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Got up Thursday morning to a half inch of muddy water in the finished basement. The hole in the pipe from the well leaked enough water to come up under the window well and push about 50 gallons of muddy water through the window.
Only down 4 1/2 feet. Luckily neighbor has a backhoe. Got if fixed and thought all was good. No. Service guy said when system lost pressure and then repressurized it stirred up mud and crud in the system and pushed it into the geothermal heat pump and clogged the coil. Can't be cleaned. So looks like i have to replace a $10,000 heat pump. Gosh but don't i feel lucky.

Did they say 'why' it can't be cleaned?

It is a tube inside of a tube. He said well water scales them up and costs as much to replace the heat exchanger coil as a whole new unit. Getting behind on work too. Got 3 riders and 2 push mowers in the shop. Need to get those done because i have more waiting to pickup for annual maintenance

Dang that sucks hammer.
Good luck to you

Scrubcadet10 said:

Dang that sucks hammer.
Good luck to you

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Thanks.

Been leaking for a while. The ground is saturated clay. Like standing and working in wet peanutbutter. I was nervous about possible cave in it being deep enough at about 5 feet and the sides being so soft that i had someone helping. Just in case.

Bummer, be careful in that ditch !

I was once in one that wasn't as deep but collapsed & knocked to my knees, making it much deeper & me more trapped. My Uncle was on the backhoe (luckily) & put the bucket right down to me, I grabbed onto the teeth & he pulled me out.

That is just something one never forgets.. That wet clay is super heavy...

Found the culprit. This didn't happen overnight. And yes, wet clay is about as dense as lead. I'm getting too old for this stuff.

I see the pic, no that had to take a long time.. Is that pipe lead ?

I'm getting too old for some of the stuff that happens here as well. We do the best we can..

Bummer about your geo-heat pump too. Ouch..

It is 1" galvanized steel put in in 1975.

That's pretty old. I suppose a thorough check of the rest of the line is in order now. Hope you get lucky and figure out a way to clean it up instead of replacing it.

Maybe a bigger hammer.

One would hope a geo system would be once only job .
However 43 years aint that bad so it will not owe you any money.
Bummer happening right now though .

PTmowerMech said:

That's pretty old. I suppose a thorough check of the rest of the line is in order now. Hope you get lucky and figure out a way to clean it up instead of replacing it.

Maybe a bigger hammer.

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It might come to that.

Hammermechanicman said:

It might come to that.

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Or a wrecking ball

Strange how that galvanized pipe leak area looks worn thru, as if it was rubbing something ? Not likely underground, just have never seen a leak spot like that.

Yeah , weird, at least i got it fixed and the trench filled in before it snowed. For you folks in Texas that is white stuff that falls out of the sky and is cold. LOL
On a happier note i think i salvaged the heat pump. Made up a rig of a couple PVC fittings and a valve stem and put 140psi of air to it and it blew the crap out that was plugging it. HVAC guy said run it and see what happens. Nothing to lose.

7394 said:

Strange how that galvanized pipe leak area looks worn thru, as if it was rubbing something ? Not likely underground, just have never seen a leak spot like that.

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It almost looks like it was soldered or brazed, and the metal they used broke loose.

I thought that it was welded but it wasn't. There is another spot like the hole but not all the way through. Very strange, both spots look worn and not corroded or rusted. The pipe is cemented to the house so can't believe it is moving. Not sure if it is just voo doo or magic. The rest of the pipe i had to cut out was solid.

Check the pH of the soils around the house
It could be acid attack

With all that water and electrical in the area, has anyone checked for an underground electrolyzing? May be a shorted power wire using the pipe as a ground? Had that on my grandfathers farm when they buried the power line and didn’t use the proper cable. That was over 50 years ago, I doubt that it would be you cause, but thought I would mention it.

Hammermechanicman said:

I thought that it was welded but it wasn't. There is another spot like the hole but not all the way through. Very strange, both spots look worn and not corroded or rusted. The pipe is cemented to the house so can't believe it is moving. Not sure if it is just voo doo or magic. The rest of the pipe i had to cut out was solid.

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That's it. Your house is haunted. Problem solved. lol

Not sure if i need a plumber or a priest.

Hammermechanicman said:

Not sure if i need a plumber or a priest.

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get a priest to pray for a plumber to show up.

That is a strange one.. Good you got it fixed & backfilled etc..

This problem, in most cases, occurs in premises that are more than 10 years old. As a result of the exploitation of the building, it is necessary to maintain the water supply system on time. Unfortunately, many make big mistakes and don't turn to companies like wilcoplumbing.com.au for help. Sometimes there are minor problems, and if they fix them on time, it will not lead to serious consequences. Your post is an example of how frivolous the house owner's attitude to maintaining the house in good condition. Now, to eliminate this problem, you will need to spend a lot of time, effort, and money.

Wiziard said:

This problem, in most cases, occurs in premises that are more than 10 years old. As a result of the exploitation of the building, it is necessary to maintain the water supply system on time. Unfortunately, many make big mistakes and don't turn to companies like wilcoplumbing.com.au for help. Sometimes there are minor problems, and if they fix them on time, it will not lead to serious consequences. Your post is an example of how frivolous the house owner's attitude to maintaining the house in good condition. Now, to eliminate this problem, you will need to spend a lot of time, effort, and money.

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i'm sure Hammer would have loved for someone to fly to his house from Australia to fix his pipe.
$$$