Celebration Homeowners Beware Water Problems

If you live in Celebration, there may be a kind of “time bomb” ready to go off in your house at any moment.  Thanks goes to a dozen or so residents who have called our attention to it, including Dennis Kennen (who started a thread on the Front Porch last month) and to Rick Amick (who posted a thorough explanation and warning).  The problem is sudden and unexpected water leaks inside the house.  The root cause: water pressure delivered to our homes that significantly exceeds County and Uniform Plumbing Codes, coupled with the omission by Celebration builders to install simple pressure relief valves.  

Just ask residents such a Thomas Muery, Renato Texiara, and William Abendschein.  All had expensive repairs totaling thousands of dollars.

The solution is relatively simple: a pressure relief valve installed in the water line just before it enters the home.

I just had one installed in my house in East Village, after I learned of the danger by reading the Front Porch thread started by Kennen.  Suddenly, recent incidents nearby suddenly became clear.  Earlier this year, my immediate neighbor suffered extensive water damage to the entire first floor of his house.  Three months later, his neighbor had a water pipe burst, flooding half his house and ruining the carpet.  A few blocks away, a friend had a burst water line just a week ago.  The next day I had a mysterious trickle of water form under our washing machine.

Kevin the Plumber verified my fear.  The pressure was about 120 psi, far exceeding the recommended maximum of about 80 psi.   In a bit over an hour, Kevin installed a pressure relief valve, his second such installation that day.  The water pressure time bomb has stopped ticking at my house.

But that raises an interesting issue.  Should not some public organization (such as the County, CCDD, or CROA) be warning residents of this danger?  Do the builders have an ethical responsibility to warn all the homeowners?  What about real estate agents who sell houses to unsuspecting buyers? 

Based on the talk around town, the attitude seems to be Caveat Emptor … Let the Buyer Beware.  The Water Department, CCDD, The Celebration Company, builders, and real estate agents all seem to be pointing their fingers either at the others or at the home owners themselves.

Thus it falls to the Fourth Estate (a term coined by Edmund Burke, meaning “the Press”). 

We urge you not to procrastinate.  Test your water pressure with a simple pressure gauge available at Lowe’s, Home Depot, or a good hardware store.  If it exceeds roughly 85 psi, buy and install a pressure relief valve.  Or call a reliable plumber like Kevin (their repair costs reportedly vary between $150 and $250, depending on the size of house and other factors).

Even if the water lines in your house have held until now, the excessive pressure month after month may eventually produce a weak point, causing what could be inconvenience (at best) and catastrophic, expensive damage (at worst).

Just because our public servants haven’t waived a red flag, it doesn’t mean there isn’t danger.  Just ask the residents with posts on the Front Porch, category “Place& Community.”

Celebration Homeowners Beware Water Problems, 5.0 out of 10 based on 1 rating

Originally posted 2010-02-07 13:03:52.

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