Another plumbing problem

Email to the president of the condo association. Subject: Plumbing leaks in Unit ____

Hi, _________.

[A maintenance person] is fixing the problem with the water heater. By the way, it was absurd of [the head maintenance person] to imply that someone cut the pipe. Nobody is ever here but me, and the only people with keys to my place are the [condominium] management office, [my neighbor] across the hall, and me. The only person who cut the pipe was the licensed plumber who installed the water heater in October, 2008. And I personally watched him soldering the pipes.

It seems to be too much of a coincidence that I should be getting plumbing leaks twice in a row following the shutdown of the #10 water lines. A few weeks ago, the water line to my refrigerator sprung a leak following a shutdown, and now, the water heater.* Both of these were installed last fall by (different) licensed plumbers. For people who work in this building, and who are not licensed plumbers, to tell me that the plumbers didn't install things properly seems now to strain credulity. It appears, rather, that the lines are not being shut down and brought back up properly, resulting in a burst of pressure that is strong enough to damage properly installed plumbing equipment.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

[me]

__________________
*The #10 lines were shut down yesterday, 6/5/09.

I woke up at 9-something this morning with people in my apartment (again). One of my water heater pipes apparently came apart at a joint and was spilling water all over the building. My next door neighbor had several inches of water in her bedroom (she woke up and slipped!). She said a maintenance person was in there for three hours vacuuming the water up. I had 1/2 inch to an inch of water in my second bedroom (this room) (next to my neighbor's bedroom). I got that up with my Hoover Floor Mate (took a while) and cleaned the floor. The water heater is next to the cat box closet (and the cats fling litter onto the floor), so there was cat litter mud everywhere mixed with the water.

There was also flooding on the floor below (a "common area" by the pool deck).

Can you believe the head maintenance man said someone cut the pipe? He even posited that theory to the condo association president (who was here also). I'm sorry, but there's a pressure problem here, and that maintenance man is probably to blame. He's a moron.

The head maintenance man said it was my problem and I called the plumber who installed the water heater. They wanted $250 for a service call (not including parts). The other maintenance guy was standing around when I called them and offered to do the job for $175. So I let him do it. It's fixed now. If it happens again, it's unequivocally the condo association's fault.

I felt so bad about my next-door neighbor.

P.S. My Magic Jack was sitting on the floor by the computer and was full of water. I'm letting it dry out now. (I may need to get a new one.)

P.P.S. Well, this floor is clean. Yea! The living room floor is now a mess, since it got tracked up.