[Boatanchors] If You See This Truck, RUN!

[Duane Fischer, W8DBF]

Thursday I was speaking with my daughter Shelly, who is eight months+ pregnant,
when all of a sudden I heard this loud roaring sound like an oil well coming in.
Problem is, the only oil in this house is that 3 and 1 stuff in a little squirt
can. I did a quick check to see what was happening. The sound was from the
bathroom and it was the toilet. There was water blowing out of the toilet, a
loud roaring sound, all sorts of bubbling and the smell of Sulfur and sewer gas,
AKA Methane. 	
	
I shut the water flow valve to the toilet tank off. No difference. Because I
have a well and a submersible pump, my first thought was that the pump had gone
berserk. Although I smelled the sewer gas, it had not yet registered that the
source was not the well. 	
	
I went to the utility room. The pipes and drain for the laundry tubs were
roaring too. I shut down the water heater and furnace, both of which are natural
gas fueled. I also opened the breaker for the well pump. Nothing changed. 	
	
I went to the other end of the house and opened the main breakers. All power was
now shut down. The roaring, water spurting into the air, violent bubbling and
sewer gas emissions continued. This was like some horror movie scene.  			
	
It turns out, that two environmental protection agency clean up trucks were on
my street. They were going through all of the County sewer lines with TV cameras
looking for any obstructions. If they found anything, they were using compressed
air through a special nozzle at 2300 psi to cut it. Such as a root. There were
two side nozzles at 45 degree angles to the primary nozzle. This amount of water
pressure is enough to blow a hole right through a person!	
	
Contrary to their belief, the standard sewer vent pipe found on homes is not
adequate to dissipate such pressure. They were not supposed to direct the
nozzles into the lines going into peoples homes. They had stopped the unit for
some reason, probably a Union coffee break, (snicker) and it was pointed into my
homes sewer line.    	
	
I called the township police department and they had the County Supervisor here
in fifteen minutes. He knew the problem before he ever arrived, obviously I was
not alone!, and ordered the trucks to back down the pressure immediately. I
heard him barking instructions on his hand held radio. 	
	
He assured me that the County would pay for any clean up and any damage, no
questions asked. If I wanted a professional clean up crew, he would get one in
here. 	
	
This was like something you read about that only happens to other people.
Surreal. In truth, my life had not gone down the sewer, it had come out of it
with a vengeance! The Supervisor told me that my quick thinking and right
actions had in all likelyhood prevented an explosion that would have leveled my
house and probably killed me. The furnace lighting was sufficient to ignite a
house filled with methane gas. Fortunately it was a bright sunny day with light
winds and I had opened the doors and windows to air the place out.  	
	
I am currently working on the radio equipment to get it back in operational
status. Battery backup is NOT what it is purported to be! Hopefully with the
assistance of my grandson and another friend, I will be operational by Net time
today. If not, you know why.	
	
But in every one of these sick and twisted stories that seem to creep into our
lives, there comes some bizarre humor. At least I was not sitting down on the
toilet like a young girl down the street was! I understand she made a hysterical
call to her mother at work, who made a hysterical call to 911 and the DPW! While
we chuckle at the visual images this calls up in our minds eye, I think about my
toilet spewing water, exploding bubbles and sewer gas blowing out of it and
somehow, it is not funny, yet. 	
	
Duane Fischer, W8DBF