasher and a new countertop in the hotel break room. We needed to gain an extra supply line for the dishwasher as a sink was already installed. After standing in front of the shut-off valves at Menards for nearly an hour, we decided that the only way to have the correct parts (we couldn't find a 'bull's head') to do it would be to take the old shut-off valve off and install a new dan-designed T to get out necessary water. Against our better judgment, Bill and I decided to take the old valve off without cutting the water supply and get a little water on the floor until we could secure the new setup. This
was against our better judgment. But, we anticipated that the water pressure wouldn't be too strong and we'd be able to switch in and out without a problem....especially since we could not find the shut-off to the water supply.
Bad idea.
As we were loosening the compression fitting of the shut-off valve, and as I was sitting inside the cabinet so as to be ready to replace, the water did not just trickle out. It was a rifle. The pressure of that water shot 8 feet across the room to the wall (no joke) and would have still be airborne for another few feet had the wall not been there. As you can guess, by this time I had not a dry piece of clothing on, water was beginning to be puddle on the floor (we had about an inch by the end of it all), and I couldn't get the new piece on.
Not good.
With strength that came from somewhere (thank you God), I somehow got the new designed coupler and shut-off system on the old pipe and stopped the water. Then I had Bill tighten it with me and we cracked the coupler. Not more than a few seconds later we had water again. It didn't hold. By now the VP of the management group was in the room observing the mistake and grabbed a hose to try and get some water from the pipe to a drain. I'm holding this hose to the pipe trying to get all the water I can into it, Bill and Pete (the VP) are searching high and low for the water shut-off in the plans and thru the building, and water is still piling on the thankfully-it-was-tile floor.
To shorten the story, we redirected the water thru the old shut-off so I could put it back on and hopefully hold it until a later date. That worked and it is still holding as we speak (though I'm not too confident it will hold long term, and we are still looking for the way to shut-off the water without draining the whole hotel (we're on the first floor of a 4-story hotel).
Fortunately Pete wasn't too upset and he even laughed...which I had already been doing because I'm like that. So we spent the next hour getting rid of water in our fully-wet clothes and called it a day.
Unbelievable.
I didn't need a shower that night. :)