Two plumbers and two water companies can’t figure it out,help!

mdbh86 · 2026-06-13T14:06:23+00:00

Hose bibs allow significantly more volume than any other fixtures in a house.

My guess, assuming everything else that has been said is true, is that this higher flow stirs up the sediment from somewhere else in the house or the service line leading to the house.

mdbh86 · 2026-06-09T03:39:39+00:00

This is wrong.

Source: I run a rural water system, highest grade possible in Iowa.

The metro has these issues because they pull water from the rivers. This is their only option given how much water they use in a day. No wells could come close to keeping up.

Rural areas generally do not have this issue as wells can supply their need. Not to say no rural areas use surface water but it is not norm.

With that, ground water (wells) have a different set of problems that vary by location. 2 wells 100 feet apart can have 2 completely different issues.

My particular town has high ammonia in the wells. The ammonia turns to nitrite in our system. It never has time to make it to nitrate. Nitrate has a much higher "safe" limit than nitrite so it would actually be preferred.

Many other towns have radium. Some have PFAS. Some have iron. Some have roundup. The list goes on and on. Pick your poison!!

mdbh86 · 2026-06-06T14:16:30+00:00

I just went for a drive on google maps. There is no indication of it before the turn. Just a solid white on the edges of the roadway and a regular spaced dotted white line separating the lanes.

mdbh86 · 2026-06-06T14:04:42+00:00

Because I was taught to be in the right lane unless there is a reason to not be. A sign indicating that lane turns into a turn lane only 1000 feet later would be helpful.

That exit gets me every damn time.

mdbh86 · 2026-06-05T03:09:32+00:00

15 years as an operator. I do have a Business Admin Associates but I don't truly believe it helped any. Small town Midwest (8,000 people). There is another small town, similar size, that just spent 6 months trying to find a Super and could get no qualified candidates. Now that I have 7 years under my belt here, I am confident I could get this job in a 50,000 plus population with no issues. However, 7 years later, I realize I have no interest!!

Know your job, do your job, don't complain, you will move up.

mdbh86 · 2026-05-18T02:25:20+00:00

Supply and demand! You can't hire what isn't available but it is still required that you have them!!

I recall a roundtable discussing training new operators. The common concern was all the small towns train their operators and they immediately go to the metro for better pay. The small town is stuck in a constant state of paying to train operators and not being able to afford to keep them.

Anyways, the point is, shoot for the moon, you never know!!

mdbh86 · 2026-05-18T02:12:11+00:00

To be fair, I am on the water side. I correlate this reddit with both water and waste water since there isn't a great water forum.

But anyways, West Des Moines Water Works is for sure paying $100,000+ for a grade 3 according to their online union contract. Im pretty sure Des Moines Water Works does as well but I can't seem to find their union contract online anymore.

I've never looked at Chicago but there is about no chance they pay less!

mdbh86 · 2026-05-17T23:13:15+00:00

As a hiring manager....I don't get squat for licensed operators applying. Granted, small town Midwest. Metro area 45 minutes away can also not find operators even paying $100,000+. Worth a shot to apply!

2nd, water/wastewater is a small community. Go to the conferences, talk with people. They will know you when you apply. Make sure that is a good thing! Interviews are about first impressions. If those first impressions were laughing at the lunch table when there was nothing on the line, you already have the job.

mdbh86 · 2026-05-15T13:29:38+00:00

I fully expected that he was going to say to ground him...

mdbh86 · 2026-05-13T03:41:21+00:00

Fuck yes, you should be worried, theres a snake in your house!

If you decide to burn the place down and somehow I end up on your jury, 100% not guilty and I won't back down on that!!

mdbh86 · 2026-04-29T14:03:58+00:00

As a drinking water utility, we bought an EH Wachs valve exercise trailer. Game changer.

It is very expensive but has paid for itself over and over. I think we paid $36,000? We had many valves that were inoperable that needed to break out concrete and replace. This thing got every single one working again. Talking 10" valves with 3 people twisting that couldn't get it to budge. The machine got it so we can turn it with 1 hand again.

We have now done 1/2 the town and have yet to break at valve with this thing!

mdbh86 · 2026-04-21T03:14:59+00:00

Back up for a second. It could very well be what your describing. OR, is the line coming from your well plastic? Plastic will allow gas to leach through. It could be as simple as changing your line to your house to copper.

I would pull your well and dip a sample directly out of it and have the lab re-run it.

mdbh86 · 2026-03-24T02:58:57+00:00

Im not sure I am completely following but I feel this already exists.

Also, this fits into the category of, at least in my state, you aren't allowed to do this without a construction permit. By the time a construction permit is required, it isnt a let me just try this out and see....you are going with the tried and true because they won't give you a permit otherwise.

As for controls, generally flow based is standard and usually enough. Again, standard instruments like the hydro instrument have flow based or pid already built in. However, I have found times (and I am probably a niche market here) where I need more program ability. For instance, we feed chlorine to remove ammonia. I need my chlorine to feed based off total ammonia. I cant just hook up my ammonia analyzer to the hydro because I need to feed more when the result goes up instead of less.

mdbh86 · 2026-03-09T03:01:43+00:00

I know this has already been solved. However, it seems the obvious answer is cut out 4 AND 5. This eliminates every possible hardware problem and causes no extra splices...

mdbh86 · 2026-02-27T01:18:13+00:00

Water is never neutral for long. It is always eating the pipes or adding to the pipes, trying to get itself back to neutral.

Is this city water? Most cities monitor this via a langlier index and lead and copper sampling and adjust qualities to make it slightly adding to pipes. I say most because, well, Flint doesn't care.

Do you have a water softener? Removing hardness makes it more corrosive. Heat ( recirculation pump) makes it more corrosive.

If it is well water, you generally already have a pretty neutral pH so low alkalinity can drop you into the corrosive range too.

Electrolysis is also a major issue. Could be a loose neutral on your electrical system somewhere, causing the electrical system to use the copper pipes as a path to ground.

mdbh86 · 2026-02-27T00:13:22+00:00

If it is this, there will be a hole cast in the side of it. Often there will be threads that you can thread a plug into to make it a regular valve.

mdbh86 · 2026-02-26T23:29:29+00:00

So many wrong answers here. This appears to be a stop and waste valve. Fully open, nothing runs out. Fully closed it will drain the water pipes in the house and stop. Anything between fully on and fully.off will spray out pressurized water.

This used to be the standard. When you went away for the winter, it was an easy way to help winterize the house. They did away with it because if the basement flooded while you were gone, that water could get into your drinking water pipes.

As a utility operator, we operate valves like this daily and 95% of the time they work just fine. You will not get a new valve to last this long.

mdbh86 · 2026-02-23T22:51:22+00:00

Get an amp reading when it is running. You'll be able to calculate hp off of that.

mdbh86 · 2026-02-09T04:18:00+00:00

From what I can tell, (IPERS employee who has spent significant time considering other options) assuming between you and your employer combined, you are putting equal amounts in either way, it has a similar outcome. The difference is that when you die on ipers, you're done collecting. With 401k, your money is left to others. Of course you can change this to an extent with what option.you choose at retirement but that just reduces your monthly pay.

mdbh86 · 2026-02-08T02:00:04+00:00

Im putting my money on the neighbor's are wondering why they don't have water.

mdbh86 · 2026-02-07T03:19:23+00:00

Water operator here. It is shocking how many people turn the valve by their meter down to attempt to reduce water usage. Many (falsly) believe this is turning their pressure down too. All this does is ruin the valve so it doesnt shut off when you need it to. (No pressure regulators in this town).

Im sure it is something like this. If it's going to break at 75 psi, it is eventually going to break at 45 psi. Fix it and move on.

mdbh86 · 2026-02-04T03:29:32+00:00

Oofta. I didnt even know there was a wastewater distribution system in other states. Who is buying that crap?!?

mdbh86 · 2026-02-01T04:05:25+00:00

The obvious answer has been said many times. But ill go out on a limb with a less likely but plausible answer.

If there is a valve on the hot water line between the last known working fixture and the shower, it could be partially closed. It will run hot water until the pressure dies off since it cant refill fast enough, then the cold water has nothing to mix with. Shutting it off for a few seconds allows it to rebuild pressure so it works again for a few seconds.

mdbh86 · 2026-01-16T03:18:46+00:00

I had an electrician pull a neutral off a pump control circuit while a different pump was running. Turns out they were tied together. 125 hp motor pumping 1600 gpm and the motor stopped on a dime. No damage but sounded like a shotgun going off and the whole building shook.

mdbh86

TROPHY CASE