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PSA: spent 6 weeks hunting a leak in my basement and it was a $4 rubber washer
So I noticed a wet spot on the basement floor near the water heater back in early March, and I figured the tank was going. I spent six weeks crawling around with a flashlight, checking the pan, the pipes, and even cut open a wall thinking a joint was weeping behind it. Turned out the whole mess was a $4 rubber washer on the drain valve that had gone flat, and I only caught it because I finally put a dry paper towel under the valve overnight. Now I keep a bag of spare washers in the junk drawer, but I still feel dumb about the wall. Has anyone else chased a phantom leak that turned out to be something stupid cheap?
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quinnb635d ago
That line about cutting open a wall really got me, because a buddy of mine did the exact same thing last summer. He had water pooling by his furnace and swore up and down it was a slab leak, so he paid a guy $400 just to look at it. Turned out the hose on his humidifier had a pinhole in it, a $7 part from the hardware store. He patched the drywall himself and now he jokes that the hole is his reminder to check the cheap stuff first. The paper towel trick is smart, I'm going to remember that one.
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