DreadPirateRoberts cost me $250.
At a house warming party, if memory serves, he pointed at the main water cutoff valve and asked if I'd tested it. Seemed like a good idea, figured I'd get around to doing that eventually.
Well, flash forward to yesterday. Attached to the same pipe as the cutoff valve is a spigot for a hose. It leaks, so I planned to replace it, should be simple enough. I pick up a replacement at Home Depot, and begin my test of the water cutoff valve.
No problem, it does exactly what it's supposed to do and cuts off the water. Unfortunately, the old spigot wouldn't budge. I gave that thing all I had, went at it with a mallet and a pipe wrench. Didn't wiggle a centimeter. So I eventually gave up, resolving to eventually have a pro come out and deal with it.
And that's when I learned a valuable lesson in homeownership...don't go messing with utility lines after 6PM on a holiday.
Sure, the cutoff valve shut the water off no problem. Once I'd given up on replacing the spigot, I go to turn it back on. I turned the handle on the valve. And turned it. And turned it. And turned it...oh crap. Clearly DPR cursed me.
Seems the valve froze in the closed position and the handle snapped off and was spinning freely. Damn, hell, crap, hell damn. I mean, as failures go, that was certainly better than the alternate scenario of, "Something is gushing water and the valve busted in the open position," but still. Had to call a plumber out (who took 2.5 hours to show up). And of course it was no simple job, this being the 30 year old valve for the main supply, and right next to a wall forcing him to have to cut the pipe and solder in a new valve rather than just do a simple replacement.
And the real kicker...I asked if, while he was working on it anyway, the plumber might try to replace the spigot. He took one look at the old one and said, "You couldn't get it off because it's not threaded, it's soldered on."
