Plumbing can be messy. We had a little indoor waterfall today - very exciting, although that opinion was not shared by all. Fortunately the waterworks occurred in an unfinished basement that was just being used as storage. We were able to move the home owner's personal belonging out of the way, so there was no damage, just mess.

We were running some PVC (cpvc to be exact,) pipes in this addition from the new hot water heaters that are mounted outside the house. So I got to drill a hole from the outside of the house to the inside, low down by the basement. That was fun, even though it was freezing outside and the holes were in an awkward place.

We had to put a bend in the pipe that was held together with some plumbers glue. Once all the pieces were in place we considered whether or not to test the pipes with water. The glue is supposed to dry overnight, but the customer wanted hot water sooner. So we decided to test the pipes.

It appears the label was right on that one. The glue does take 12 hours to dry. The trouble is that when we realized that, water was spraying all over the basement. So everyone sprang into action. Stan ran to shut the water back off. The rest of us moved cardboard boxes off the floor. I ended up giving the concrete floor a good cleansing squeegee once everything was under control. It was one of those manageable crises that causes everyone to spring into action but is easily handled. Like an adrenaline rush without the hangover.

So, the pipes have to be firmly fitted before they can handle any built up fluid pressure.

I know that full-time plumbers have to deal with much more shit than this, I just never truly appreciated their efforts until now.