Bizarre bathroom faucet malfunction- sabotage??

[jeffpas]

I installed this faucet brand new as well as two others in a triplex (3 in all) about 7 months ago.
This apartment was only rented for a few months by one renter who left on bad terms, a real whacko who threatened to sue etc etc.
She turned in her keys but I didn't change the locks yet as there has been no new renter, and there may have been legal issues with her deposit etc. so I waited to do that.

Anyway the apartment has been sitting vacant ever since, though its about ready to be rented again. I was away from the building for a number of days and just came back tonight to a pool of water.
Strangely, the top of the faucet popped up (see the pictures) apparently all by itself! Water was coming out all over the place. Its the strangest puzzle ever.

Can't have been going on too long, as there was only about an inch of water on the floor and nothing got out of the bathroom. Can a faucet of this type spontaneously pop up like this by itself, and gush water everywhere? The neighbor who is retired keeps an eye on the building and he says he hasn't seen any cars there at all.

If its sabotage, it sure is a strange way to do it. Tools and stuff in the apartment untouched, nothing robbed or anything else broke. Anyone heard of this happening before?

 

[Zanne]

I don't know anything about that faucet, but it looks to me like someone pulled or pushed on the handle with enough force to do that. I don't think that is something that could happen on it's own. It might not have been intentional, though. Is it possible that the former tenant went there late at night when the neighbor was sleeping to get something and used the bathroom and did that?

 

[frodo]

or is it possible a diy faucet install was not done correctly ?

 

[jeffpas]

Well, as I said I installed the faucet and it came all in one piece, there was nothing to do incorrectly. It simply fits in the hole, screws on from the bottom and attaches to the water supply.

No one has the key to the apartment except me and its vacant and completely empty. It has only been occupied by one tenant and they turned in their keys two months ago.
They would have had to have had a copy made, and then come back to wreak a very bizarre kind of revenge 8 weeks later.
I mean why not just turn all the faucets on and leave, or do some other damage?

My biggest concern is that somehow the faucet is defective and as I said there are two others. Had this popoff happened upstairs, it would have been a complete disaster, as the flooding water would have destroyed the floor and ruined the building.


I've never heard of this before. :/

 

[Caduceus]

Yes. This can happen sometimes with high water pressure which can also be exacerbated by thermal expansion. The quality of the faucet can also play a role in the situation, but any faucet could break depending on the circumstances of the water system.

 

[jeffpas]

Just had a second bizarre incident.

Today I came to the apartment building to find the other downstairs apartment bathroom was full of water, 1" deep, same as the first.

This time, the line was suddenly dribbling at the spot where the hot feed line was screwed together (see attached pic, where drip is).
The fixture is brand new and so are all the attachments, and this sink was installed about a month and a half ago and never been used.

What the heck is going on here? And please don't tell me the house is possessed.
If its sabotage from the disgruntled renter, she is crazy indeed.

 

[voletl]

My question is what type of nipple connects the two hoses and why the nipple at all why not just get a longer hose? It looks like Teflon tape or some kind of poo is on the nipple maybe was an install error.

 

[frodo]

change the locks. should have done that as soon as the other tenant moved anyway

amazes me that slum lords think it is ok to not change locks after a tenant moves out.

 

[plumb_bob_square_pants]

Strange that it was on the hot. If the apartment has not been being used then thermal expansion could definetly play a roll. And if it is happening at night this could also be due to high city pressure. Seems unlikely but it is possible. Change your locks to rule out vandalism.

 

[jeffpas]

The 'poo' you see is pipe dope. The new sink fixture came with built in supply hoses that were too short to reach the hot and cold feeds, so I had no choice but to attach extensions. The attachment in the picture is a brass double ended male thread.
The sink and fixtures are all new and have been there about a month and a half, largely unused but working fine. Why suddenly a dribble leak, 6 weeks later?

The locks weren't changed at first due to legal reasons, as the tenant had vacated the premises but had never signed an end of lease agreement.
They were changed after the first leak incident.
However, this happened in a different apartment, its never been rented by anyone. Only I have the keys to my knowledge to this apartment and the locks were put in when I got ownership of the building.

High city pressure at night? Why would the hot line be strange, if you are wondering about thermal expansion?
The only good thing about high city pressure is we assume the upstairs bathroom would be less likely to have a problem (pressure would not be as high upstairs). Both of these bathroom flooding incidents, which happened a week apart, were downstairs on concrete floors.
An upstairs leak like this would have been devastating. Still, there's nothing I can do to prepare for another 'attack', other than sell the building and run.

BTW I'm definitely not a slum lord lol. One with no profit sense, maybe. I've spent almost a year and a half renovating this apartment building, and then have suffered through 6 city inspectors called on me by the kook renter, who was giving me payback for not giving her deposit back after her lease abandonment.
She called them and made up a bunch of stories, but that's all it takes to sic those hounds on you, apparently.
A neighbor just accused me of making the building look 'better than it has in 60 years'. That hole you see in the wall in the 2nd pic is because all the plumbing was redone.

 

[Matt30]

It leaked because that is not the proper connection for the two supplies. The nipple is a tapered thread, while your supplies are not. The nipple will barely make it passed the starting threads before it reaches the rubber. There are proper supply extensions for your application.

 

[KULTULZ]

High city pressure at night? Why would the hot line be strange, if you are wondering about thermal expansion?

The only good thing about high city pressure...

There is no good thing about excessive municipal water pressure and the damages it can do.

...is we assume the upstairs bathroom would be less likely to have a problem (pressure would not be as high upstairs). Both of these bathroom flooding incidents, which happened a week apart, were downstairs on concrete floors.

An upstairs leak like this would have been devastating. Still, there's nothing I can do to prepare for another 'attack', other than sell the building and run.

You need to GOOGLE HOT WATER THERMAL EXPANSION and read it..

 

[SHEPLMBR]

Did the top of the faucet actually come off?