After experiencing a rise in temperatures last week, hitting almost 96° on Friday, we experienced an increase in calls relating to broken water mains. It is no surprise that any considerable change in temperature (warm or cold) will cause a shift in the ground, resulting in older pipes to cause a leak. In many cases the older pipes below ground are in held in place only due to corrosion/rust on the pipe and the smallest shift of the pipe can easily cause a water line to leak.
One particular job in Brooklyn had the DEP scratching their heads for a few hours. They were not able to determine whose water main was leaking as two neighboring houses both had a hissing noise on their water main, which indicates the pipe is leaking.
The DEP field crew dug a test hole in the street and quickly determined which house was leaking, resulting in a violation notice to fix the broken pipe within three days.
The water main test hole |
The leak wasn’t terrible but the homeowner was concerned and wanted us to replace the water main the very next day.
First we setup the job site for safety before we began digging as per standard protocol.
Job site safety! |
The crew began by excavating the same hole previously opened by DEP so we could close the city connection, stop the leak and continue digging for the new copper water main installation.
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While excavating we were able to locate the exact location of the leaking pipe which seemed to be a result of an old and corroded water line.
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The crew continued to dig and make below ground water main tunnels until the new water line was re-connected on the inside of the house.
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As well as connected back to the city main in the roadway.
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The entire water main installation was completed within ten hours leaving the customer relieved of any additional issues with DEP and the possibility of having their water main supply shut off.
