[Bill]

I have seen a lot of strange things Ho's do. Nothing surprises me any more.
Whats the most idiotic thing you ever saw a HO do to repair plumbing?

I many times saw HO's try to glue metal fittings to pex!

 

[Ron]

I think I said this one before, HO reduced his toilet waste line down to 2" for about 40' and he wondered my he was having a drain problem. :bangin:

 

[Bill]

I had a woman who called to say her toilet was overflowing. I got there and she said she watched one of those DIY programs and decided to replace the wax ring herself. And yes, I swear, she left the plastic on the wax ring!

 

[Ron]

How about the ho calling up to say there tub is clogged and wants you to come and unclog it, you get there and all you have to do is hit the trip lever. :laughing:

 

[service guy]

I had a woman who called to say her toilet was overflowing. I got there and she said she watched one of those DIY programs and decided to replace the wax ring herself. And yes, I swear, she left the plastic on the wax ring!

Priceless. I don't think I can beat that one, utterly retarded.:stupid:

 

[service guy]

I have had many, many HOs who create elaborate drains for their leaking T+P relief valves, they think its supposed to leak!!! One lady had a long piping system installed so that it would drip in her floor drain instead of filling buckets...she was shocked when I explained that it isn't supposed to drip unless there is a problem!

 

[smellslike$tome]

I think I said this one before, HO reduced his toilet waste line down to 2" for about 40' and he wondered my he was having a drain problem. :bangin:

Went on a call where a flipper had done this same thing. Tied 3" pvc onto 60 year old 2" galvanized. I took pictures of everything. There were at least a half dozen other gross code violations and that was without really looking hard.

I told the young woman who had bought the house to get an attorney immediately, promised to e-mail her the photos, and offered to testify if she needed me to.

 

[uaplumber]

I can think of a couple off the top of my head.

1. HO called about hearing water running but not being able to find the source. When I arrived I could hear the water, I followed the sound down to the basement bathroom and turned off the tub faucet.

2. HO called " I just vacuumed out this furnace I bought from you last year and now it won't work. Get out here and fix it now!". I went out, put the blower door back on and voila! the furnace worked again. I explained how the interlock switch on the door keeps HO's from injuring themselves as I wrote up his bill. 1.5 hours travel, 1 hour labour minimum, plus mileage. I knew what the problem was when I was on the phone with him, but hey, he wanted to be an ass.

 

[GrumpyPlumber]

HO went online and somehow interperetted advice to put a 3/4" plug in his leaking boiler relief outlet...this was the last straw as far as my opinion of online DIY plumbing advice.

I got the call, explaining his hot water was dirty and foaming in the shower...also drying their hair when they showered.

I almost fell over when I saw the plug, shut off the boiler immediately, turns out the convection loop inside his indirect was leaking & backfeeding into the boiler causing the drip when it got to 30 psi.

They had propylene glycol in the heating system, the plug ensured a nice cross connection once the pressure in the boiler was at house pressure.

I gave him a brief lecture on how incredibly lucky he was that his boiler hadn't exploded or his family hadn't yet been poisoned, then replaced the indirect.

 

[Plumberman]

Had a similar experince grumpy...
Call came in for a water heater leaking so I loaded up and got out to the house. The HO showed me where the heater was and I instantly smelled gas and could hear water hitting the floor. I told him to just stand there outside the garage because I wasnt sure what I was about to get into. I opened the door to the utility door and heard the ignighter sparking. I turned and ran out of the garage and cut the meter off to the house. He asked "Why did you turn my gas off? I asked him if he could smell the gas coming from the room and he said he wasent sure what that smell was. I educated him a bit and went back into the room the heater was way!! too hot about 180-200 degrees range. Water was gushing out of the flue chamber because he had "plugged the t&p. Water was coming out of the side connections as well and finding its way to the combustion chamber. I put a test on the gas and the flex was leaking on the heater side. He told him he had tried to tighten it a few days earlier so for a "few days" this thing was leaking gas in a small room. I told him he was lucky the heater didnt exploded and demolish his house. 50 gallon gas heater, on Myth Busters when they were seeing how bad they blew up I think the 50 flew more than 300 ft in the air. Shut the water down and changed the heater. All this and the heater was still under warrenty....