Neighbor is in extended care,house empty,realty company cares for it.Today they had a burst pipe.

She calls plumber from down the hill 25 miles away. He comes up with 24 year old son in his truck,not plumbing van,to do estimate.

Dogs barking,go outside,he is turning off my water

You a plumber ?

Yup,neighbor has a leak.

I take him to her meter,he turns off.

Say....do you have time to fix a section of copper pipe?

Got the time,not the tools or supplies.

Tell him,I got all the fixings and tools (I picked up at Lowes yesterday 1/2 and 3/4 pipes and fittings) He says,let me take a look.

So son comes over....how much I ask.

50 bucks maybe,but let me ask Dad.

Tells Dad to look,he says I trust you son,do it.

So he does.Getting steel stub outta 1/2 elbow was a bear,took us both( So I never could have fixed it myself).Then when he tried to solder copper to new joint kept getting wet.Had to unhook water heater lines to blow out.SUCCESS!

How about this 3/4 section,cut out and splice? Dad says OK,70 dollars total,Nice Scottish fella. So we traded snow and Husky and GSD stories,they have both kinds of dogs, just like me.

When he was done he says you know I gave you a very good deal since I'm here and it will pay for gas. Said Yup! I DO know what a deal it was and cant thank you enough.!!!

70 bucks and 2 pipe repairs,is that an Angel or what.....like he said 'God put me on your doorstep today',sure did,an Angel was sent.

Hows that for a story??

Went out and got almost all lines covered by those foam tubes,Looks GREAT.

Mrs says its Karma,tell you what,Brian and Jim sure earned a billion Karma points today,what nice kind people!

Fixing up my old house I learned a few things.

1. Replace your propane torch with the map gas (yellow bottle) torch. It burn hotter and will evaporate the drops of water faster or put more heat into what your soldering to help make up for what the water is sinking away.

2. Bread works. Cut the pipe and after the most of it quits draining stuff some bread into it to plug it for a short time, enough to solder your joint. Then you turn the water back on the breag gets soggy and washes away.

3. Always buy the bulk contractor bags of parts, elbows, t's etc, never know when you may need one.

I've known good plumber and bad ones, and I live in a house that has been remodeled 3 times in 60 years never with a licensed plumber present, judging by the aftermath. And I am hydrologically incompetent, I know this from experience. The good plumber I refer to my Mom who is on a fixed income, and her repairs cost half what mine do. I'm happy with that. God bless Dale.

Not weather related but I bought a new dishwasher recently and knew I better call the plumber for the install. Sure enough, no water shut off, no pipes to code, and the poor guy just shuddered and cursed while trying to level it over 3 different kitchen floor surfaces. Been there, done that - cheap at half the price not to do it again.

Auto shutoff water lines,major cool!Lowes has em

http://www.watts.com/pages/whatsnew/floodsafe_connectors.asp

So....one broken pipe has turned into a bathroom remodel,didnt see that coming,boy I have some rusty pipes! More I dug,more needs doing. Oh well,Mrs wanted some bathroom work....