a noob with a question...

[kbraker]

my wife and i are looking at buying our first home. the house is a banbk repo, it has been winterized. it needs a new water heater, work on the furnace and the plumbing has been "capped off".exactly what does this mean capped off?. is it something that is easily reversable, i was told that it is part of the winterization process. the house is in nw ohio.

thanks in advance

kevin

[LazyPup]

HI Kevin, Welcome to the Home Repair Forum.

I am in Sharon,Pa which is right on the Ohio/Pa line about 5 miles north of Interstate 80 and 10 miles east of Youngstown,Ohio so our weather conditions here are the same as what you have there.

A year ago I did initial startup on 16 houses in the same condition as the one you are looking at so I can share not only knowledge of plumbing but also first hand experience of what you may expect to find.

Fortunately all the drain lines operarate by gravity flow so we don't need to worry about drain lines freezing however P-traps all have water in them to form the gas tight seal. If the house was properly prepared for long term storage they should have either disconnected the P-traps and put them in the sink or they may have put a small amount of food grade antifreeze in each trap. If the traps are removed the open line should be plugged with a test plug to prevent sewer gasses, insects or rodents from entering the house.

The term "Capped Off" is good news. Generally that means that the structure is on a municipal water supply and during the layup for long term storage pending sale the water distribution system was drained and the water meter was removed, then they capped the incoming water line. That is done to prevent lines from freezing if the house remains vacant during winter months.

When you set up your new water service account the water service provider they send a service tech out to install a new meter. You should be present when they install the meter and you should perform the initial checks right away to insure you have no leaks.

Before the meter is installed you should go through the house and turn off all the water supply angle stop valves under the faucetts except for one faucett which should be the furthest one from the point where the water enters the house. At this faucett you should leave the angle stop valves open and make sure the faucett is turned off. When checking the faucetts and angle stop valves visually check all the supply tubes to make sure they were not disconnected during the layup. Also, be sure to turn the supply angle stop valves off at each water closet(toilet).

When the water meter is installed and the service restored slowly open the "Main Water shutoff Valve" and allow the water lines to fill and equalize pressure. While the water is filling the lines you should hear a ticking sound from the water meter. If you look closely at the meter you will see a small indictor just above the numbers that rotates as the water flows. When the ticking sound stops and that little indicator stops turning the lines are full. Now walk through the structure and listen for any sounds of water leaking. In a perfect world there should be no leaks but sometimes there is a low point in a water line that traps water which cannot drain out and there is a chance that trapped water may have frozen and ruptured a line. If you find a leak you will need to drain the system again and repair the line, then repeat this part of the test. When you are fairly certain there are no leaks in the lines go to the furthest faucett. First check to make sure the P-trap is in place and that is has not frozen and ruptured then slowly open the faucett. You should expect a lot of sputtering as the trapped air in the lines bleeds out. When you have a full flow of water turn the faucett off and visually check the faucett body both on top of the sink and under the sink to make sure the faucett body is not leaking. (Sometimes water is trapped inside faucetts and freezes causing the faucett body to rupture).

When you have a full flow of water and everything appears ok go to the next faucett, open the angle stop then repeat the procedure to bleed the air out of the line and establish waterflow then go to the next one and so forth until you have them all working correctly.

Now check the toilets. begin by lifting the tank lid and visually inspect the inside of the tank. If the tank is empty you should have no problem. If the tank is full and there are no leaks that is also fine, but if there is just a couple inches of water in the tank check the tank walls very carefully for signs of cracks. If the water appears to have a blue, green or yellow tint it may have antifreeze in it, in which case the tank should be ok.

Now turn the toilet supply angle stop on and watch the tank fill. We commonly find the water fill valve control head is cracked from freezing. If that is the case you can usually replace it rather easily with a universal replacement fill valve such as a fluidmaster fill valve. The fill valves are relatively inexpensive (about $10) and are a simple DIY project to replace. When the tank is full flush the toilet and watch the action to make sure there are no leaks around the bowl and that the fill valve is refilling the tank.

Once you have checked out all the toilets you are done.

[kbraker]

wow, that a lot of info for all at once. thanks for the reply. does the plumbing have to be un capped by a pro or is it something i can do my self?

thanks again

kevin

[LazyPup]

If you are on a municipal water supply you will have to establish an account with them and make provision to have them turn your water service on. They will send a tech out to install your meter and they will do the actual uncapping during that phase. Once you have water service you could print out my previous post and follow it step by step and you will be ok. You need not hire a plumber unless you discover unforseen problems beyond your ability to fix and even then, if you find a problem you could always post the problem and we may be able to give you a step by step plan how to resolve that as a DIY project.