Well, it's time for an update. It's been a long winter and I've been fighting several issues, some shop related and some not. I've been in a general funk and have been in no hurry to pour concrete in the cold temperatures. Never could seem to work out the timing, that's okay I did not want to pour in risky temperatures.
The other issue was completing the under-slab plumbing and having it inspected before the concrete pour. I started the plumbing. but found out my back was not cooperating, so I found a plumber to complete the DWV system and thought we were past that obstacle. Part of the inspection is filling a 10' high standpipe connected to the DWV system with water and not having it loose any water for 15 minutes.
The first day I found it leaked down in less than 5 minutes, this meant a leak in the system. I tried to contact the plumber and even offered to pay him to fix what was likely his mistake. He totally ghosted me and I frankly didn't feel like fighting him over this. It took some doing, but I finally located the leak in a coupling on the 3" line that runs the full length of the building to the outside RV dump connection. The problem is this coupling was nearly 2' down in a 4" wide trench in the clay building pad. You can see it just barely in this picture:
My back was not up to hand digging thru the rock hard clay, so a mini-ex was rented. A hole was dug large enough to work on the bad joint:
This was going to be a pain in the *** to cut the pipe, pull it apart far enough to put a new coupling and another length of pipe and finally another coupling to allow the plumbing to all line up again.
There is about 40 feet of 3" PVC in a semi collapsed 4" wide trench that I needed to pull back 8-10" and then pull back together to make up the joint. No way I was moving that pipe by hand even with help from others.
After some late night dreaming about how to tackle this, I came up with the following idea: Use the winch on the Jeep to pull the pipe back together after using the tractor to pull the pipe apart. I need to have the Jeep close enough to the repair to be able to operate the remote control ( I sure wish this winch had wireless control). I parked the Jeep over the trench and ran the line outside to a ****** block attached to the Tacoma and then back to the pipe joint so I could get the pull in the right direction.
I was concerned about aligning the pipe pieces while pulling them back together, so I designed and 3D printed a slip-fit "funnel" to help guide the repaired pipe back into the coupling. I only had one shot to get this right and one hand would be running the winch control, so not a lot of hands left over to guide the pipe into place. Pics of the "funnel" follow:
This is the standpipe on the outside of the building, I put a strap around this and after cutting the PVC at the failed joint, I could pull the pipe back easily through the trench with the tractor bucket curl.
I wish I had videoed the the pulling apart and back together operation as it worked well beyond my expectations. Here is a picture of the winch line and strap after having pulled the pipe back together:
Once complete, I used an oscillating tool and cut the "funnel" off the coupling. Filled the system with water and 5 minutes later it was draining again
. That meant another leak and the mini-ex had been returned by then
.
I had no idea where the leak was and the trenches outside the building had collapsed over the pipe due to rain washing them shut. The next day I decide to dig down to the test cap at the lowest point in the system and work back from there. I am beyond upset at this point.
The test cap was about 2-1/2' down, just by the 2x4 in the picture with the Tacoma in it up above ^. After a fun round of digging by hand with a back brace on, I found the test cap and it was leaking
. Yes, no more digging. I put a real 3" PVC cap on, let the glue dry and then filled the standpipe again. After an hour, standpipe was still full.
.
Inspection was called for and passed the next day! Concrete will now be this coming week or the following week! Sorry for the long post, just thought I would share the joys of working with the profesional plumber who left me with two bad glue joints and then totally ghosted me. I understand this was a small job, but I did after all offer to pay him to fix his mistakes...
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