I remember when I watched the video I couldn't stop laughing at the lady with the vacuum. Every time she turns it on it made me laugh. The damage is done. That vacuum is doing nothing lady. Nothing.
With the first clip, it was actually a cheap landlord who hired that plumber who said he could do the job without turning the water off because the landlord didnt want to have to shut it off because she would have to pay other apartment owners. She ended up replacing most of that apartment and repairing some damaged in the one below it.
@@RogerWakefield True. But they were in an apartment building. Which means if you cut water off to one unit on one floor, you cut it off for everyone else too.
Upon arrival, most professional service plumbers will either at least view meter location, and-or the water service line location, which in turn will have a full port ball valve, or a relic gate valve that should have been replaced back when the dibasoars roamed. If they can't determine which meter is for which utility, and-or water service line identification. They are definitely in the wrong occupation. 26-years professional service plumber on paper, journeyman licence/card in wallet. Must be a over night self-proclaimed handyman, station wagon with 2 pipe wrenches hanging on the back swing door. Along with a propane tank, that came within his bbq.
Decades ago, my girlfriend lived in a basement apartment with a couple of girls. She and I were out and about and a cloudburst rolled through and dumped a boat load of rain. Upon returning to the apartment, we found the apartment with an inch or so of water in it. Her roommate was sleeping and woke up and looked out the glass of the French door at the bottom of the stairwell and there was 5 feet of water in the stairwell due to a plugged drain. The roommate thought she could open the door “quick” and step out and close it behind her before the water could flood the apartment. To say the least, she didn’t make it!!!
As a plumber my self I find these clips hilarious. A good sayin is, if you think a good plumber is expensive, wait until you hire a bad one. Often you get to pay the bad and the good one.
I read something online where a plumber went to a hotel to fix a toilet clog with the snake-claw thingy and pulled out a whole shower curtain, which was very perplexing for the people there since the shower curtain in that bathroom was still there, until one of the housekeepers called them up in a panic because apparently the claw had come out into one of the neighboring toilets that she was cleaning, flailed around until it grabbed the curtain, and then dragged it back to the original toilet.
That happened to me years ago when I lived in an apartment. Apartment sent maintenance guy to unclog a drain in apartment next door. He ran the snake in came up under my bathroom sink and busted out the trap and proceeded to tear everything up I had under the sink. I wasn't home when I got home bathroom looked like a wreck. I don't know why but the clogged up sewer backed up into my shower tub and drained back down. Not only was the bathroom a wreck with things thrown all over under the sink the entire apartment stunk like a sewer. When I went to tell the office of course the guy tried to blame me said I was messing with the plumbing.
I work in a restaurant, and one day, the faucet for the dish pit blew off the handles, and for like ten minutes the managers and staff were running around trying to find the main line to turn off water. All I had to do was turn the handle on the faucet. Lol brilliant.
My father was a plumber for 45 years and I accompanied him on his job for fun and by curiosity on some occasions. Your videos amuse me and give me some nostalgia. If he was still alive (he's dead three years ago), I'm sure we could have had a good laugh with your videos ^^ (sorry for the grammatical mistakes, I'm french~)
Sorry to hear about your Dad’s passing! I’m sure he would have experienced some of these horror stories himself as a plumber dealing with the good, bad and the ugly of plumbing systems, sure would have been character building!
One of my plumbing stories: im an hvac tech and the day was slow so they had me help the plumber carry a snake into a basement and he asked me to hold the light for him while he snaked... i held the light from the opposite end of the basement and sure enough as soon as he broke through the tree roots he got sprayed right in the face with backed up sewage (roots raised the pitch of the line)
I kid you not the second he cut through that clogged sewer pipe my toddler came up with a poopy diaper so I caught a whiff, I thought I was losing it 🤣
New plumbing apprentice here, my name is Nick. Customer had a clogged kitchen drain. Removed the P trap assembly, ran the small rooter down the inch and a half kitchen line into the main trunk line as far as it would go, easily 75 feet or more. Didn't feel the clog. No water backup on the outside cleanout. Water flows great everywhere else in the house. Reassembled the P trap, filled sink with hot water, slow drain then stops back up again. Repeated this process about 3 or so times. Ended up in the crawlspace cutting the kitchen line near the trunk and running some scrap pex line through it (with a bucket handy). Largest grease clog my journeyman has seen in a while, slopped right out there into the bucket and had us gag. Reconnected the pipe with metal reinforced fernco couplings, re-strapped the line with proper fall, sink drained like a champion! Don't put anything down your drains but water. Garbage disposals don't make your drain lines immune from clogs, either.
With grease clogs your cable will go through it like a stick in mud, and when you pull the cable back out, it closes back up. Best way to run it is to put like 4 feet of cable in, and then take a rag and wrap it around it. Some people tie it over and under, but its more likely to fall off. I use 2 strips of electeical tape and tape it tight. Also the cable spinning will grip the fibers on the cloth and keep it held on. Then when you run the line the rag pushes the grease out. Only way those grease clogs get pushed out. And water is your friend on drains. If you are able to attach a setup to the faucet so you can run water into the line once you get it somewhat unclogged, it helps flush out the rest of the grease. I have even used doubled up rags on a mainline that had a pulp clog.
Same thing applies for garbage disposals ^^^ It might not be greasy but garbage disposals grinf food down to a peanut butter like consistiency and wreaks havoc
I did cutting the copper without shutting the water down. Alone. Meter buried under a brick pile and house cut off hadn't been located yet. My plumber left for lunch and i decided to stay. Lesson learned.
Roger, we loved watching your reactions to these. My wife's grandfather was a plumber in Detroit and our 2 year old son LOVES plumbing. We've seen just about every bad/funny video out there and a lot of the better instructional ones - naturally we found your channel as our favorite of the latter group, but it's great to see you reacting to the funny ones too. My kid Marcus knows all the parts inside both of our toilets, supply lines, drains, and wants to go in the basement to look at pipes. Keep up the good work!
2 Years ago the flat over mine was being renovated (from what I can tell, by the cheapest labourers the owner could find). So we are sittting in the kitchen, suddenly the everything goes dark, girlfriend goes to the fusebox, fuse for kitchen is down. I feel something drip on me. What? Where did that come from? Looking up I see our ligts turned into a sprinkler system (it had 4 arms with 5 spotlights) and scream to girlfriend not to reactivate the electricity. Turns out, the guys working upstairs flooded the upper flats kitchen somehow, the water got inside the cables for our kitchen and shorted everything for a few days. They brought in industrial dehumidifiers the same day. Moral of the story is: Don't cheap out on construction/repair workers. PS.: My mother used the cheapest workers when building her house. Result: water pipes broke 2 times within 3 years, everytime setting the house under water, 20cm deep in the downstairs rooms, dehumidifiers running 24/7 for 2 months. Had to live somewhere else for those 2 months. (Water was so deep because it always ruptured, when nobody was home for a few hours. also, it was the same pipe both times.)
I've seen that first one, apparently the landlord was cheap and went with the cheapest plumber, but also told him to not shut off the main water line as all the apartments would be affected, she also would charge tenants $150 for every 30 minutes it was off. Still doesn't excuse him from telling the land lord no and not leaving it on.
Yeah, the “plumber” was actually cheap labour who probably didn’t know what on earth he was doing, but I put a lot more blame on the landlord on skimping out to save a dime, only to cause heaps of damage and have to pay in the tens of thousands. And look at it as well from the perspective of the tenant or owner below getting flooded, I’d be pissed hearing that the owner above me was too cheap to get the job done properly and was the root cause of why water was rushing down from the ceiling as that is terrifying and stressful knowing how much damage that can cause.
I had an experience where I needed to clean the hot water valve on my shower and just started taking it apart, water shot the valve into the wall and started flooding the bathroom, the only person who knew how to fix it was my dad... who was currently in jail so I called the jail so I could talk to him to ask him where the shutoff was. Long story short. KNOW WHERE THE WATER SHUT OFF IS. Lol
watching the carpet getting ruined by all that water is giving me flashbacks of the many times I had floods. Now every time I hear water running, it puts me on edge. the worst flood I had was from a broken water line in the street, flowing all the way down into my basement. I'm still pissed at my city officials since it was their water line that broke and damaged my home, and they say it's not their problem.
Came across your channel I'm also a plumber I'm 55 yes old now started at 13yrs old us as plumbers have always at one time have come across situations that basically we screwed up on this is why you have to put in so many work hours and school hours to learn so we as plumbers make the right decision or you either get sued or possibly your license yanked by the state that your licensed in I did subscribe to your channel great video
I've done a lot of service work in the past, actually returning to plumbing next week. We had one service call, an old folks home, main sewer stopped up. This was on thanksgiving, so obviously there was a lot of substance running down that main. We found a cleanout in a maintenance closet and started snaking. After about 5 minutes we felt we got through the clog and pulled the snake back, bringing an ENTIRE turkey dinner with it. I mean everything, turkey, full potatoes, cranberries, fixings, bread. You name it, we pulled up an entire dinner for at least a family of 4! Wild!
My first year being an apprentice I got called to work with one of our service guys. I am an apprentice doing rough construction. Well we had a backed up main and our machine didn’t have enough cable. We were about 200 ft from the house, i dug about 4 feet down and found two pipes side by side one of witch was ours and the other we were unsure of. We needed a clean out in place to continue our run. Man when I busted that pipe it was like a fire hydrant getting knocked off its base right in my face, running away still getting blasted by you know what. I was in the stink until we left about 11:30 p.m.
a geyser! lol ive seen one myself!!! 4 story house all backed up, pop the lid to the cleanout and POOOOOOOOF! i started to back up and almost spidermaned up the wall, i was between the house and the cleanout, not smart lol it was like legit 4' high maybe 5' poogeyser
Commenting after first video. Background: “1st year apprentice” although I started after the school year, so I have not even attended a single class yet. I work in new construction, on a trim crew. Been on the job for about 8 months. My first day stopping out a house, I turned off the water. I did not drain the system. I was in the main, cutting a pex line for the toilet on the second floor. My foreman was PISSED AF. I will never forget that piece of pex hitting me in the face while I was blinded by water. If I ever did this, luckily I could plug it while someone else (a plumber) shuts water off and drains a hose bib or something. I haven’t even attended a single class (I’m not even allowed to do work unsupervised by a journeyman) and the people I work with consider this mistake far beneath me. These people paid for this guy to come into their home. Think about that
I'm going for pre-apprentice training when I'm done my dads place. I want to be prepared before I go to work. And I want to make a electric wire cutter for non moving pipe. Alot of neat tools but your brain is the best one and I've dealt with alot of plumbing before, installing etc. Thank God for good plumbers. God bless you Roger!
I work for a pipefitter union and I had to make a live line repair. The refinery didn’t want to turn the water off in that line since it was the safety water line. Had to take apart the bad section out crew damaged and put everything back together while the water was running the whole time. End result repair was successful and no more leak.
The first video happened in New York City in a high rise, trying to not pay the turn water off fee for building, so many ways to solve that but e had nothing. Funny regardless!!!
I 'm a Master Plumber myself and when I came across this video I split a gut watching it. Most of my work was in the service end and I've seen some of the most pitiful attempts at plumbing repairs. If the customers had called a REAL plumber to begin with, the bill would have been much much less and damage avoided. Retired now and glad to be. Take care and keep laughing.
I had a minor rush about a month ago at night when my hose bib was dripping and I went to tighten it down and something stripped out and the water came out full blast. Luckily I have a meter key and know exactly where my main was. Had it off in a few mins. The problem was worse when all the Hone Depots around closed at 8pm and it was after that. Found one open till 9pm and made it down there with 15 mins before closing.. Picked up the last dang 3/4" hose bib they had and replaced it. I started to think I was gona have the water shutoff all night. Because i couldnt get the valve and my main shuts off mine and my renters in back's water.
Apprentice here! I can think of many times i had stuff like this happen. Ill go with the sewer one lol. Ok so we were trying to T into an existing sewerline for something new in the house. The house was undergoing renovations and the construction crew inside was not very smart to say the least. One of them pulled the plug for the grinder pump and they used the toilet for awhile. When we cut into the line pounds and pounds and pounds of think poop and corn came out into the hole we were working in. It was amazing. We had no idea he unplugged it and we were only cutting into it so we could put our fitting. If we knew it was plugged we would brought buckets. Well lets just say we spent the better part of 45-50 minutes shoveling shit out of our work hole. I gaged and puked the whole time snd my boss laughed at me and called me a light weight. He even stuck his face near it and sniffed and said "yum yum" just to mess with me
This definitely has happened to most of us 😂😂 Im pretty sure I was 16 when I was a first year apprentice and I got 💩 on my hand and I washed my hands off with clear primer ahahah I no longer cared about the 💩 on my hand. All I could think of was the burning pain from the primer soaking into my cuts
Hello in Texas, Mr. Wakefield! I’m a new DIY plumber, purely in order to save money. Right now I’m pulling my 60 year old toilet in order to auger the MSL. Thanks for your frank plumbing reviews as I muddle my way through. Charlene, in Florida
The worst sewer job i had to do was in a basement that was full of stuff, and the sewer had been backing up for months. All the stuff was encrusted with sewage and black mold. They had a sump pump pumping the sewage out into their yard!We told the landlord that we could use to have some of the stuff out of the way when we come back to unclog it. Well, the next day we came back and all of the stuff had been moved into a pile OVER TOP OF THE HOUSE TRAP/CLEANOUT! We didnt have time to wait and have them move it again, so we just took shovels and moved the pile. It took over an hour to move the pile, and about an hour to unclog, but i ended up getting sick from the mold and old sewage that was everywhere, even halfway up the old insulated walls.
The video at 11:40 is deadpool getting captured by Colossus and cutting his way through. Then 11:53 happens: *"Oh there's the money shot. Are ya there god, it's me Margaret."* 🤣
We installed a new hot water tank in my home. One of the brass valves we installed had a manufactures defect and started spraying out the normally solid side. In a clints home, Which hadn't had water on in years. We had just finished refurbishing a bathroom upstares. So we turned up the water to test our work and in an unrelated part of the house a line below making water rain form the ceiling. Shut the water off and found the leak. Apparently, someone had used jb weld 3/4 of the way around an elbow instead of solder. Due to it being next to a stud. Of cores, we fixed it the right way by taking lose a joint further down. Then using the slack to access the elbow.
We found a heat shield to use in such situations that worked pretty well, then when shark-bites came out tended to use those in places that weren't gonna be permanently shut-in (just in case they ever failed).
8:49 Roger the part when you said be very careful made me laugh so hard U nearly woke my dad, thanks for always making me laugh cause I legit have tears rolling down my eyes.
That first video. My college tutor in England showed to me and my class on our first year of plumbing. He asked us what we'd do and we all stated that you'd find the stop tap and turn it off to stop the water then drain the system easy. However others will have different views obviously
Re: The first clip, do americans really have only one central shut-off valve for water per house (or even for the entire appartment building...)? Here we usually have shut offs in every appartment and often even seperate ones for kitchen, bathroom and washing machine / dishwasher 😅
As far as I know, it depends on how old the building is. When our hot water heater burst, we learned the hard way that there was no shut off other than shutting off the water to the house. When we replaced it, we had a shut off inatalled at the same time. The house was built (cheaply) in 1947.
@@caratessichareel7972 If an owner knows there is only one valve cause a house is old and is too cheap to 'fix' the problem before a more serious problem comes up....they are ignorant...the amount of OLD houses we fixed in this manner in our state (Maine) was very high numbers...most houses tend to be up to a century old. Any new house got full shut-offs for each sink, toilet, tub, or room depending on how easy it was to reach the areas needed. Even in the late 70's when I started helping my dad we did this. Cause it was common sense to do so.
The first video descriptions talks about the building being old and the landlord being too cheap to upgrade the water system for each apartment shut off
I'm a plumber in Georgia with almost 20 years of experience and I have a question for you first what is your opinion about CPVC water lines and to what is your opinion about SharkBite fittings I personally refuse to use either
@@RogerWakefield I have not seen your video on shark bites. When I first heard of them and tried using them I thought they were a gift from God I learned the hard way they are not
@@RogerWakefield probably the clip where the guy is cutting into the PVC and all that brown water starts flowing. Just goes to show that not only do plumbers need to be physically fit, but also have a strong stomach.
I know the guy was being pretty stupid, but I feels so bad for that second guy. His whole house was ruined because he thought he was better than he was. That would be such a nightmare.
That last one; that was the first time in my life I ever laughed and gagged at the same time. That deserves a Drain Addict highest degree of excellence award.
Been in plumbing about 10 months, I’m 22. Worst I seen so far was a sewer back up at my buddy’s house, because of a broken tap by the street. We found the tap and opened it, and a mountain of shit, solidified piss, and all around nastiness slowly rolled out of it. Still didn’t throw up though!
I always have shark bite caps, shark bite shutoffs and shark bite flex pipe and shark bite pipe couplers in my sweatbox. I have used them many times in an emergency until the problem can be properly fixed.
Told an apprentice to double check that all the washer valves were closed in a 4 story new apartment build we did. Well....he forgot to shut off in 4 different units. Let's just say I / my insurance bought cabinets. This individual is now one our best employees. Shit happens, you gotta learn from it though. He did.
My goodness totally preventable if people only knew lol. There are all kinds of ways to research what your about to get yourself into before actually going the repairs lol
I have tried to watch that videos that you have on this particular episode and I'll start laughing at first 10 I get really embarrassed I'm going to plumber for almost 20 years and I just can't believe there people out there that actually still do this kind of thing
My old apartment was one huge fail. The waste pipe was connected without any traps. The food from the dishes come up through the bath, the toilet leaked sewage through the ceiling and the smell coming from the place was horrendous. When I moved in, they said that it was the sealants drying that I could smell. There was an open waste pipe and was told "smells cant hurt you". They hired people who couldnt speak english and refused to show me their license. Told me "I work for landlord, not you" that place was a death trap! So glad I got out. They were useless.
Makes me think of a story from my old boss. He was unstopping a friends sewer. If you knew the couple, you knew the likelihood of them having sex was slim to none (it’s important I promise). Their daughter was about 16 at the time. When my boss pulled the cable out he found dozens of condoms wrapped around it. The guy said so what’s the verdict. He said he covered the pile with a shovel and said the usual tampons and towels.
The worst thing is “flushable” wipes. We joked during the whole covid thing that with TP being out everyone will use wipes so we’ll have plenty of job security.
Great videos man! As an apprentice plumber from Alaska and Wyoming, journeyman plumber in South Dakota and contractor in Nebraska, I have made some mistakes. But one of the best I have seen in person was an apprentice in Rawlins Wyoming. We where breaking floor st the China house to replace drain pipes below kitchen. We had a hole about 2 feet deep, full of smelly grease, waste, etc. The guy had a sump pump in hole with an 1 1/2" quick coupling hose. The pump had no switch, just plug in or unplug. We plugged it in bit the quick coupling was leaking, he leaned over the hole and attempted to tighten it. Next thing, in an instant. The hose flew off to the side and he was leaned directly above the pump. I will never forget seeing his cheeks as the pump discharged full force into his face. It was like a strong fan blowing your cheeks around. Needless to say, he ended up shirtless throwing up in the alley. God Bless America.
I've never done more as a plumber than change a toilet, and somehow I'm in a black hole watching non stop videos from this guy. I'm fascinated for some reason.
I did a bit of drain snaking for my bit of plumbing experience, it’s interesting reading about problems and troubleshooting, but also reading and seeing when plumbing goes really bad!!
Second clip reminds me of my favorite Three Stooges short where they pose as plumbers and try to replace a water pipe with an electrical pipe causing the clocks (before battery powered clocks), lights, stove and television set to all act up. Curly even traps himself in a maze of pipes in an effort to stop the water.
Watching your videos reminds me of my late uncle Mark, he retired a master plumber of 30 years. I used to love hearing his stories of plumbing fails and crazy things he'd seen. I miss him dearly but you know he taught me alot of things NOT to do.
What did you think about these plumbing fails?
Want to see more videos like this? Let me know!
I remember when I watched the video I couldn't stop laughing at the lady with the vacuum. Every time she turns it on it made me laugh. The damage is done. That vacuum is doing nothing lady. Nothing.
I did it once. After that, I carried 1/2, 3/4, and 1” shark bite and threaded valves in my bag for over a year....😂😂😂😂
Luckily, I was in a commercial building, and my partner hopped up in the ceiling and shut the valve. Like 20 seconds, and the shit was flooded.
Pipefighter X it doesn't take long does it?
Jo The Great that was hilarious!!!
With the first clip, it was actually a cheap landlord who hired that plumber who said he could do the job without turning the water off because the landlord didnt want to have to shut it off because she would have to pay other apartment owners. She ended up replacing most of that apartment and repairing some damaged in the one below it.
Gregory Crewson that's why we don't try and do shortcuts. They always cost you in the long run!
And the guy filming did it for the insurance company, apparently the landlord tried to blame it on the tenants.
Sometimes you have to say no
HCkev wow really? Glad they were filming. That’s serious bs
@Jacob Monnin cheap good and slow for me
Hot tip: turn the water off before messing with your pipes.
IKEA Catalogue turning the water off is a great way to start most plumbing projects. Thank you for watching and commenting!
@@RogerWakefield True. But they were in an apartment building. Which means if you cut water off to one unit on one floor, you cut it off for everyone else too.
Still have to shut it off^
Upon arrival, most professional service plumbers will either at least view meter location, and-or the water service line location, which in turn will have a full port ball valve, or a relic gate valve that should have been replaced back when the dibasoars roamed. If they can't determine which meter is for which utility, and-or water service line identification. They are definitely in the wrong occupation. 26-years professional service plumber on paper, journeyman licence/card in wallet. Must be a over night self-proclaimed handyman, station wagon with 2 pipe wrenches hanging on the back swing door. Along with a propane tank, that came within his bbq.
All we had to do was follow the damn train CJ
This guy is so legit, even his mustache has a license to plumb
That mustache speaks a story of its own
That’s a Texas stache
“That guy ain’t even a plumber... he don’t have a butt crack”
Underrated comment
Looking for this comment.
"Are people really that stupid?"
Yes, yes they are lol.
most time they just get in a hurry
Decades ago, my girlfriend lived in a basement apartment with a couple of girls. She and I were out and about and a cloudburst rolled through and dumped a boat load of rain. Upon returning to the apartment, we found the apartment with an inch or so of water in it. Her roommate was sleeping and woke up and looked out the glass of the French door at the bottom of the stairwell and there was 5 feet of water in the stairwell due to a plugged drain. The roommate thought she could open the door “quick” and step out and close it behind her before the water could flood the apartment. To say the least, she didn’t make it!!!
As a plumber my self I find these clips hilarious. A good sayin is, if you think a good plumber is expensive, wait until you hire a bad one. Often you get to pay the bad and the good one.
The same goes for DIYers who don't triple check their knowledge,tools, and processes. lol
**Not his wife** **unlicensed plumber** **Not his wife** **unlicensed plumber** You don't say... lol
I read something online where a plumber went to a hotel to fix a toilet clog with the snake-claw thingy and pulled out a whole shower curtain, which was very perplexing for the people there since the shower curtain in that bathroom was still there, until one of the housekeepers called them up in a panic because apparently the claw had come out into one of the neighboring toilets that she was cleaning, flailed around until it grabbed the curtain, and then dragged it back to the original toilet.
Absolute gold 😂😂😂
That happened to me years ago when I lived in an apartment. Apartment sent maintenance guy to unclog a drain in apartment next door. He ran the snake in came up under my bathroom sink and busted out the trap and proceeded to tear everything up I had under the sink. I wasn't home when I got home bathroom looked like a wreck. I don't know why but the clogged up sewer backed up into my shower tub and drained back down. Not only was the bathroom a wreck with things thrown all over under the sink the entire apartment stunk like a sewer. When I went to tell the office of course the guy tried to blame me said I was messing with the plumbing.
oh my god!!!! lol
@BBSr-q2w Thats the best one Ive heard since doing a turd slice to confirm vegan theory
Awesome! Hilarious! LOL for a week! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Apprentice Roger looks like every single character from "The Warriors." And I love it.
Rogerrrrr! Come out and plum-ummmmmb!
I work in a restaurant, and one day, the faucet for the dish pit blew off the handles, and for like ten minutes the managers and staff were running around trying to find the main line to turn off water. All I had to do was turn the handle on the faucet. Lol brilliant.
Lol 😂
I swear this guy is super Mario dad
Don't be telling everyone my secrets 🤐
I dont think this guy is doing creepy stuff with his friend’s wife like hogan did with Miss Elizabeth and Macho Man.
Roger has the best mustache EVER!
I agree... Thank you!!!
Plot twist: The second clip is what was happening in the apartment underneath the one in the first clip😂
HCkev that is funny! Thanks for commenting...
Tbh I actually thought that at first 😂
You never know
Thought that at first
That the idiot landlord of the apartment in the first clip had to pay for!
My father was a plumber for 45 years and I accompanied him on his job for fun and by curiosity on some occasions. Your videos amuse me and give me some nostalgia. If he was still alive (he's dead three years ago), I'm sure we could have had a good laugh with your videos ^^
(sorry for the grammatical mistakes, I'm french~)
Sorry to hear about your Dad’s passing!
I’m sure he would have experienced some of these horror stories himself as a plumber dealing with the good, bad and the ugly of plumbing systems, sure would have been character building!
BROWN WATER!
That brown water isn’t fun...
@@RogerWakefield I don't even do plumbing but I love watching your YT videos.
Those are space peanuts
That brown water goes well with the donuts under the toilet 🤣
😂😂
I was working on a 2" water main coming from a 25 gpm well, when someone thought it would be funny and turn the well on.
Wet work!!!
@@RogerWakefield sounds kinda wrong
lol its funny to me
I really don't know why this is in my recommended, but i'm not disappointed.
Same here lol then again I think I just enjoy professionals reacting to these sort of things
“It’s a good thing I Didn’t eat breakfast” he says
It’s a good thing you tube doesn’t have smellovision, I Say
For the time being yes, but it's coming here Megan.
@@altyndom7039 Don't want to be Rick Rolled with smellovision.
One of my plumbing stories: im an hvac tech and the day was slow so they had me help the plumber carry a snake into a basement and he asked me to hold the light for him while he snaked... i held the light from the opposite end of the basement and sure enough as soon as he broke through the tree roots he got sprayed right in the face with backed up sewage (roots raised the pitch of the line)
I kid you not the second he cut through that clogged sewer pipe my toddler came up with a poopy diaper so I caught a whiff, I thought I was losing it 🤣
What did you do that pissed karma off that badly? I can't even imagine the odds of that happening lol 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@Karen-pk3uv you, plus 8 other people dont know what "karma" is.
New plumbing apprentice here, my name is Nick. Customer had a clogged kitchen drain. Removed the P trap assembly, ran the small rooter down the inch and a half kitchen line into the main trunk line as far as it would go, easily 75 feet or more. Didn't feel the clog. No water backup on the outside cleanout. Water flows great everywhere else in the house. Reassembled the P trap, filled sink with hot water, slow drain then stops back up again. Repeated this process about 3 or so times. Ended up in the crawlspace cutting the kitchen line near the trunk and running some scrap pex line through it (with a bucket handy). Largest grease clog my journeyman has seen in a while, slopped right out there into the bucket and had us gag. Reconnected the pipe with metal reinforced fernco couplings, re-strapped the line with proper fall, sink drained like a champion!
Don't put anything down your drains but water. Garbage disposals don't make your drain lines immune from clogs, either.
Nicholas Fecteau great information! Thanks for sharing. Where are you located?
With grease clogs your cable will go through it like a stick in mud, and when you pull the cable back out, it closes back up. Best way to run it is to put like 4 feet of cable in, and then take a rag and wrap it around it. Some people tie it over and under, but its more likely to fall off. I use 2 strips of electeical tape and tape it tight. Also the cable spinning will grip the fibers on the cloth and keep it held on. Then when you run the line the rag pushes the grease out. Only way those grease clogs get pushed out. And water is your friend on drains. If you are able to attach a setup to the faucet so you can run water into the line once you get it somewhat unclogged, it helps flush out the rest of the grease. I have even used doubled up rags on a mainline that had a pulp clog.
Same thing applies for garbage disposals ^^^
It might not be greasy but garbage disposals grinf food down to a peanut butter like consistiency and wreaks havoc
@@RogerWakefield Clarksville Tennessee
HydroFlush time
Been licensed 17 years and never seen so many people just refusing to cut the main valve off 🤣
Particularly when they’re stingy landlords that don’t want to pay the shutoff fee!!
I did cutting the copper without shutting the water down. Alone. Meter buried under a brick pile and house cut off hadn't been located yet. My plumber left for lunch and i decided to stay. Lesson learned.
Eric Zubkus but at least you learned. I bet you don't make that mistake again!
No sir, i learned but made more mistakes. And learned again.
Eric Zubkus we are always learning Hopefully we are retaining!
Oh nooooooooo. Man that’s crazy. Thank god ive never done some shit like that. No offense. I’m just terrified of flooding someone’s house.
Roger, we loved watching your reactions to these. My wife's grandfather was a plumber in Detroit and our 2 year old son LOVES plumbing. We've seen just about every bad/funny video out there and a lot of the better instructional ones - naturally we found your channel as our favorite of the latter group, but it's great to see you reacting to the funny ones too.
My kid Marcus knows all the parts inside both of our toilets, supply lines, drains, and wants to go in the basement to look at pipes. Keep up the good work!
I shouldn't have been eating a fudge pop while watching this. Great video and I'm really happy for your channel.
Jonathan Dixon thank you! The fudge pop part is hilarious too...
Roger: it's a good thing I didnt eat breakfast
Me: litterally eating peanutbutter and toast...
I’m so sorry for you
@@Xid. I still somehow managed to finish it...
I just drank a gallon of water and the blamo shit valcano
RIP
2 Years ago the flat over mine was being renovated (from what I can tell, by the cheapest labourers the owner could find). So we are sittting in the kitchen, suddenly the everything goes dark, girlfriend goes to the fusebox, fuse for kitchen is down. I feel something drip on me. What? Where did that come from? Looking up I see our ligts turned into a sprinkler system (it had 4 arms with 5 spotlights) and scream to girlfriend not to reactivate the electricity. Turns out, the guys working upstairs flooded the upper flats kitchen somehow, the water got inside the cables for our kitchen and shorted everything for a few days. They brought in industrial dehumidifiers the same day.
Moral of the story is: Don't cheap out on construction/repair workers.
PS.: My mother used the cheapest workers when building her house. Result: water pipes broke 2 times within 3 years, everytime setting the house under water, 20cm deep in the downstairs rooms, dehumidifiers running 24/7 for 2 months. Had to live somewhere else for those 2 months. (Water was so deep because it always ruptured, when nobody was home for a few hours. also, it was the same pipe both times.)
I've seen that first one, apparently the landlord was cheap and went with the cheapest plumber, but also told him to not shut off the main water line as all the apartments would be affected, she also would charge tenants $150 for every 30 minutes it was off. Still doesn't excuse him from telling the land lord no and not leaving it on.
I would have refused to do the work at all.
Yeah, the “plumber” was actually cheap labour who probably didn’t know what on earth he was doing, but I put a lot more blame on the landlord on skimping out to save a dime, only to cause heaps of damage and have to pay in the tens of thousands.
And look at it as well from the perspective of the tenant or owner below getting flooded, I’d be pissed hearing that the owner above me was too cheap to get the job done properly and was the root cause of why water was rushing down from the ceiling as that is terrifying and stressful knowing how much damage that can cause.
Thats a lot of Brown water....haha
Richard Bowman I wasn't lying was I???
haha, brown water pipe go brrr
"What guy wasn't a real plumber. He doesn't have a but crack" you sir got my like and sub
Young Roger looks like a 80's Kids movie Antaganist.
I had an experience where I needed to clean the hot water valve on my shower and just started taking it apart, water shot the valve into the wall and started flooding the bathroom, the only person who knew how to fix it was my dad... who was currently in jail so I called the jail so I could talk to him to ask him where the shutoff was. Long story short. KNOW WHERE THE WATER SHUT OFF IS. Lol
I busted out laughing about the buttcrack joke.
watching the carpet getting ruined by all that water is giving me flashbacks of the many times I had floods. Now every time I hear water running, it puts me on edge. the worst flood I had was from a broken water line in the street, flowing all the way down into my basement. I'm still pissed at my city officials since it was their water line that broke and damaged my home, and they say it's not their problem.
He's so happy to watch these fails. That sly smile in the intro is priceless.
I just heard my new favorite phrase "smarter than the tools you're working with." That's awesome!
Came across your channel I'm also a plumber I'm 55 yes old now started at 13yrs old us as plumbers have always at one time have come across situations that basically we screwed up on this is why you have to put in so many work hours and school hours to learn so we as plumbers make the right decision or you either get sued or possibly your license yanked by the state that your licensed in I did subscribe to your channel great video
I've done a lot of service work in the past, actually returning to plumbing next week. We had one service call, an old folks home, main sewer stopped up. This was on thanksgiving, so obviously there was a lot of substance running down that main. We found a cleanout in a maintenance closet and started snaking. After about 5 minutes we felt we got through the clog and pulled the snake back, bringing an ENTIRE turkey dinner with it. I mean everything, turkey, full potatoes, cranberries, fixings, bread. You name it, we pulled up an entire dinner for at least a family of 4! Wild!
What a waste of turkey!!!
And an expensive and time-consuming job for everyone!! Actually makes me so mad!!
My first year being an apprentice I got called to work with one of our service guys. I am an apprentice doing rough construction. Well we had a backed up main and our machine didn’t have enough cable. We were about 200 ft from the house, i dug about 4 feet down and found two pipes side by side one of witch was ours and the other we were unsure of. We needed a clean out in place to continue our run. Man when I busted that pipe it was like a fire hydrant getting knocked off its base right in my face, running away still getting blasted by you know what. I was in the stink until we left about 11:30 p.m.
a geyser! lol ive seen one myself!!! 4 story house all backed up, pop the lid to the cleanout and POOOOOOOOF! i started to back up and almost spidermaned up the wall, i was between the house and the cleanout, not smart lol it was like legit 4' high maybe 5' poogeyser
Commenting after first video. Background: “1st year apprentice” although I started after the school year, so I have not even attended a single class yet. I work in new construction, on a trim crew. Been on the job for about 8 months. My first day stopping out a house, I turned off the water. I did not drain the system. I was in the main, cutting a pex line for the toilet on the second floor. My foreman was PISSED AF. I will never forget that piece of pex hitting me in the face while I was blinded by water.
If I ever did this, luckily I could plug it while someone else (a plumber) shuts water off and drains a hose bib or something. I haven’t even attended a single class (I’m not even allowed to do work unsupervised by a journeyman) and the people I work with consider this mistake far beneath me. These people paid for this guy to come into their home. Think about that
I'm a plumber and I can smell those drain jobs from my phone 😂😂😂
I almost barfed when they cut the pipe! Hahahahaha
Gary Albright aren't you glad you weren't the one actually down there doing it?
I'm going for pre-apprentice training when I'm done my dads place. I want to be prepared before I go to work. And I want to make a electric wire cutter for non moving pipe. Alot of neat tools but your brain is the best one and I've dealt with alot of plumbing before, installing etc. Thank God for good plumbers. God bless you Roger!
What do you mean by an electric wire cutter for non-moving pipe?
13:23 he said “good thing I didn’t eat breakfast” and I’m eating as I watch it😂 I am a fourth generation plumber
😂😂😂😂😂 i was not expecting that
You're such a likable dude, keep it up. Your knowledge and time is appreciated
I work for a pipefitter union and I had to make a live line repair. The refinery didn’t want to turn the water off in that line since it was the safety water line. Had to take apart the bad section out crew damaged and put everything back together while the water was running the whole time. End result repair was successful and no more leak.
Great video Roger
Martyn Lucas thank you so much! I appreciate the feedback...
I'm not even a plumber but I know you always turn the water off before messing with the plumbing 🤣🤣
The first video happened in New York City in a high rise, trying to not pay the turn water off fee for building, so many ways to solve that but e had nothing. Funny regardless!!!
I 'm a Master Plumber myself and when I came across this video I split a gut watching it. Most of my work was in the service end and I've seen some of the most pitiful attempts at plumbing repairs.
If the customers had called a REAL plumber to begin with, the bill would have been much much less and damage avoided.
Retired now and glad to be.
Take care and keep laughing.
I LOVE how the title was EXCITING, with BIG LETTERS and EXCLAMATION POINTS!!! But then Mr. Wakefields voice could put babies to sleep :-P
Gavin Donohoo I'm not going to be perfect every day... I try though!
Awesome commentary Mr. Wakefield!
I had a minor rush about a month ago at night when my hose bib was dripping and I went to tighten it down and something stripped out and the water came out full blast.
Luckily I have a meter key and know exactly where my main was. Had it off in a few mins. The problem was worse when all the Hone Depots around closed at 8pm and it was after that. Found one open till 9pm and made it down there with 15 mins before closing.. Picked up the last dang 3/4" hose bib they had and replaced it. I started to think I was gona have the water shutoff all night. Because i couldnt get the valve and my main shuts off mine and my renters in back's water.
Lol meter key
Apprentice here! I can think of many times i had stuff like this happen. Ill go with the sewer one lol. Ok so we were trying to T into an existing sewerline for something new in the house. The house was undergoing renovations and the construction crew inside was not very smart to say the least. One of them pulled the plug for the grinder pump and they used the toilet for awhile. When we cut into the line pounds and pounds and pounds of think poop and corn came out into the hole we were working in. It was amazing. We had no idea he unplugged it and we were only cutting into it so we could put our fitting. If we knew it was plugged we would brought buckets. Well lets just say we spent the better part of 45-50 minutes shoveling shit out of our work hole. I gaged and puked the whole time snd my boss laughed at me and called me a light weight. He even stuck his face near it and sniffed and said "yum yum" just to mess with me
This definitely has happened to most of us 😂😂 Im pretty sure I was 16 when I was a first year apprentice and I got 💩 on my hand and I washed my hands off with clear primer ahahah I no longer cared about the 💩 on my hand. All I could think of was the burning pain from the primer soaking into my cuts
Your Best Video yet! Keep it up Expert!
Austin Vasquez thank you. What was your favorite part?
Hello in Texas, Mr. Wakefield! I’m a new DIY plumber, purely in order to save money. Right now I’m pulling my 60 year old toilet in order to auger the MSL. Thanks for your frank plumbing reviews as I muddle my way through. Charlene, in Florida
The worst sewer job i had to do was in a basement that was full of stuff, and the sewer had been backing up for months. All the stuff was encrusted with sewage and black mold. They had a sump pump pumping the sewage out into their yard!We told the landlord that we could use to have some of the stuff out of the way when we come back to unclog it. Well, the next day we came back and all of the stuff had been moved into a pile OVER TOP OF THE HOUSE TRAP/CLEANOUT! We didnt have time to wait and have them move it again, so we just took shovels and moved the pile. It took over an hour to move the pile, and about an hour to unclog, but i ended up getting sick from the mold and old sewage that was everywhere, even halfway up the old insulated walls.
The video at 11:40 is deadpool getting captured by Colossus and cutting his way through. Then 11:53 happens:
*"Oh there's the money shot. Are ya there god, it's me Margaret."* 🤣
Roger you should start doing more of these. Where we send in videos for you to critique. I love your channel though brother!! Keep up the great work!!
15 year plumber here -- love what you do!!! keep it up Roger!!! showin love from the worst state to plumb in NYC!!
The plumbers from there say it's the best place to plumb. Atleast all the ones in florida. Lol
We installed a new hot water tank in my home. One of the brass valves we installed had a manufactures defect and started spraying out the normally solid side.
In a clints home, Which hadn't had water on in years. We had just finished refurbishing a bathroom upstares. So we turned up the water to test our work and in an unrelated part of the house a line below making water rain form the ceiling. Shut the water off and found the leak. Apparently, someone had used jb weld 3/4 of the way around an elbow instead of solder. Due to it being next to a stud. Of cores, we fixed it the right way by taking lose a joint further down. Then using the slack to access the elbow.
We found a heat shield to use in such situations that worked pretty well, then when shark-bites came out tended to use those in places that weren't gonna be permanently shut-in (just in case they ever failed).
8:49 Roger the part when you said be very careful made me laugh so hard U nearly woke my dad, thanks for always making me laugh cause I legit have tears rolling down my eyes.
The clip at 10:35. I suppose that's why its illegal to put a san tee on it's back. Haha
laoboyardee1 probably the same guys...
I've never imagined binge watching on plumbing videos, youtube algorithm worked right this time.
That first video. My college tutor in England showed to me and my class on our first year of plumbing. He asked us what we'd do and we all stated that you'd find the stop tap and turn it off to stop the water then drain the system easy. However others will have different views obviously
Lol the guy just running back and forth in the third video
The fact that they are trying to clean up the water in the first clip while the pipe is still leaking is blowing my mind. 😆
If anyone needs a clear example of a losing battle that is it lol.
Nobody:
Me: Watching plumbing videos at 3 am, and loving it.
Re: The first clip, do americans really have only one central shut-off valve for water per house (or even for the entire appartment building...)? Here we usually have shut offs in every appartment and often even seperate ones for kitchen, bathroom and washing machine / dishwasher 😅
As far as I know, it depends on how old the building is. When our hot water heater burst, we learned the hard way that there was no shut off other than shutting off the water to the house. When we replaced it, we had a shut off inatalled at the same time. The house was built (cheaply) in 1947.
I'd assume it's the same as in most places - it varies from building to building.
We do as well
@@caratessichareel7972 If an owner knows there is only one valve cause a house is old and is too cheap to 'fix' the problem before a more serious problem comes up....they are ignorant...the amount of OLD houses we fixed in this manner in our state (Maine) was very high numbers...most houses tend to be up to a century old. Any new house got full shut-offs for each sink, toilet, tub, or room depending on how easy it was to reach the areas needed. Even in the late 70's when I started helping my dad we did this. Cause it was common sense to do so.
The first video descriptions talks about the building being old and the landlord being too cheap to upgrade the water system for each apartment shut off
Never thought I'd find my new favorite youtube channel through plumbing lol
I'm a plumber in Georgia with almost 20 years of experience and I have a question for you first what is your opinion about CPVC water lines and to what is your opinion about SharkBite fittings I personally refuse to use either
cpvc is brittle as hell after about seven years so if you're repairing it make sure to be careful
William KnightonI really don't like CPVC water lines. They crack and split. Have you seen my video on Sharkbite fittings?
@@RogerWakefield I have not seen your video on shark bites. When I first heard of them and tried using them I thought they were a gift from God I learned the hard way they are not
Roger - thanks for what you do. You are making others (all of us that watch) aware of these cheating plumbers.
Love it! I'll send you a couple of videos that I've come across myself.
James Cunningham sounds great. Which was your favorite?
@@RogerWakefield probably the clip where the guy is cutting into the PVC and all that brown water starts flowing. Just goes to show that not only do plumbers need to be physically fit, but also have a strong stomach.
This channel randomly popped up in my inbox one day. I never expected plumbing to be as entertaining as you are making it.
I know the guy was being pretty stupid, but I feels so bad for that second guy. His whole house was ruined because he thought he was better than he was. That would be such a nightmare.
Ik this was posted i year ago but i saw a comment that said their landlord told him not to cut off the water (he was being cheap)
That last one; that was the first time in my life I ever laughed and gagged at the same time. That deserves a Drain Addict highest degree of excellence award.
Awesome video ... send more videos like this.
Cesar Gonzalez we had so much fun doing this. Thanks for commenting. Which was your favorite?
Love the 4K quality and I Subscribed😁😊👍🏻👍🏻
too funny i thought about making one of these same videos a few months back hahahaha
My man has got the best looking mustache ever
This guy actually needs to read the description of the first video to know why the water was still on
Been in plumbing about 10 months, I’m 22. Worst I seen so far was a sewer back up at my buddy’s house, because of a broken tap by the street. We found the tap and opened it, and a mountain of shit, solidified piss, and all around nastiness slowly rolled out of it. Still didn’t throw up though!
@Kyle Pugh you might be in the right profession!
The first video is the perfect time to have a shark bite stop or cap on hand.
I always have shark bite caps, shark bite shutoffs and shark bite flex pipe and shark bite pipe couplers in my sweatbox. I have used them many times in an emergency until the problem can be properly fixed.
That mustache is AMAZING.
Told an apprentice to double check that all the washer valves were closed in a 4 story new apartment build we did. Well....he forgot to shut off in 4 different units. Let's just say I / my insurance bought cabinets. This individual is now one our best employees. Shit happens, you gotta learn from it though. He did.
Dereck Deegan I love your attitude. We all make mistakes. It's the guys that learn from them that do well!
@@RogerWakefield from what I've seen, freaking out and yelling at a kid, usually doesn't make them want to return to the jodsite. Lol.
@@threedoutdoors7930 good for you! Teaching and training should be part of every apprentices daily routine!
My goodness totally preventable if people only knew lol. There are all kinds of ways to research what your about to get yourself into before actually going the repairs lol
I have tried to watch that videos that you have on this particular episode and I'll start laughing at first 10 I get really embarrassed I'm going to plumber for almost 20 years and I just can't believe there people out there that actually still do this kind of thing
My old apartment was one huge fail. The waste pipe was connected without any traps. The food from the dishes come up through the bath, the toilet leaked sewage through the ceiling and the smell coming from the place was horrendous. When I moved in, they said that it was the sealants drying that I could smell. There was an open waste pipe and was told "smells cant hurt you". They hired people who couldnt speak english and refused to show me their license. Told me "I work for landlord, not you" that place was a death trap! So glad I got out. They were useless.
Wow, just, wow.
I’m pretty sure that would have been grounds to break lease with no penalty given it wasn’t fit for human habitation!
13:50
"I swear we never flush baby wipes"
Full metal tuna: I have heard so many customers say that as I pull wet wipes off my drain cable!!!
😂😂😂
Makes me think of a story from my old boss. He was unstopping a friends sewer. If you knew the couple, you knew the likelihood of them having sex was slim to none (it’s important I promise). Their daughter was about 16 at the time. When my boss pulled the cable out he found dozens of condoms wrapped around it. The guy said so what’s the verdict. He said he covered the pile with a shovel and said the usual tampons and towels.
The worst thing is “flushable” wipes. We joked during the whole covid thing that with TP being out everyone will use wipes so we’ll have plenty of job security.
Great videos man! As an apprentice plumber from Alaska and Wyoming, journeyman plumber in South Dakota and contractor in Nebraska, I have made some mistakes. But one of the best I have seen in person was an apprentice in Rawlins Wyoming. We where breaking floor st the China house to replace drain pipes below kitchen. We had a hole about 2 feet deep, full of smelly grease, waste, etc. The guy had a sump pump in hole with an 1 1/2" quick coupling hose. The pump had no switch, just plug in or unplug. We plugged it in bit the quick coupling was leaking, he leaned over the hole and attempted to tighten it. Next thing, in an instant. The hose flew off to the side and he was leaned directly above the pump. I will never forget seeing his cheeks as the pump discharged full force into his face. It was like a strong fan blowing your cheeks around. Needless to say, he ended up shirtless throwing up in the alley. God Bless America.
Well as a fellow plumber, you are correct. Definitely subbed to you please keep the content coming sir and thank you
I've never done more as a plumber than change a toilet, and somehow I'm in a black hole watching non stop videos from this guy. I'm fascinated for some reason.
I did a bit of drain snaking for my bit of plumbing experience, it’s interesting reading about problems and troubleshooting, but also reading and seeing when plumbing goes really bad!!
Crushing dude.
Owen Video we are having so much fun learning and implementing!!!
Second clip reminds me of my favorite Three Stooges short where they pose as plumbers and try to replace a water pipe with an electrical pipe causing the clocks (before battery powered clocks), lights, stove and television set to all act up. Curly even traps himself in a maze of pipes in an effort to stop the water.
Where did you get your Yeti cup wrapped with your logo? That looks awesome!
G Foster I had a guy that does Hydro Graphics do some for me. He was amazing!
Watching your videos reminds me of my late uncle Mark, he retired a master plumber of 30 years. I used to love hearing his stories of plumbing fails and crazy things he'd seen. I miss him dearly but you know he taught me alot of things NOT to do.
Gtfo, my uncle Mark is a master plumber as well. Crazy stuff.
These aren't Plumbing fails these are plumber fails
William Knighton the only thing missing in these is a smart plumber!
Few last ones definitely didn't take lunch that day...😂😂😂😂