Almost a Darwin Award Winner

I had a project set for today that I was determined to accomplish. I have to fix the outside faucet. The end of the pipe where the faucet attaches has a crack that allows water to leak out behind the faucet. I traced the water line down in the basement and went to work to replace the length of pipe about four feet long.

I was reefing on it with my pipe wrench and couldn't break the seal on the joint. I got my torch and tried heating up the elbow to allow for some expansion and contraction, again hoping to break the seal.

I drove to Home Depot for some advice. The guy there told me I could cut the pipe near the joint and then probably have better luck loosening that smaller section. If I still couldn't get the pipe out, I would have to saw into the connection in several points around the pipe in order to break it up and thereby remove it.

So I drove on back home, got my hack saw and began to cut. It was very slow going and really quite an arduous task, so I decided to speed things up with the Sawzall. That worked great. I fired it up and started cutting and tore through the pipe. It threw off a couple of little sparks but nothing that concerned me about setting the joists ablaze.

Suddenly I noticed a hissing sound. Sssssssssssssssssss! Next I smelled the rotten eggs. Yes, the water pipe I had been cutting into with a power saw, with sparks a flying, that I was heating up with a torch, was in fact my gas line.

I went into total panic mode when I realized what a stupid damn idiot I was. I ran upstairs to tell Susan and call the Gas Company. I ran back down stairs to shut off the pilot light and power. I also grabbed some duct tape and wrapped it around the pipe. Surprisingly, that helped to staunch the flow of gas pretty well. Gas lines are not under a lot of pressure, I now know.

I finally found the phone number for the Gas Company and after going through their phone tree, I accessed their emergency gas leak line where they put me on hold for ten minutes.

During this time, I decided to try and find the gas shutoff valve at the meter. All this time, I am really pissed at myself and running around and breathing heavily and not really thinking clearly. I work very well under pressure.

Anyway, I got the gas shut off and the smell of it dissipated quickly and then the Avista guy showed up. He double checked that I did indeed get the valve shut off properly and that there was no gas.

It was fortunate this happened now that I don't need the furnace. I have a guy who is coming next Sunday to replace the pipe I cut.

Once I had the chance to wind down and think about what happened, I am just flabbergasted at my ignorance and stupidity. How do you follow one water line and then loose it and pick up the gas line. God had an Angel sitting on my shoulder during all this because clearly, as close as I came, it is apparently not yet my time to go.

I am no longer allowed to work on pipes.