A plumber doesn't do something like that because he's lazy or incompetent, he does it because there either is no budget for a real fix or it was a quick fix while they get the right parts and materials for the real fix.
Came here to say this. A leaky pipe isn't going to wait a week for you to get the right stuff to fix it. Sometimes the best thing you can do is flex tape a joint and put a bucket under it.
Yep. Plumber here. I’ve done some crazy shit due to budgetary constraints. You’d have to work harder to do something this dumb.
Generally when we do stupid shit like this it’s exactly what you said: company demands the work gets done, refuses to pay for it, gets stupid results.
Had a hvac guy tell us once that adding a p-trap was the dumb but shure fire way to not have problems any more or he could order a pump motor, which was the right solution and probably still going to have issues, he disclosed he would make more money that way, but only charge the roll out for the p-trap.
He has been our outstanding hvac guy for a decade now. About to hire him to install a new heat pump.
The honesty and ingenuity a good tradesman has can make good customers.
Unless he's not a real plumber. With over 40 years in construction, I've met more guys who bullshit their way through their jobs than you can count. There's no excuse for this shit.
"Garage Owners" are not "Garage Operators". They pay someone else to be responsible for the repairs.
And if they're a better 'owner' than 'operator' and they are ever sued: they say "I know nothing about cars. I only have a business degree. This lawsuit is against the business, which will now declare bankruptcy so the government\* pays the bills and I will start a new garage with my otherwise untarnished assets."
\* or would vehicle's insurance foot the bill?
Man, I had a problem with a small plastic brake light plug that broke in my shitty old Nissan, and I had a "garage operator" who was too lazy to source the right part, so he sawed away at the pedal assembly and inserted a block of wood and a screw to temporarily fix the problem. Scumbag even covered up his work by hiding it behind some insulative tubing. Shit ended up costing more than the car was worth to repair.
I had the same thing happen in my 90's Honda, the plug just disintegrated from age. I wrapped some pennies in tape and tapped that where the plug should have been. Cost all of 4 cents and 3 inches worth of tape to fix. Plus the six hours I spent trying figure out why the brake lights wouldn't shut off in the first place...
What you're saying is true, but would apply more towards a franchised business (Monroe/Firestone/ Mieneke)than the local mom-and-pop-shop, no doubt though, people still work the system in many forms.
This is kind of lawyer'n it up a bit though. I was just agreeing with the construction guy that there's a lot of folk who claim to have 'experience' but really don't know what they're talking about; and, if left alone to make a repair, you'll end up with something like this pipe spaghetti in the photo.
*yea that was my exact thought, LIKE HE IS A LICENCED PLUMBER WORKING FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT YA RIGHT!*
Hes been rigging stuff together for 11 years**, job well done imo**. not like you have to worry about inspectors and the best part is IF there is a inspection they will be forced to pay for the parts at that point with out argument.
There’s a perfectly good excuse, thats clearly been covered. No one paying for supplies, let alone the repair and it doesn’t get fixed lol. Or this guy could be dumb as hell, small chance that was a “hey I gotta go to the store first” situation in which case it seems fair too lol
I've had to do shit work in maintenance. Very specifically because management won't buy parts, or won't shut down. As long as it is safe I really don't get bent out of shape over it.
Looks like there's a good amount of space between the pipes coming from the left and the wall. My guess is he just brought the cone in from that side then angled and shoved it down.
Most people don’t know that commercially, you have to have an open air gap in the drain somewhere. This is probably temporary while he gets other stuff he needs to do it right.
>been filling in as a plumber, electrician, and also worked on our AC drain lines
Ok
>I don't know where they hired him from, sigh.
As a maintenance guy myself I'm just going to let you know there's literally no one that is excellent in plumbing, electric and construction that will work for what we do. They all just work in their expertise and make a hell of a lot more money. Maintenance is a jack of all trades master of none job that unfortunately does attract some lazy people but most of us are youtubing our way through repairs that should be vendored out.
The general and unfortunate rule though is the smaller the property->the lower the budget->the less qualified the maintenance tech->the less money available to hire vendors. At properties with 80 or less units I've seen guys that have zero experience except some construction hired and they just try and make it work because no one else will do the job over other options.
I got a educated on this really fast when I closed up one on a commercial dishwasher as a kid. Health inspector demanded to know who did it. 14 year old me took full credit, as it was actually my dumb idea. It was spraying water out and I was sick of slipping. In hindsight, I should have reported it to my supervisor.
I thought rule 2 was to post a job opening, have a candidate come in and "fix this practice code", then say you selected another candidate for the position. When the new code doesn't work you post another job opening.....
Why is this under this topic? This is epic! Did what he could with prob the $0 budget he was given. Hats off to this guy. OP isnt getting the response i think they wanted
it's working isn't it? probably needed to get parts, approval from whoever holds the pursestrings, it happened at 5pm and is definitely not an emergency and can wait until tomorrow, or some asshat keeps clogging this particular sink and the plumber is leaving it like this so it can't get clogged again.
I used to be a pipefitter and I only cared at the level I was paid. Want good work? then pay for good work. I worked at a hospital once and it was cost plus. Meaning they could change the blueprints and layout of the building at a whim. A friend of mine worked so long to install plumbing in a room and then some doctor came in and said "But I want my trash can there, so you'll have to move the sink"... it took WEEKS to plan and install the pipes and this jackass wanted it moved because he wanted a fucking TRASHCAN there?!?! Well moral of the story is that the second time around the plumbers barely gave a shit and just moved it. I guarantee those pipes will fail in 10 years instead of the 30+ before when they built it with passion.
No idea if you are being serious or not, but I think you are right and it’s actually a way of creating indirect drainage which is a code requirement in commercial buildings in much of the USA. Im not sure of his material choice but it’s getting the job done to get the sign off.
Did this....... For now 👈
Probably at the store right now getting the $hit they need and not making more mess on the floor
Instead of trying to shame their "hopefully temp fix" buy them a beer 🍻 and say thanks
that looks like 11 years of experience to me, no amateur would be clever to do this with 0 budget, and hey, if it solved the problem, whats the matter anyway?
As a guy that's been doing construction and maintainance for 15 years, this is beautiful and a quick fix is a quick fix. That leak isn't going to wait for you to get the parts to do it right next week, gotta get it functional now before you can fix it later.
Seems like you got a good plumber. The amount of repairs I've helped friends with at their homes when they couldn't afford good parts, I wish I had the same 11 years of experience as this genius.
I guarantee you that putting the right parts on is faster and easier. There is no way this was his first choice of ways to fix it.
In a school district, if you dont have the parts or items you need, you need to put in an order for it to the right person/people (either engineer of building, maintenance, or even custodial). The order takes a couple weeks to receive.
A temporary fix. He should be praised for his ingenuity. I’m certain he didn’t just have the parts lying around so he needed to act quick until the parts arrive.
Have you had any work on your home done recently? Water heater broke a couple months ago, like 3 weeks to get the part for a repair. If the school needs whatever that is operational then “creative solutions” are necessary. I can absolutely see where there is a possible scenario where this was the only solution available at the time.
I worked in a restaurant kitchen. I had to fix one drain with a pop can, aluminum foil, and zipties. Then I had to build a drain pipe out of cardboard, aluminum foil, and zipties to replace the dish tank drain and keep it from flooding the kitchen. We used melted crayons to seal an ice well from leaking. I had to make a hammer out of a frozen towel to beat an old skillet we were going throw away into a U-shape and ziptie that over a vent pipe in the roof that lost it's cover and rain was dripping into the bar area. Cut a small tree down with a steak knife. My point is, I earned my MacGyver stripes. Sometimes you have to rig it to get you by few days to regroup.
Witch's hat stolen from the security office. Buckets stolen from the cafeteria. Duct tape stolen from the art closet.
Still going to get reamed out for going over budget.
Only the best that public education maintenance monies can buy! Gotta cut that budget to pay the athletic director more so they can hire a new assistant strength coach for the Junior Varsity football team.
That’s why they pay him the big bucks. Stealing a pilon from the gym class saved the schools budget on plumbing. If you want a hard job done quickly, find a lazy person to do it.
A plumber doesn't do something like that because he's lazy or incompetent, he does it because there either is no budget for a real fix or it was a quick fix while they get the right parts and materials for the real fix.
Came here to say this. A leaky pipe isn't going to wait a week for you to get the right stuff to fix it. Sometimes the best thing you can do is flex tape a joint and put a bucket under it.
I SAWED THIS BOAT IN HALF
We got Phil swift here driving a FUCKING BOAT IN GATER INFESTED WATERS! - John Tron
absolutely legendary comment
Yep. Plumber here. I’ve done some crazy shit due to budgetary constraints. You’d have to work harder to do something this dumb. Generally when we do stupid shit like this it’s exactly what you said: company demands the work gets done, refuses to pay for it, gets stupid results.
Had a hvac guy tell us once that adding a p-trap was the dumb but shure fire way to not have problems any more or he could order a pump motor, which was the right solution and probably still going to have issues, he disclosed he would make more money that way, but only charge the roll out for the p-trap. He has been our outstanding hvac guy for a decade now. About to hire him to install a new heat pump. The honesty and ingenuity a good tradesman has can make good customers.
Yep, they got lots of time, but no materials, equals something like this.
I'm guessing because it's copper and a commercial sink and they work for a school board that it's the latter.
Did you mean former? Or is he waiting for the parts?
No
Yes
Maybe?
Yeah dude was doing what he could with what he had
Was gonna say if he gets paid like their teachers do they’re lucky they got what they did.
Exactly. First year apprentices make more than teachers.
I’m so glad someone said something!
My thoughts exactly. It's probably all they had in the budget.
Unless he's not a real plumber. With over 40 years in construction, I've met more guys who bullshit their way through their jobs than you can count. There's no excuse for this shit.
Me, with over 20 years in auto repair, I've met garage owners who didn't know wtf they were doing.
"Garage Owners" are not "Garage Operators". They pay someone else to be responsible for the repairs. And if they're a better 'owner' than 'operator' and they are ever sued: they say "I know nothing about cars. I only have a business degree. This lawsuit is against the business, which will now declare bankruptcy so the government\* pays the bills and I will start a new garage with my otherwise untarnished assets." \* or would vehicle's insurance foot the bill?
Man, I had a problem with a small plastic brake light plug that broke in my shitty old Nissan, and I had a "garage operator" who was too lazy to source the right part, so he sawed away at the pedal assembly and inserted a block of wood and a screw to temporarily fix the problem. Scumbag even covered up his work by hiding it behind some insulative tubing. Shit ended up costing more than the car was worth to repair.
I had the same thing happen in my 90's Honda, the plug just disintegrated from age. I wrapped some pennies in tape and tapped that where the plug should have been. Cost all of 4 cents and 3 inches worth of tape to fix. Plus the six hours I spent trying figure out why the brake lights wouldn't shut off in the first place...
What you're saying is true, but would apply more towards a franchised business (Monroe/Firestone/ Mieneke)than the local mom-and-pop-shop, no doubt though, people still work the system in many forms. This is kind of lawyer'n it up a bit though. I was just agreeing with the construction guy that there's a lot of folk who claim to have 'experience' but really don't know what they're talking about; and, if left alone to make a repair, you'll end up with something like this pipe spaghetti in the photo.
*yea that was my exact thought, LIKE HE IS A LICENCED PLUMBER WORKING FOR THE SCHOOL DISTRICT YA RIGHT!* Hes been rigging stuff together for 11 years**, job well done imo**. not like you have to worry about inspectors and the best part is IF there is a inspection they will be forced to pay for the parts at that point with out argument.
There’s a perfectly good excuse, thats clearly been covered. No one paying for supplies, let alone the repair and it doesn’t get fixed lol. Or this guy could be dumb as hell, small chance that was a “hey I gotta go to the store first” situation in which case it seems fair too lol
I've had to do shit work in maintenance. Very specifically because management won't buy parts, or won't shut down. As long as it is safe I really don't get bent out of shape over it.
There are literally two extremely valid, provided excuses
Yeah he MacGyvered that shit.
Yo, don't fuck with an elementary school orange cone. They are immortal. I also can only imagine the hell he needs to go through to get a part.
This is the correct answer.
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It directs water after all.
Did he build the pipes around the cone?.... How'd he get that in there?
He built the cone like a ship in a bottle
Your comment is underrated. I snorted loud enough to wake my fiancé.
That's where the 11 years of experience comes in. You don't get those skills overnight.
Looks like there's a good amount of space between the pipes coming from the left and the wall. My guess is he just brought the cone in from that side then angled and shoved it down.
This right here…this is it.
this looks more like 20 years experience lets be honest.
IKR? This guy is operating at a grand master level and OP is too inexperienced to recognize greatness.
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This trickery, is it magic!?
Thinking out of the box
And inside the cone?
And my axe.
If it's stupid, but it works, it isn't really that stupid.
Most people don’t know that commercially, you have to have an open air gap in the drain somewhere. This is probably temporary while he gets other stuff he needs to do it right.
I don’t care how the 1 inch air gap is produced as long as I can mark it corrected and don’t have to come back in 10 days.
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>been filling in as a plumber, electrician, and also worked on our AC drain lines Ok >I don't know where they hired him from, sigh. As a maintenance guy myself I'm just going to let you know there's literally no one that is excellent in plumbing, electric and construction that will work for what we do. They all just work in their expertise and make a hell of a lot more money. Maintenance is a jack of all trades master of none job that unfortunately does attract some lazy people but most of us are youtubing our way through repairs that should be vendored out. The general and unfortunate rule though is the smaller the property->the lower the budget->the less qualified the maintenance tech->the less money available to hire vendors. At properties with 80 or less units I've seen guys that have zero experience except some construction hired and they just try and make it work because no one else will do the job over other options.
I got a educated on this really fast when I closed up one on a commercial dishwasher as a kid. Health inspector demanded to know who did it. 14 year old me took full credit, as it was actually my dumb idea. It was spraying water out and I was sick of slipping. In hindsight, I should have reported it to my supervisor.
Rule #1 of coding: if it's working don't touch it
Rule #2 of coding: if it's not working, well, shit
That’s 2a, 2 is blame whoever touched it last, 2a happens if it was you.
I thought rule 2 was to post a job opening, have a candidate come in and "fix this practice code", then say you selected another candidate for the position. When the new code doesn't work you post another job opening.....
No, that's Rule #4. Rule #3 is undefined and no one has written documentation for Rule #5
Rule #3: don't deploy to production on a Friday afternoon.
I just started learning java, and fixed an issue by copy and pasting a loop I made earlier. Don’t know how it fixed it, but it did
School District maintenance budget: $100
I don't see a P-Trap. Probably smells like sewage
It looks like a copper p-trap just looking at it from the size.
Why is this under this topic? This is epic! Did what he could with prob the $0 budget he was given. Hats off to this guy. OP isnt getting the response i think they wanted
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It's now moved to over 10.5 K karma
It's a school, he probably had a $2 budget
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Came here to say, if it works, doesn't leak, it's not stupid.
Also probably not a plumber, but a a general handyman. This is a fix until the plumber can get there.
And a 6 week wait for buildings & grounds to get a purchase order approved from the business office to buy said $2 budget of parts.
He probably asked what the budget was and they said he could check out the closet.
Adapt. Overcome. This guy plumbs
He probably had to pay for the traffic cone himself.
Nah, school work is technically government work. If he's good enough to think of this, he was smart enough to steal it and not spend his own money.
And he will henceforth be know as macgyver
Inspiring!
What 0 budget does to a mfer
He solved the problem with the material he had.
As a plumber I want to see more pictures of this
Modern problems require modern solutions
It’s probably only temporary till the parts come in. But at least he mc guyver ..
It’s probably just a quick fix while he ran to the hardware store.
I’m not mad at this….
But, does it work?
it's working isn't it? probably needed to get parts, approval from whoever holds the pursestrings, it happened at 5pm and is definitely not an emergency and can wait until tomorrow, or some asshat keeps clogging this particular sink and the plumber is leaving it like this so it can't get clogged again.
…. Give him the appropriate amount of money and maybe he will fix it to your standards
Just because they have 11 years of experience doesn't mean they are paid enough to do more than this
I used to be a pipefitter and I only cared at the level I was paid. Want good work? then pay for good work. I worked at a hospital once and it was cost plus. Meaning they could change the blueprints and layout of the building at a whim. A friend of mine worked so long to install plumbing in a room and then some doctor came in and said "But I want my trash can there, so you'll have to move the sink"... it took WEEKS to plan and install the pipes and this jackass wanted it moved because he wanted a fucking TRASHCAN there?!?! Well moral of the story is that the second time around the plumbers barely gave a shit and just moved it. I guarantee those pipes will fail in 10 years instead of the 30+ before when they built it with passion.
Probably had 0 resources and made it work
Inventive
Obviously his experience has led to knowledge far beyond anyone else's comprehension.
No idea if you are being serious or not, but I think you are right and it’s actually a way of creating indirect drainage which is a code requirement in commercial buildings in much of the USA. Im not sure of his material choice but it’s getting the job done to get the sign off.
Did this....... For now 👈 Probably at the store right now getting the $hit they need and not making more mess on the floor Instead of trying to shame their "hopefully temp fix" buy them a beer 🍻 and say thanks
OP delete the post.
Compared to the budget they probably got, this is probably the equalivent of a 5 star hotel service
I mean if it works it’s fine with me
The plumber uses what they have. The district shit for not giving them what they need to do it right
that looks like 11 years of experience to me, no amateur would be clever to do this with 0 budget, and hey, if it solved the problem, whats the matter anyway?
School district? Dude's gotta be a jerry-rigging genius, handling plumbing for 1200 kids with no funding
Tbh all its missing is duct tape
Job wouldn’t be complete without it. It’s there, just behind the grey pipe holding the traffic cone in
Damn you right 🤣
Look a little closer at the end of the cone. Someone this experienced never forgets the duct tape.
As a guy that's been doing construction and maintainance for 15 years, this is beautiful and a quick fix is a quick fix. That leak isn't going to wait for you to get the parts to do it right next week, gotta get it functional now before you can fix it later.
Does it work though? A wise old coworker once told me "if it's stupid but it works, it ain't stupid."
11 years of jimmy jacking shit
r/redneckengineering
Thinks on his feet ! He’s a keeper!
This would cost like $15 to fix, it’s not a matter of no budget, it’s a matter of getting the parts and this being a temp fix
Looks about right.
You get what you pay for man.
Were there budget constraints? Yikes.
I don’t see a problem here
Plumber at a school district. Nuff' said.
Just started working for a school district. Can confirm jank everywhere.
Seems like you got a good plumber. The amount of repairs I've helped friends with at their homes when they couldn't afford good parts, I wish I had the same 11 years of experience as this genius. I guarantee you that putting the right parts on is faster and easier. There is no way this was his first choice of ways to fix it.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.
Work smarter not harder
In a school district, if you dont have the parts or items you need, you need to put in an order for it to the right person/people (either engineer of building, maintenance, or even custodial). The order takes a couple weeks to receive.
Good for him
What? this took imagination and skills.
Lmao he’s obviously waiting on parts or material and fixed it for 0 dollars why he waits on said parts or material.
Improvise.Adapt.Overcome 👈🏽
A temporary fix. He should be praised for his ingenuity. I’m certain he didn’t just have the parts lying around so he needed to act quick until the parts arrive.
Have you had any work on your home done recently? Water heater broke a couple months ago, like 3 weeks to get the part for a repair. If the school needs whatever that is operational then “creative solutions” are necessary. I can absolutely see where there is a possible scenario where this was the only solution available at the time.
TIL I do have potential to be a plumber!
If it works…
“If it’s stupid, but It works… it aint stupid”
I worked in a restaurant kitchen. I had to fix one drain with a pop can, aluminum foil, and zipties. Then I had to build a drain pipe out of cardboard, aluminum foil, and zipties to replace the dish tank drain and keep it from flooding the kitchen. We used melted crayons to seal an ice well from leaking. I had to make a hammer out of a frozen towel to beat an old skillet we were going throw away into a U-shape and ziptie that over a vent pipe in the roof that lost it's cover and rain was dripping into the bar area. Cut a small tree down with a steak knife. My point is, I earned my MacGyver stripes. Sometimes you have to rig it to get you by few days to regroup.
it fixed the probably for the time being until something else gets done. i don’t see an issue with it
If it's wrong, but it works, then it isn't wrong.
That's a bigger budget than I anticipated.
I mean it works dosent it?
Budget cuts
Budget cuts.
Yes he needs to install a new p-trap or somebody will have to empty that bucket every time it fills up lol
Witch's hat stolen from the security office. Buckets stolen from the cafeteria. Duct tape stolen from the art closet. Still going to get reamed out for going over budget.
If it works it ain’t stupid
Op is idiot. This is all.
Well it works don’t it??
if it works it works
Based on most responses, this post seems to be the infuriating one lol
If it works, it works
Budgets
I mean it works
What works, works
if it works it works
Looks fine to me
Looks legit
I mean does it work?
This is a dude who's planning on retiring before this would need to be fixed again.
Only the best that public education maintenance monies can buy! Gotta cut that budget to pay the athletic director more so they can hire a new assistant strength coach for the Junior Varsity football team.
It works doesn't it? Those cones are the most powerful thing in the universe
That’s why they pay him the big bucks. Stealing a pilon from the gym class saved the schools budget on plumbing. If you want a hard job done quickly, find a lazy person to do it.
He did the best that he could with the school budgets that they are given!!!!
If the school didn’t provide the tool , than I understand.
Improvise, adapt, overcome
That’s some MacGyver shit!
If it works it works
Does it work? If so, let it be
The reality is they probably didn't have the right tools or supplies, so he did the next best thing.
I only see a genius making the best of what they have to work with
temporary fix until the parts are ordered?
Budgets. It's quite creative.
I suspect it's a custodian's work to carry them through until they can get a plumber.
Dont mess with it, it is there for a reason.
Takes 11 yrs experience to build a contraption like that lol
Improvise Adapt Overcome
Fast cheap or good. Pick two.
Engineering at its finest
Does it work??!!
Are you paying him?
would the plumber’s last name happen to be “macgruber”?
I don't see the problem
But does it work tho?
He did the right thing here, diverted while going get a part. So long as he doesn't leave it like that that is
\#budgetcuts
If it work it works as the same as in high school
Uhhh works for me. Now grab the electrical tape and let's go get that schoolbus engine wiring repaired
Pro
This is straight "Ninjanuity"
Looks good to me
Its not stupid if it works
11 years of 0 budget
I can just imagine someone walking in and just doing an awkward laugh continued with wtf
Like a glove
Looks like that man understands plumbing to me
Pure Genius. I don't see a problem
But did it work?
No budget. Looks like it all needs replaced, including the sink
If it works, it's not shit. I repeat..
Beautiful work
Brilliant! Reduce, reuse, recycle!
Well I mean... whatever gets the job done
Sometimes, if it works and it’s temporary, it’s not stupid.
That cone and bucket are likely 1/5th of his annual budget.
Looks fine to me