AAAHHHH water!!

shimmy_yaz

shimmy_yaz

Platinum Member
Well let me first just start off by saying YES I am an idiot!!! Ok with that being said, I am not much of a plumber and was a little skeptical with hooking up my RO/DI unit but it seemed easy enough. Well some way somehow (refer to first sentence) I managed to in the process of tracing the water lines over to where I wanted to put the unit crossed over on the pipes and accidentally hooked it up to the hot water pipe. OOppps Well upon realizing my blunder I switched everything over to the cold water pipe as it should be and proceeded back to Lowes, no big deal had to go back anyways. Well rather than just buying the soldering kit and breaking down and attempting to fix it the right way. I discovered this magical tape that was designed for idiots in a position such as mine. So I promptly go home and wrap the crap out of the pipe and turn the water back on praying for the best. Sweet it worked and I appear to have no leaks coming from the RO/DI unit and connection either.

Well I come home this morning after work and walk downstairs and as I get to my bedroom door I just had to scream OH ****!!! I could hear the waterfall that had made its way into my room. I opened the door and water was spraying everywhere!! So I ran over and turned the water off quick and assess the damage. Well my TV is soaked, my stereo is soaked, VCR, DVD player, DirecTV unit. All appear to be working thank god. Well needless to say I spent a little while cleaning up some water from the carpet. About 15 square feet of carpet was drenched. AHHH I hate being a *******. Needless to say the water is still off and on my way home from school today I am goona stop at Lowes, pick up the soldering kit, and come home and fix it the right way this time.

Please feel free to laugh at my expense and tell me how much of an idiot I really am.
 
Re: AAAHHHH water!!

I feel your pain...

My first attempt at a DIY skimmer worked pretty good but made the mistake of "tweeking" it right before bed.. well the sucker went nuts over night and in the morning had soaked the carpet pretty good.. luckly my tank is in the basement, so only thing was a wet floor.. and just a FYI for anyone who as or will eventuly soak a carpet, get yourself one of those Sears wet/dry vacs.. take the paper filter out and suck the water right out of the carpet.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6966885#post6966885 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by shimmy_yaz
Well let me first just start off by saying YES I am an idiot!!! Ok with that being said, I am not much of a plumber and was a little skeptical with hooking up my RO/DI unit but it seemed easy enough. Well some way somehow (refer to first sentence) I managed to in the process of tracing the water lines over to where I wanted to put the unit crossed over on the pipes and accidentally hooked it up to the hot water pipe. OOppps Well upon realizing my blunder I switched everything over to the cold water pipe as it should be and proceeded back to Lowes, no big deal had to go back anyways. Well rather than just buying the soldering kit and breaking down and attempting to fix it the right way. I discovered this magical tape that was designed for idiots in a position such as mine. So I promptly go home and wrap the crap out of the pipe and turn the water back on praying for the best. Sweet it worked and I appear to have no leaks coming from the RO/DI unit and connection either.

Well I come home this morning after work and walk downstairs and as I get to my bedroom door I just had to scream OH ****!!! I could hear the waterfall that had made its way into my room. I opened the door and water was spraying everywhere!! So I ran over and turned the water off quick and assess the damage. Well my TV is soaked, my stereo is soaked, VCR, DVD player, DirecTV unit. All appear to be working thank god. Well needless to say I spent a little while cleaning up some water from the carpet. About 15 square feet of carpet was drenched. AHHH I hate being a *******. Needless to say the water is still off and on my way home from school today I am goona stop at Lowes, pick up the soldering kit, and come home and fix it the right way this time.

Please feel free to laugh at my expense and tell me how much of an idiot I really am.
Click to expand...
 
Yeah..I keep my wet/dry vac in the basement right next to the sump. :)

I'm curious Yaz..why all the plumbing headaches? If the RO uses the smaller tubing you can just saddle-valve it. I did that for years on my old RO, never had a leak. They make self-piercing ones so there are no tools needed.

My new RO has the larger tubing so I couldn't use a saddle valve, but I have a toilet near by and home depot sells a T that fits just beyond the shutoff valve of a toilet. Zero soldering, easy install, shut-off 2 inches away!!!

I'm guessing (hoping really) that you didn't have those options, but I figured I'd point them out either way to anybody reading this thread that is looking to hook up their RO to plumbing instead of to a spigot.

--Fizz
 
Welcome to the club! :D Just be happy that you haven't ruined a laminate floor....TWICE! I often wonder how my wife deals with my tank crap...she must really love me :lol:
 
Thank goodness for solid state electronics: they dry out.

My profound sympathy. Been there. Was nearly there last night, when I left the ro/di unattended in the washer cabinet.

In my tank's former incarnation, I had a water alarm on the floor. I think I want to get another one.
 
I don't think anybody here is gonna laugh, or even smirk. Least of all me. I would imagine about every reefer has had at least a similar experience. Self-induced or accidental, makes no difference to me. The toughest part tends to be explaining to the wife, why you shouldn't call it quits after such a disaster.
 
Yeah I had a self piercing saddle valve. They are great and work really nice. Provided you don't hook it to the wrong pipe. I hooked into the hot water accidentally and then had to move it to the cold water pipe, thus leaving a hole in the hot water pipe that I had to patch.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6967735#post6967735 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Fizz71
Yeah..I keep my wet/dry vac in the basement right next to the sump. :)

I'm curious Yaz..why all the plumbing headaches? If the RO uses the smaller tubing you can just saddle-valve it. I did that for years on my old RO, never had a leak. They make self-piercing ones so there are no tools needed.

My new RO has the larger tubing so I couldn't use a saddle valve, but I have a toilet near by and home depot sells a T that fits just beyond the shutoff valve of a toilet. Zero soldering, easy install, shut-off 2 inches away!!!

I'm guessing (hoping really) that you didn't have those options, but I figured I'd point them out either way to anybody reading this thread that is looking to hook up their RO to plumbing instead of to a spigot.

--Fizz
Click to expand...
 
Just recently I made my biggest water mess, there have been more than enough but this was the worst. I had my RO running and my wife noticed when she was getting the wash and turned it off. About an hour later I go down to turn it off, but I actually turned it back on. So about 4 hours later when my wife came home from work half the basement had water in it. Luckily it's all concrete but it was awful.
 
Well atleast I don't feel so bad now knowing everyone else has had some experiences with this as well. I am sure it will happen again sometime in some form or another.
 
Ahh...my favorite wet experience (reef related) was back when I had my RO hooked up straight to the tank...I was new and it was pre-RC..what can I say? I would turn the water on to top-off, then turn it off. I met my GF at the time for a movie and remembered on the way to the movie that I had left the water on.....I was about an hour from home at the time.

I had a squishy carpet and every living creature in the tank buried itself in the sand or the rocks from the low salinity. I had never seen an anemone completely disappear before. I actually didn't loose anything, but I only had a handful of corals.


So yaz..you're not alone. That was only one of many floods "figuring out" how to do things.

--Fizz
 
I think we all feel your pain. When we put the addition on to our house for the tanks, we put in a main drain in the floor. This is because the hubby had overflowed the R/O unit, the tank....you name it, he's done it. I should have known, he doesn't even remember to turn off the light outside when he comes in at night.....why would he remember to turn the R/O off? Needless to say, we've been very thankful for the main drain and our old livingroom now has a new carpet since the tanks moved out (I picked a "pretty" color, as no man who has ruined a carpet can argue about the replacement choice.) Now all he has to do is mop the water on the tile into the main drain and hook up a fan to dry things off. Oh, and add in a "Sorry honey, I got the floor wet again."
 
ouch... we have probably all had water mishaps.. I am paranoid about them so I have an alarm that screams like a smoke alarm should any water begin to accumulate on the floor (really works well ..goes off at the trace of water) you can get one at lowes for $12 obviously they are not effective if no one is home to hear it but it saved me a headache once already when i forgot to turn off my RO/DI before bed, I was filling a 12 gallon container and was sound asleep when my alarm went off as the result of overfilling my water barrel. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=117272-84862-BWD-HWA&pad=true
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

B
I’m a idiot
Replies
3
Views
161
griss
griss
C
Well pump and R/O system
Replies
12
Views
260
zappa
Z
Easygoing1
PFO Aquatics SOLARIS Rebuild And Questions
Replies
8
Views
183
oreo57
oreo57
R
Auto water changes
Replies
9
Views
248
Vinny Kreyling
Vinny Kreyling
Old Newbie
Old Newbi tank questions
Replies
7
Views
138
griss
griss
Back
Top