Pressure tests

[Mattmar]

Hi,

We are in contract to purchase a forclosure. The water was turned off, winterized and the water company removed the meter (which is needed to turn on the water). They also cut a main pipe into the house to drain it. (We don't know why they did it this way and doesnt make sense to us either). We had a plumber do a pressure test today since there was no water and he advised there was an immediate drop 30 lbs of pressure.

From what we have been told by the water company- water was turned off in 2010 and water drained/pipe cut/meter removed in 2013.

There are no visable signs of any water leaks or mold or mildrew (execept the basement which is minimal mildew due to outside water seeping in when it rains- recommendation is humidifer)

We also know the water heater is 19 years old and should be replaced soon but not immediate

Right now we are waiting for Fannie Mae (who owns the house) to have the water turned back on before we either back out or get an estimate on whatever the next steps are.


Here are our questions.
- is it possible the plumber missed turning off a valve to get such a large and quick drop in pressure?
- if a pipe had broken, wouldnt we be able to see some sign of damage due to the break by now?
-if multiply small cracks/slow leak cause a drop in pressure that great?
- how difficult /costly is it to have a plumber come and find/fix leaks (we are trying to figure out worst case scenario) ?

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[johnjh2o]

When the house was drained there could have been a low spot in the water line that didn't fully drain and it froze a broke.

 

[CT18]

If it were me i would remove all supply valves and sharkbite cap them, then air up the system. Have him charge the system and listen for leaks when he shuts the compressor down.

 

[frodo]

more importantly that system MUST be sanitized,

no if ands ofr butts, i am surprised the watr department will even turn it on without a water report

the meter needs to be removed and a pump set their
then the system needs to have a mixture of bleach/water introduced

pumped thruout the system. and let it sit for 24 hours.
then it needs to have the pump purge the system and flush it for 8 hours

then water samples collected sent to the health department for analysis

after a clean report, can the system be hooked up to the meter

pour a cup of bleach directly into the water heater

been sitting up for 6 years...all kinds of critters inside

drain flush w/h numerous times

 

[Mattmar]

Thank you all for the advice. We will be sure to being up all these points. As of right now we are waiting for seller to have the house dewinterized ( it's in the contract for them to do it prior to any inspections). Once they turn it on we can go from there.
Frodo- do you know if the steps you listed is part of being dewinterized or is that just something that should be done (trying to determine what is our responsibility vs the sellers)

The contract just say dewinterize for inspection and then it can be rewinterized again if we back out.

Thanks again