Bad Plumbing
During a recent inspection, I noticed some interesting details that I am sharing as a learning opportunity. The house is almost 100 years old and there were only slight signs of renovations on the outside. The interior renovations, however, completely modernized the space including laminate floors, pot lights everywhere, a five-piece bathroom offering lots of space, and a cozy setting on the main floor. The basement is usually my favourite area to explore because you can tell a lot about the state a home is in from this perspective. This house is another example of why I love basements, and I was less than thrilled to see what was there. Although the basement renovation appears innocuous at first glance, the deficiencies started stacking up once I took a closer look.
The PEX water lines (the white lines in this photo) are a recent upgrade from the original copper lines that greatly improve the reliability of the water supply, but their installation is less than perfect. One disadvantage to PEX water lines compared to the original copper is PEX’s sensitivity to heat. The manufacturer’s installation instructions for PEX water lines require that their installation avoid contact with hot surfaces like the air vent from the furnace and the exhaust vent from the clothes dryer. The issue is not that the high temperatures will melt the lines, but rather that the repeated heating causes weak spots in the material through thermal cycling. In this basement, I’ve circled the three points in less than two feet where the PEX is in direct contact with heat sources. The solution to the issue is easy, simply wrap the water lines with a foam pipe wrap wherever it comes into contact with heat sources. This is a cheap solution that can save you higher repair bills in the future, costing about $1 per foot to protect from heat preventing leaks, ruptures, and a possible flooded basement. Additionally, throughout this basement, I found water lines, copper and PEX, and electrical wires routed too close to heat sources; again, there is a cheap and easy solution to these issues through putting a small piece of pink insulation or card board between the wires and the heat source!
The next issue in this small corner of the basement is with the installation of the water softener. It looks nice and tidy and seems to be okay but looks can be deceiving. Here, the water softener is installed between the city water supply (shut off valve) and the water meter, something that is absolutely not allowed by the city. The correct installation is for the water meter to be installed within a couple of feet of where the city water supply enters the building and then the water softener gets installed after the water meter inside your home. In this image, although this might appear that the meter is located within a couple of feet of the shut off valve, it isn’t. In this case, the water line comes into the home, and the water softener is plumbed in before the water meter rather than after it. The issue with this installation is that, when the water softener goes into the regeneration mode, the purge and rinse water that is used to regenerate the softener is not measured for billing purposes. At 100 litres per regeneration cycle and one regeneration approximately every three days, that works out to 12,166 litres per year; at the current water rates, that is about $26 per year. While this seems to be a pretty insignificant amount of money in comparison to the $200 that I would estimate to repair this, the homeowner is not only responsible to fix this, but can also be fined by the city when a city official finds the infraction.
This final photo demonstrates a concerning potential water contamination hazard. There are two plumbing systems, the water supply (potable/drinking water) and the waste system (sewer). These two systems are isolated/independent from each other to prevent waste products and sewer gases from entering the water supply, called cross-contamination. To maintain the isolation of these systems, the Building Code of Ontario (under the cross-contamination and backflow) requires that any component in the water supply is physically distanced from the waste system. An example of this physical distancing occurs with fixtures like sinks, bathtubs, and toilets; in a sink, for example, there is an air gap between the faucet that sits several inches above the overflow hole for the sink. The other requirement is a water trap in the waste system that prevents sewer gases from entering the home; in a sink, for example, you can see this under the sink in the “P-trap”, the loop of pipe where there is often a disconnect so that you can remove it to retrieve items that have gone down the drain. In this corner of the basement, the drain line for the water softener is connected directly to the vertical waste pipe without an air gap or water trap. While there might be a low probability of sewage backup in this set up because of the upward loop that is circled, there remains a very high possibility of contamination from sewer gases and aerosolized bacteria. Given that this contamination would go into the water softener, this means it would end up throughout your home’s clean water supply, including the water you use to wash yourself and your dishes (for an example of this happening, see How a water softener poisoned a family - Backflow Consulting & Training)! The installation instructions for a water softener would never recommend this arrangement. Instead, they typically recommend running the drain to the laundry tub where there is an air gap to the tub. Some plumbers also chose to run the drain along the floor to the floor drain (sticking it into a pried open floor drain). This method seem okay if the floor drain is dry; however, if the floor drain becomes wet, the water softener’s drain line is now contacting waste water or sewage. For further information about how to avoid this serious health concern for your home’s clean water supply, I would recommend reading:
Cross Connections and Water Softeners – Department of Health, Minnesota
How To Inspect Your Own House, Part 7: Protect Your Water by Preventing Cross-Connections