SuzViews

Saga of the Leaking Pipe – It Begins

Suzanne Adnams at 7:31pm July 9
Saga of the leaking pipe: It begins with a small drip at a join in the 60 year old, lead main water pipe coming into our house in Edmonton. It’s been like this since we bought it – we’ve had plumbers check it out and didn’t seem to think there was much that could be done because the pipes were so old. Then Genoa comes in today to find water all around the pipe, and a MUCH bigger leak – but from the pipe…not the dripping join.

So of course she phones Epcor, who tell her it’s not their problem – we need to call a plumber. So she calls me in Winnipeg and we arrange for a plumber to come – at great cost – $110 for the service call, but they arrive pretty quickly.

The plumber takes a look and determines that the leak is on the city-side of the pipe – at or below the concrete level, and appears to be leaking into the concrete. The plumber can’t/won’t touch it and suggests we call the city 24hr emergency line to get it reported right away…and confirms the charge for the service call, of course. Ok so now we go to the City of Edmonton…

After taking 1/2 hours to get the contact information for the City of Edmonton (our web access was down in Winnipeg, probably because of the Tstorms today – Ok so that’s not really the City of Edmonton’s fault…), I call the emergency number, which actually goes to 311. I patiently explain to the nice lady on the phone what has happened, and she takes down all the contact info to log a ticket to the public works dept so they can call back to arrange a call. So far, so good…seem to be getting close to someone being able to do something!

Ever efficient, someone from the city works dept calls Evan back within about 1/2 hour to follow up. But they think it’s a sewer backup, which of course has nothing to do with this issue and has never been mentioned. This is the main water line coming into the house! Apparently, the city works dept is only responsible for water LEAVING the house, not water ENTERING the house. Three guesses who handles that…

That’s right: EPCOR! So the city directs Evan to contact the afterhours service number at EPCOR, which he did and got through to someone right away. EPCOR is sending someone out to look at it asap. But that’s not bad really: it only took 3 hours to end up talking to the same people about sending someone out to look at the same problem. Could have been worse, I guess – in some cities you would have spent that 3 hours on hold!

Stay tuned…I’m pretty sure this isn’t over yet. I’ll keep you all updated as this unfolds…

8:15pm July 9
Ok so EPCOR has arrived, looked at it, and declared that all they can do is turn the water off at the main on the property line…it’s up to us to get a plumber to fix the pipe!! AAARRRRGGHHHHH! *tears at hair*

8:30pm July 9
Ever hopeful, I call the plumber back and explain my sad saga once more…at least they are still answering at 7:30 MST in the evening, right? Very nice lady is shocked and stunned that the city isn’t responsible for the main pipe coming into the house, and not sure that this is something that they can do. She promises to pass this back to Matt the plumber, and have him call to discuss in more detail. Meanwhile, I left it up to E&G to decide whether it was necessary to turn the water off to the house…wonder what they agreed to in the end?

8:32pm July 9
So in the meantime, if ANYONE in Edmonton knows who to call to get a new line put in from the water main to the house ASAP – PLEASE let me know right away! I’m very close to losing it right now…

8:38pm July 9
and while I wait for a call back from the plumber, I think I’d better go take my blood pressure…

8:45pm July 9
…and with all this water leak stuff in Edmonton, I’m afraid to go downstairs here in Winnipeg! After the deluge we’ve had today, I’m half expecting to find water in our basement too! ha ha