carpet cleaning turns into wdr!?!?

[gasaxe]

long story short....cleaning three story house. Start upstairs then middle level getting ready to move to basement and figure not enough h2o to finish job in fresh h20 tank... hook up to spigot on front of house to fill tank up. A bit of time goes by and i head downstairs to get started cleaning and low and behold ...WATER !!!
Frost free apparently busted in the wall bcause of hose being left on it. I extract water, finish cleaning and place airmovers. I called the realtor and explain the situation which he responded "yea weve had that happen before" He asked to leave ac on overnight and i offer to leave fans and bring a dehumidifier back latter that eve. and check on things...

come back about 3 to 4 hours latter and carpet is pretty much dry (it was all glue down or what i call cushion back) MY question is should i charge customer for drying out water since it wasnt my fault . I dont do water damage so not real sure the best way to handle it.
I left fans there overnight and went back next morning and all the carpet was thouroughly dry.

i used to check spigots when i had my old rig bcause of no fresh water tank i had to hook up at every job. dont hook up much anymore and just didnt pay attention this time....
what would have happened if someone else used that spigot besides me... they would have been in a world of s*&t, I feel like somebodys lucky it happened to me bcause i had equipment there to fix it NOW!!!

 

[J Scott W]

I learned years ago to always check those spigots. If this had happened while I was doing the job, I would feel obligated to dry it at my expense. I think most clients would see it the same way.

Scott Warrington

 

[Desk Jockey]

I had that happen to me several times over the years and it finally forced us to carry our own water.

The homeowner usually blamed us for breaking the pipe, despite the explanation of what actually happened.

Charge or not?

If they will pay you with out blame, I'd charge.

If it's going to cause a rub with a referral source I'd eat it.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Chavez would u eat anything ? jk bud.

Well....maybe? :wink:

 

[gasaxe]

thanks for the replies, the realtor that scheduled the cleaning completely understood the situation. I didnt discuss payment of time spent extracting water and fans etc.. The bill is being sent to the homeowner selling the property. Im probably just gonna eat it, stuff like this always come back to bite me in the azz. Its a pretty good ticket just for the cleaning.

 

[Guest]

I was doing a carpet cleaning job for Rodney Smith a wide reciver for the Panthers and he was getting a new dishwasher installed and the guys broke the water line and flooded the basement when I was there. Is that service or what!

 

[Rex Tyus]

I have heard of this before. Could someone explain to an ignorant redneck how turning the water on will cause the leak when the pressure on the line doesn't. I am certainly not qUestioning IF this happens or not. Just trying to get my head around the HOW.

 

[gasaxe]

I was doing a carpet cleaning job for Rodney Smith a wide reciver for the Panthers and he was getting a new dishwasher installed and the guys broke the water line and flooded the basement when I was there. Is that service or what!

pretty simple actually, a frost free hydrant/spigot shuts off water back in the wall. Depending on the length they come in 8",12" etc. there is a stem inside of a copper tube.
They should be installed tilted down so when water is shut off the remaining water in the tube between the outer part and where it shuts off will drain out to prevent freezing. If someone doesnt remove the hose during cold temps that water can remain in that section and freeze because it is exposed to colder air from the outside. The copper tube usually splits lengthwise from the expanding frozen water. next time the water is turned on water will escape through this rupture, more so if there is restriction to flow on the outside "hose" end of the spigot.
Typically in the past when i did not have fresh water tank and hooked up a hose on every job i had my water hose setup where i had a shutoff right at the faucet so i could shut off flow. If you listen you can hear the water running back in the wall plus it will not hold pressure once the faucet is shut off.. next time your in lowes/homedepot go to the plumbing section and pick up a frostfree hydrant and it will make sense.

They make some that stick up out of the ground that work on the same principle shutting off water down in the ground below the frost line. you pace gravel around the base and there is a drain in the bottom so when water is shut off it drains out down into the ground.

I should have checked it, that was my bad but what would have happened if someone else say a landscaper or painter used the same faucet??? or the new homeowner unknowingly turned it on to water something or wash car, They would have had to call some to come out and extract water and fix other damage from water sitting a heck of a lot longer than it did with me..