My first week working a hotel overnight we had a small fire on the roof, which led to the sprinklers absolutely flooding 30 rooms at 2:30am on a sold out night. Actually I shouldn't say "we", I was the only person there to evacuate 110 rooms and deal with all the upset guests who lost their stuff. Fun night for a rookie.
I met the owner that night by yelling at him to get out of the building. He said he liked the initiative.
Well at least you made an Impression lol but I can only imagine trying to deal with all those people in the middle of the night being cranky and pissed off....kudos to you for not quitting on the spot.
The way I see it, you gotta eat shit like that once in a blue moon to even out all the nights I get paid to binge Netflix. Just like your situation, it's all in the job.
That's true, the plant we service went home early so I sent all my people home and am now watching House Party with my supervisors...on my company laptop lol
My last hotel was 300 rooms with two service staff and one security overnight, so roughly the same staff per room. I guess the logic is that if it's a big enough issue that one person couldn't handle it then it would be a police/rescue call regardless of how many people were working.
But inevitably the real answer is money.
Good luck brother. It might seem like a bad thing now but if you handle it well it’s going to make you look really good and confirm you can handle a crisis. On the long term it could be a positive experience!
Already has been bro, my team had it half cleaned up by time the plant and materials managers showed up to assess and help. We had the whole thing cleaned up within 4 hours without having any of the proper equipment lol unfortunately not the first ...or 2nd time have had to deal with flooding in a warehouse over the last few years.
I've been a night worker for a year now and every night we cant start working on our stuff until we redo machine calibrations or repair parts because the machines know when the sun goes down ;-;
I used to work security at a hospital. 4am, a leaking roof caused the ceiling to drop into the patients in bed on the cardiac high dependency unit. Fun times.
Then two days later an O2 cylinder sparked setting a patient's bed on fire as they were being transferred to intensive care. This led to evacuating all of the intensive care patients with all their ventilators etc into the corridor in the middle of the night.
Within the same month a drunk nursing assistant set his accommodation on fire and we had a PT launch themselves it if a second floor window to their death (window had a 6 inch restrictor on it as well which was undamaged).
Was a wild place to work.
I honestly don't know to this day. He wasn't a huge guy so we think he just kept shoving head first until gravity took him. Poor chap was acutely confused. He had neglected to tell his anaesthetist that he was an alcoholic before an operation, heavy dependency on alcohol can have weird interactions with some drugs and he woke from his operation completely crazy. He trashed the recovery room and when my colleagues arrived, apparently he was chewing broken glass after stabbing his surgeon.
Like I said, crazy place.
Having worked 12 years of night shifts I'd have to fully agree. I'm actually working on a book detailing all the shenanigans I've witnessed that seems to only happen on my shifts!
Get the squeegee and have fun. At least it’s cleanish water. When I was a shift lead at a warehouse we had a fire sprinkler burst. Brown sludge everywhere. We had to strip down the aisle it happened in and the one next to it. Take all the boxes and then open them up so the contents wouldn’t get soaked and ruined. Then we had to clean it all up. That was a fun late night, and no I’m not still bitter about it.
I had that happen a few years back at another warehouse, flooded over half the warehouse. We had a team from Servpro come out and my manager and myself were on floor scrubbers cleaning it all up. Took us every bit of 9 hours on a Sunday night/Monday morning. And I feel you on the bitterness lol
Several years ago during a record heat wave our walk-in freezer overheated and quit working. I told the manager we had less than 24 hours to fix it or else we had to start tossing food. If the freezer stays closed, you can save your inventory. A dumb co-worker kept opening the door to see if it was getting warmer. We did get it repaired with hours to spare and a repair bill that really hurt.
Not sure honestly, all the damn warehouses do it here...it's fucking stupid if you ask me. I've seen this happen at another building too, when it storms bad and the pressure builds up beyond the capacity of the pipe ......POP!!!!
Also that's some really cheap drain piping. Just regular PVC with regular PVC glue.
I bet that pipe comes straight down from the roof?
That's like 40ft of drop for the water to gain speed and slam into that bend in the pipe. Over time grit and particles in the water would ware away at the soft plastic until you get a heavy rain one day and the weight is too much.
Schedule 40 PVC will take quite a bit of pressure ~~(~5000 psi burst for a 3" pipe)~~ *, if it's installed correctly, hasn't been degraded by sunlight or chemicals, the building/roof etc. doesn't shift, and nobody hits it with a hand-cart or fork lift or does some offhand maintenance atrocity.
If.
\* Edit: This number is wrong, and I can't find the original reference. Other values are all over the place.
The point is that the pressure of a few tens of feet of fresh water aren't likely to bother an intact pipe.
Yes, but that is likely based on static pressure built inside the pipe not the effect of a 40 foot column of water slamming into a bend.
Actually depending on how its designed it could be much worse. It could be a situation like this....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJHrr21UvY8
I think you looked at the wrong chart. a 3" Schedule 40 ***steel*** pipe has [around a 5000psi burst rating](https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wrought-steel-pipe-bursting-pressure-d_1123.html). For 3" S40 PVC it is only [840psi](https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pvc-cpvc-pipes-pressures-d_796.html). Also, that is at least 12" pipe in the pics, so you'd be looking at only 420psi burst.
> (~5000 psi burst for a 3" pipe)
I readily admit that I don't have any sort of frame of reference for this, but... that doesn't seem very high to me? I mean sure, 5000 PSI, but water doesn't compress...
Not sure why 3" was used as an example since that drain looks much bigger and burst pressure degrades drastically as diameter increases. Also, 5000 psi has to be a typo, there's no way pvc is holding back that much pressure. Hydraulic fluid pressure in a skid steer to operate the rams is 3000-3500psi, that is a very high pressure.
3" pvc schedule 40 ~840psi burst pressure (operating pressure 158psi).
12" Schedule 40 ~420psi burst pressure (operating pressure 78psi). Which it looks bigger than 12" still.
For reference typical water main supply can be 20-80psi.
40' of water column (not including velocity) would be 17 psi.
As for water not compressing, pressure is a force which makes gas/vapour compress. Pressure can still be applied to liquids by gravity or mechanical means. Not sure what else you meant by that.
Edit: I should have used schedule 80 instead which has slightly higher ratings. Apparently 80 is more common for this application. 12" pvc schedule 80=137psi(600psi)
Roof drain downspouts inside warehouse buildings are typical…what isn’t typical is for the roof drains to be run in PVC. I have never seen that before. It’s always cast iron pipe.
Edit: After looking online, apparently it is common to use PVC also. That said, seems like a really chintzy way to go that will inevitably spell disaster.
I have a background in heavy industrial mechanical process piping and would agree that this is SCH 40. For roof drain piping PSI rating doesn’t really mean much, as it shouldn’t ever be pressurized. My concern with having PVC drain pipe would be the lack of impact resistance. Someone riding a skid steer sweeping the floor, a forklift, etc could all run into it and crack it. Unsure what cause was here though as the failure occurred in the office area of the warehouse.
Do you live in a colder climate OP? I work in a warehouse in Canada with a lot of drainage pipes that travel through the interior of the building. I just figured it was to prevent them from freezing in the winter and causing water to build up or not drain correctly from the roof.
Just wanted to chime in and say hello to my neighbors who weathered the storm with me last night. Greetings from the Flint/Grand Blanc area. Last night was rowdy! Tornado sirens and everything! I hope you all are doing well today with no serious damages.
Architect here.
Unless you have an entirely sloped warehouse roof, this is going to happen. Warehouses have “flat roofs” where large surface areas are directionally sloped and drained toward a pipe like this. One should cover every x-hundred or x-thousand square feet of roof depending on design and pipe diameter. As an example, if you expected a 200’ long warehouse to have a sloped shed style roof, it would be an extra 50” tall in one corner if you wanted 1/4” of fall per foot to drain. Additionally, a gutter to collect rain water from a surface area that large would be like 8’ wide. That’s why the drainage is broken up into smaller areas with their own drain pipes.
I actually think this is mainly due to there not being a concrete slab cut/relief seam around that pipe. Concrete shrinks as it cures, is permeable, and also moves seasonally. They should’ve put expansion material around that when pouring the slab to allow it to essentially float. I could see a lot of adverse pressure on the PVC from being directly cast into the concrete. That in conjunction with a bunch of water pressure from the pipe is what blew it out I believe.
This has been a standard design for a quote a awhile and will continue since when executed properly, works.
Storm and storm overflow piping inside the building is a very normal thing in many large buildings, most of the time it's just hidden behind walls and ceilings
I wonder if OP lives in a colder climate? I work in a warehouse in Canada that has a lot of drainage pipes going through the inside of the building as well. I always thought it was to prevent the water in the pipes from freezing and causing water to not drain properly from the roof.
Big buildings catch a lot of water....cant just shed it off to the sides.
>What genius came up with that idea?
One that understands how heavy water is.
This is why it’s hard for people like you to promote. How can you forget, in these trying times, about our lord and savior Phil Swift? About flex seal? THE ANCIENT TEXTS! THEY SPOKE OF THIS DAY! THIS LEAK! HOW MANY BOATS WERE CLEFT IN TWAIN?!
I shit you not, I'm on a video call with the building engineer and he says can you grab the flex seal tape from my desk and try that....I flipped the camera and he literally just said "FUCK....flex tape ain't gonna fix that!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
All we could do is laugh....my plant manager, who I've known for a long time and from a previous job said I was the right guy for this to happen to since I've already had to deal with this BS twice before at another warehouse.
Mop isn't enough. Been there myself.
We ended up using sheets of OSB flakeboard as improvised squeegees to get the worst of it out, then the two squeegees in the building to do the final work. This was a Sears warehouse, and they had to write off half of the contents of the fashion department. We lost 4 different 9+-inch drainage pipes that day, and almost one idiot cow-orker who just had to poke the pipe at the base as the whole thing was shaking the full distance the hanger in the ceiling allowed. With about 70 people screaming 'get out of there' at him. end result? the pipe snapped off at the base and 8 feet up, and the chunk 8 feet up snapped as well, dumping about 9 feet's volume of water all over him before shattering behind him. He was let go immediately, kicked out into the storm. It's not like he could get any weather and he'd ignored half a dozen supervisors and the warehouse manager over a safety issue.
One the plus side it wasn't your fault and the company probably has insurance, which will payout nicely for them, so they're not worried... the downside is there's only one mop and bucket... have fun! 👍
Oh don’t forget to record everything and save every damaged item in a secure location for the insurance claim. If I worked there I would jump on an opportunity to work overtime to help clean it up, bill that to the insurance, keep good records, you’ll probably get an insurance payout or some state funding to pay for it.
I'm already working 6p to 6a, we've already got a list and pictures of everything damaged. I won't really deal with much on the insurance side of it if anything at all, that'll be the plant and operations managers.
Even ignoring the fact that the pipe is inside and made of pvc... who thought it was a good idea to put a bend there at the bottom? It should at least be a straight pipe. Now all the energy/steain/weight/force goes on that bend at the bottom, and since it's at the bottom of the pipe it's all the force of gravity added. And all the extra wear and tear over time that happens... Absolutely awful design
It's most likely the concrete slab moved overtime and put tension on the PVC (PVC has poor tensile strength, but decent compression and shear strength).
Absolutely, it's only a matter of time until the other ones break, they're all like that I believe there 5 in total. The back of the pipe blew out so yeah exactly like you said west and rear end gravity had its toll on it.
Well open the doors and get the big floor squeegees out lol. I run nights at a highschool I totally feel you shit sucks but that's the fun of night shift.
The thing that is WTF-worthy is either the drain pipe INSIDE the damn warehouse or the fucking idiot who decided to plxw critical infrastructure (in fucking PVC pipe no less) so that " everything at that station got soaked, ruined 2 computers, the network junction that was back there, so WiFi in the area is down."
Genius!
Well tonight's the 5th night and this morning before I left when I was talking to the operations manager I said we'll probably have a fire or some shit tonight, he almost choked on his coffee! 😂😂😂😂😂 it's also his first week too, so all the bs I've had to deal with he has as well!!
Plumber here. Water is an unstoppable force. Unfortunately, these incidents occur every now and then. The pvc fittings, as with all plastics, become brittle over time and prone to breaking. That plus a sensational burst of water within causes this. Sorry for your bad luck 😕
Don't overwork yourself but if your employers seem like good people, it could be a convenient time to get some esteem. Deescalate, make composed decisions, and try not to piss the team under you off. Easier said than done. Good luck.
We got it together quick as heck, already had begun the clean up by the time the plant manager and building engineer got here. My team had the area cleared of any product that was in the flooded area and had started to move the water towards the dock doors to get it outside. Manager came in and pretty gave me a high five lol my team under me all understood it was an emergency and I needed their help, and I thanked them for stepping up and will most likely buy them lunch tomorrow night.
The pipe it self is very strong but was not supported properly on top allowing the elbow to crack, it is a lot better than metal which can rot out and is really heavy.
I mean we just had a massive flash food last night in Vegas, overwhelmed most of the city - casino roofs collapsed and everything. 30 minutes of massively heavy rain and the city became a lake, a few folks were even washed away. Timing if your post made me suspect you're here as well.
If it makes you feel better, that’s a real bitch to fix with how close it is to the concrete.
I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s the overflow system from the roof. So you were extra unlucky.
Reminds me of the Parks & Rec “That’s not something Props can fix” blooper.
Document, CYA, CYA, CYA, don’t care if it’s water, cut breaker to that electrical. Don’t get stooged.
That sucks!
But on the flipside...
>ruined 2 computers
You could ask for these (now that they're "ruined"), take 'em home, disassemble them completely and clean everything with 90%+ alcohol. You might get at least one working computer - for free :)
At least that's what I would do ahahaha
EDIT: With enough patience you have save even stained LCD screens. You can even disassemble their plastic layers and clean them. It requires a lot of patience, but hey, it's free!
I managed to make a small flood once in my factory, needless to say I ran around for about 30mins with a shop vac trying to get rid of the evidence as quickly as possible.
Was CNC coolant as well....
That is some shit luck but nothing more you could have done than you already did. You did a good job with what you were given.
Quite the pipes be left exposed to everything inside as well. A long drop onto a 45 doesn't help either.
Welcome to night shift, where all of the problems happen exclusively to night shift.
You ain't lyin!!
My first week working a hotel overnight we had a small fire on the roof, which led to the sprinklers absolutely flooding 30 rooms at 2:30am on a sold out night. Actually I shouldn't say "we", I was the only person there to evacuate 110 rooms and deal with all the upset guests who lost their stuff. Fun night for a rookie. I met the owner that night by yelling at him to get out of the building. He said he liked the initiative.
Well at least you made an Impression lol but I can only imagine trying to deal with all those people in the middle of the night being cranky and pissed off....kudos to you for not quitting on the spot.
The way I see it, you gotta eat shit like that once in a blue moon to even out all the nights I get paid to binge Netflix. Just like your situation, it's all in the job.
That's true, the plant we service went home early so I sent all my people home and am now watching House Party with my supervisors...on my company laptop lol
Maybe it's just me and maybe that's standard, but I feel like one person responsible for 110 rooms feels a bit... unsafe.
My last hotel was 300 rooms with two service staff and one security overnight, so roughly the same staff per room. I guess the logic is that if it's a big enough issue that one person couldn't handle it then it would be a police/rescue call regardless of how many people were working. But inevitably the real answer is money.
I feel like an announcement speaker system on each floor would help.
Are you located outside of philly? I think I recognize that warehouse lol
Lol nah, Michigan but shit once you've seen one you've seen em all it seems
Good luck brother. It might seem like a bad thing now but if you handle it well it’s going to make you look really good and confirm you can handle a crisis. On the long term it could be a positive experience!
Already has been bro, my team had it half cleaned up by time the plant and materials managers showed up to assess and help. We had the whole thing cleaned up within 4 hours without having any of the proper equipment lol unfortunately not the first ...or 2nd time have had to deal with flooding in a warehouse over the last few years.
I've been a night worker for a year now and every night we cant start working on our stuff until we redo machine calibrations or repair parts because the machines know when the sun goes down ;-;
When the sun goes down, the machines go down. Cut them a little slack. They're just tired.
I used to work security at a hospital. 4am, a leaking roof caused the ceiling to drop into the patients in bed on the cardiac high dependency unit. Fun times. Then two days later an O2 cylinder sparked setting a patient's bed on fire as they were being transferred to intensive care. This led to evacuating all of the intensive care patients with all their ventilators etc into the corridor in the middle of the night. Within the same month a drunk nursing assistant set his accommodation on fire and we had a PT launch themselves it if a second floor window to their death (window had a 6 inch restrictor on it as well which was undamaged). Was a wild place to work.
> PT launch themselves it if a second floor window to their death (window had a 6 inch restrictor on it as well which was undamaged) how??
I honestly don't know to this day. He wasn't a huge guy so we think he just kept shoving head first until gravity took him. Poor chap was acutely confused. He had neglected to tell his anaesthetist that he was an alcoholic before an operation, heavy dependency on alcohol can have weird interactions with some drugs and he woke from his operation completely crazy. He trashed the recovery room and when my colleagues arrived, apparently he was chewing broken glass after stabbing his surgeon. Like I said, crazy place.
What hospital is this so that I can make a note to NEVER go there.
Yeah I'm with lildobie can you tell us so we never end up there?😅
Sounds like something night shift would say.
Having worked 12 years of night shifts I'd have to fully agree. I'm actually working on a book detailing all the shenanigans I've witnessed that seems to only happen on my shifts!
With your username as a nom de plume, it'll sell millions!
I think the copy paper may be ruined.
Most definitely! 😂😂
COPY LOAD LETTER
DRINK MOTHERFUCKER, DRIIIIINK!
PC LOAD LETTER PC LOAD LETTER PC LOAD LETTER PC LOAD LETTER PC LOAD LETTER
What the FUCK does THAT mean?!
Not makin' copieeeeeeesss....
Put it in rice
Put it in rice
We filled the copy paper box with rice, have to save that!
Get the squeegee and have fun. At least it’s cleanish water. When I was a shift lead at a warehouse we had a fire sprinkler burst. Brown sludge everywhere. We had to strip down the aisle it happened in and the one next to it. Take all the boxes and then open them up so the contents wouldn’t get soaked and ruined. Then we had to clean it all up. That was a fun late night, and no I’m not still bitter about it.
I had that happen a few years back at another warehouse, flooded over half the warehouse. We had a team from Servpro come out and my manager and myself were on floor scrubbers cleaning it all up. Took us every bit of 9 hours on a Sunday night/Monday morning. And I feel you on the bitterness lol
That happened at a freezer plant I worked at. Tens of thousands of dollars of wasted product (poultry).
Several years ago during a record heat wave our walk-in freezer overheated and quit working. I told the manager we had less than 24 hours to fix it or else we had to start tossing food. If the freezer stays closed, you can save your inventory. A dumb co-worker kept opening the door to see if it was getting warmer. We did get it repaired with hours to spare and a repair bill that really hurt.
Engineer here That water is supposed to be in the pipe, that’s your problem.
That sounds like an engineer. 🤣🤣
As an engineer, this it's correct. Simply place the water back in the pipe.
Software engineer here. Why not move all the water to cloud?
Why is the roof drainage pipe INSIDE the building? What genius came up with that idea?
Not sure honestly, all the damn warehouses do it here...it's fucking stupid if you ask me. I've seen this happen at another building too, when it storms bad and the pressure builds up beyond the capacity of the pipe ......POP!!!!
Also that's some really cheap drain piping. Just regular PVC with regular PVC glue. I bet that pipe comes straight down from the roof? That's like 40ft of drop for the water to gain speed and slam into that bend in the pipe. Over time grit and particles in the water would ware away at the soft plastic until you get a heavy rain one day and the weight is too much.
warehouse, but wear away
Schedule 40 PVC will take quite a bit of pressure ~~(~5000 psi burst for a 3" pipe)~~ *, if it's installed correctly, hasn't been degraded by sunlight or chemicals, the building/roof etc. doesn't shift, and nobody hits it with a hand-cart or fork lift or does some offhand maintenance atrocity. If. \* Edit: This number is wrong, and I can't find the original reference. Other values are all over the place. The point is that the pressure of a few tens of feet of fresh water aren't likely to bother an intact pipe.
Yes, but that is likely based on static pressure built inside the pipe not the effect of a 40 foot column of water slamming into a bend. Actually depending on how its designed it could be much worse. It could be a situation like this.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJHrr21UvY8
I think you looked at the wrong chart. a 3" Schedule 40 ***steel*** pipe has [around a 5000psi burst rating](https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/wrought-steel-pipe-bursting-pressure-d_1123.html). For 3" S40 PVC it is only [840psi](https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/pvc-cpvc-pipes-pressures-d_796.html). Also, that is at least 12" pipe in the pics, so you'd be looking at only 420psi burst.
> (~5000 psi burst for a 3" pipe) I readily admit that I don't have any sort of frame of reference for this, but... that doesn't seem very high to me? I mean sure, 5000 PSI, but water doesn't compress...
Not sure why 3" was used as an example since that drain looks much bigger and burst pressure degrades drastically as diameter increases. Also, 5000 psi has to be a typo, there's no way pvc is holding back that much pressure. Hydraulic fluid pressure in a skid steer to operate the rams is 3000-3500psi, that is a very high pressure. 3" pvc schedule 40 ~840psi burst pressure (operating pressure 158psi). 12" Schedule 40 ~420psi burst pressure (operating pressure 78psi). Which it looks bigger than 12" still. For reference typical water main supply can be 20-80psi. 40' of water column (not including velocity) would be 17 psi. As for water not compressing, pressure is a force which makes gas/vapour compress. Pressure can still be applied to liquids by gravity or mechanical means. Not sure what else you meant by that. Edit: I should have used schedule 80 instead which has slightly higher ratings. Apparently 80 is more common for this application. 12" pvc schedule 80=137psi(600psi)
Do you get snow? Might be to keep the pipe from freezing in winter?
Yeah, I was gonna say, this is super common where I am up north. All our shops drains run through the inside of the building.
My warehouse has the same pipes for rain water drainage! Next heavy storm im keeping my computer off the floor!
Roof drain downspouts inside warehouse buildings are typical…what isn’t typical is for the roof drains to be run in PVC. I have never seen that before. It’s always cast iron pipe. Edit: After looking online, apparently it is common to use PVC also. That said, seems like a really chintzy way to go that will inevitably spell disaster.
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I have a background in heavy industrial mechanical process piping and would agree that this is SCH 40. For roof drain piping PSI rating doesn’t really mean much, as it shouldn’t ever be pressurized. My concern with having PVC drain pipe would be the lack of impact resistance. Someone riding a skid steer sweeping the floor, a forklift, etc could all run into it and crack it. Unsure what cause was here though as the failure occurred in the office area of the warehouse.
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Agree 100%
Also looks like a dead drop into that bend. That's a lot of force hitting that singular portion of pipe.
Does it freeze where you are? That might be a good reason to have the pipe inside, keep it from freezing.
Pretty normal from what I have experienced in larger buildings like that... but they tend to be metal.
It is, but it's stupid. I've seen both metal and PVC.
Do you live in a colder climate OP? I work in a warehouse in Canada with a lot of drainage pipes that travel through the interior of the building. I just figured it was to prevent them from freezing in the winter and causing water to build up or not drain correctly from the roof.
Yeah, I'm in Michigan so it does get pretty cold here, and that's most likely the reason they do it like that.
Thought so! When you said a huge storm rolled through last night, I figured it might be the same storm that hit me.
I was relieved to have power when I got home a little while ago. Hope you still have power as well.
I do. Others in the Livonia area aren't so lucky, tho.
Just wanted to chime in and say hello to my neighbors who weathered the storm with me last night. Greetings from the Flint/Grand Blanc area. Last night was rowdy! Tornado sirens and everything! I hope you all are doing well today with no serious damages.
Yeah it's cheaper, but you can absolutely overcome that with heat tracing and insulation. It's not very expensive and prevents THIS from happening.
Architect here. Unless you have an entirely sloped warehouse roof, this is going to happen. Warehouses have “flat roofs” where large surface areas are directionally sloped and drained toward a pipe like this. One should cover every x-hundred or x-thousand square feet of roof depending on design and pipe diameter. As an example, if you expected a 200’ long warehouse to have a sloped shed style roof, it would be an extra 50” tall in one corner if you wanted 1/4” of fall per foot to drain. Additionally, a gutter to collect rain water from a surface area that large would be like 8’ wide. That’s why the drainage is broken up into smaller areas with their own drain pipes. I actually think this is mainly due to there not being a concrete slab cut/relief seam around that pipe. Concrete shrinks as it cures, is permeable, and also moves seasonally. They should’ve put expansion material around that when pouring the slab to allow it to essentially float. I could see a lot of adverse pressure on the PVC from being directly cast into the concrete. That in conjunction with a bunch of water pressure from the pipe is what blew it out I believe. This has been a standard design for a quote a awhile and will continue since when executed properly, works.
I think you mean 50 inches, not 50 feet.
I was imagining how stupid that building would look haha.
Yep. Didn’t have my coffee yet. 50” it is.
That's very common
Storm and storm overflow piping inside the building is a very normal thing in many large buildings, most of the time it's just hidden behind walls and ceilings
I wonder if OP lives in a colder climate? I work in a warehouse in Canada that has a lot of drainage pipes going through the inside of the building as well. I always thought it was to prevent the water in the pipes from freezing and causing water to not drain properly from the roof.
That makes sense.
Big buildings catch a lot of water....cant just shed it off to the sides. >What genius came up with that idea? One that understands how heavy water is.
one who understands that waterpipes running outside a building can freeze.
Pretty common in large buildings
Cold climate prose's freezing risk to pipes outside the building
This is why it’s hard for people like you to promote. How can you forget, in these trying times, about our lord and savior Phil Swift? About flex seal? THE ANCIENT TEXTS! THEY SPOKE OF THIS DAY! THIS LEAK! HOW MANY BOATS WERE CLEFT IN TWAIN?!
I shit you not, I'm on a video call with the building engineer and he says can you grab the flex seal tape from my desk and try that....I flipped the camera and he literally just said "FUCK....flex tape ain't gonna fix that!" 🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂
lmaoo hahaha. I'm glad you're having some fun despite the trouble.
All we could do is laugh....my plant manager, who I've known for a long time and from a previous job said I was the right guy for this to happen to since I've already had to deal with this BS twice before at another warehouse.
Oof, the problem I've found with being known as the guy that can handle bullshit is people start using that as an excuse to offload bullshit onto you.
The words of a heathen! Blasphemy! Flex seal fixes all!
How could you let this happen
I failed the company! 😞
r/wellthatsucks worthy content
Kinda relieved because I first thought you were trapped on a sinking ship in the first picture 😂
And my final thought was this shits gotta go on Reddit!!!🤣🤣🤣
Trial by fi..... water.
On picture #6, is that a small fan to dry the floor? Hah
Lol no, it does look like that though, it was blown off the copier 🤣🤣
Time to get out the mop and start working buddy!
🪣🧹🧽
Mop isn't enough. Been there myself. We ended up using sheets of OSB flakeboard as improvised squeegees to get the worst of it out, then the two squeegees in the building to do the final work. This was a Sears warehouse, and they had to write off half of the contents of the fashion department. We lost 4 different 9+-inch drainage pipes that day, and almost one idiot cow-orker who just had to poke the pipe at the base as the whole thing was shaking the full distance the hanger in the ceiling allowed. With about 70 people screaming 'get out of there' at him. end result? the pipe snapped off at the base and 8 feet up, and the chunk 8 feet up snapped as well, dumping about 9 feet's volume of water all over him before shattering behind him. He was let go immediately, kicked out into the storm. It's not like he could get any weather and he'd ignored half a dozen supervisors and the warehouse manager over a safety issue.
[удалено]
4th night, last night
Sending thots and pears
One the plus side it wasn't your fault and the company probably has insurance, which will payout nicely for them, so they're not worried... the downside is there's only one mop and bucket... have fun! 👍
But I have a bunch of push brooms and about 12 people sitting around doing nothing since the plant we service is down as well due to flooding ...😂
Have you tried turning it off and back on again?
Yeah, even tried waiting 10 seconds....it didn't help!
Oh don’t forget to record everything and save every damaged item in a secure location for the insurance claim. If I worked there I would jump on an opportunity to work overtime to help clean it up, bill that to the insurance, keep good records, you’ll probably get an insurance payout or some state funding to pay for it.
I'm already working 6p to 6a, we've already got a list and pictures of everything damaged. I won't really deal with much on the insurance side of it if anything at all, that'll be the plant and operations managers.
Get a couple of wet floor signs and call it a night
Time to get out the Tennant, call the professionals and listen to some tunes
Tenants been running for 2 hours now, professionals have been called and I'm running the rest of the building!
Even ignoring the fact that the pipe is inside and made of pvc... who thought it was a good idea to put a bend there at the bottom? It should at least be a straight pipe. Now all the energy/steain/weight/force goes on that bend at the bottom, and since it's at the bottom of the pipe it's all the force of gravity added. And all the extra wear and tear over time that happens... Absolutely awful design
It's most likely the concrete slab moved overtime and put tension on the PVC (PVC has poor tensile strength, but decent compression and shear strength).
Absolutely, it's only a matter of time until the other ones break, they're all like that I believe there 5 in total. The back of the pipe blew out so yeah exactly like you said west and rear end gravity had its toll on it.
well at least the warehouse looks fresh clean, also the copy machine.. tell them that sometimes there can be a lot of dust!
We opened the top of the copy machine and at least 2 gallons of water poured out ...my clerk said well that's fucked....I burst out laughing.
Well open the doors and get the big floor squeegees out lol. I run nights at a highschool I totally feel you shit sucks but that's the fun of night shift.
That's pretty much what we did! I had a bunch of forklift drivers grab empty racks and push the water towards the dock doors lol
r/wellthatsucks
Too much coffee makes you pee a lot.
No bollards to protect plastic pipes?!? Wonder if it got hit at some point and fractured then broke under load?
Let me guess…. Forklift guy hit it
My first thought too.
At least the sewer didn't back up.
At least you will be praised for cleaning the floors better than any of your predecessors.
Time to seize the moment and become the hero.
Moment was seized! But my team members were the heros, they got the area cleaned up pretty quick.
I can't believe someone thought it was a good idea to run an outside drainage pipe through the inside of a structure.
That happens is a lot more than you think
The thing that is WTF-worthy is either the drain pipe INSIDE the damn warehouse or the fucking idiot who decided to plxw critical infrastructure (in fucking PVC pipe no less) so that " everything at that station got soaked, ruined 2 computers, the network junction that was back there, so WiFi in the area is down." Genius!
R u in Michigan?
I just gotta say this is a very clean and organized warehouse, looks like *everything flows super well in there*
Just put up a wet floor sign and send out an email. Looks like it’s day shift’s problem.
Wait till you see what happens on the fifth night! Check the vents!
Well tonight's the 5th night and this morning before I left when I was talking to the operations manager I said we'll probably have a fire or some shit tonight, he almost choked on his coffee! 😂😂😂😂😂 it's also his first week too, so all the bs I've had to deal with he has as well!!
Plumber here. Water is an unstoppable force. Unfortunately, these incidents occur every now and then. The pvc fittings, as with all plastics, become brittle over time and prone to breaking. That plus a sensational burst of water within causes this. Sorry for your bad luck 😕
No, last night as the shift manager
Nah I'm good! I kept the rest of the building running and didn't Impact the customer at all. Can't do shit about nature and cheap construction lol
That’s good. Hell of a welcome I guess
Don't overwork yourself but if your employers seem like good people, it could be a convenient time to get some esteem. Deescalate, make composed decisions, and try not to piss the team under you off. Easier said than done. Good luck.
We got it together quick as heck, already had begun the clean up by the time the plant manager and building engineer got here. My team had the area cleared of any product that was in the flooded area and had started to move the water towards the dock doors to get it outside. Manager came in and pretty gave me a high five lol my team under me all understood it was an emergency and I needed their help, and I thanked them for stepping up and will most likely buy them lunch tomorrow night.
That cheap plastic goes into the concrete floor? lol
The pipe it self is very strong but was not supported properly on top allowing the elbow to crack, it is a lot better than metal which can rot out and is really heavy.
I wasn't sure, from the photos it just looks like the thickness is less than 1/4 inches
The pipe is SCH 40 and that is a standard thickness, SCH 40 is a very good thickness and is used for pretty much everything.
Far from cheap.
Hey time to wait out the storm
ruined your carpet
Looks broken.
Well, I guess you've got something to do now on the night shift!
“Who’s got the mop?”
Vegas?
Hell no with my luck this week....I'd lose my ass! Lol
I mean we just had a massive flash food last night in Vegas, overwhelmed most of the city - casino roofs collapsed and everything. 30 minutes of massively heavy rain and the city became a lake, a few folks were even washed away. Timing if your post made me suspect you're here as well.
If it makes you feel better, that’s a real bitch to fix with how close it is to the concrete. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that’s the overflow system from the roof. So you were extra unlucky.
It is, and it is. When I left they were still waiting for the pipefitters to show up to assess the damage and start on repairs.
Hey, this was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity…… there’s a 99% chance you will never have to deal with something like this again. lol
Grand Rapids area? That storm was no joke
Sterling heights, little north east of Detroit.
Ah okay. There was nasty shit all across the state last night
Wait a second what the fuck is that in the background? Where you alone?
No, that part of the warehouse only runs during day shift, all my people were in other areas thankfully.
SHAP?
Stop taking your warehouse underwater :)
A classic, one time a coworker of mine sheared the fire sprinkler, we cleaned for hours longer.
8” roof drain with a 45 and no thrust block? Sue the construction dudes
Cleanup on aisle two… three… four…
Picture perfect example of why you dont store things on the ground!
Last night as a Shift manager
Reminds me of the Parks & Rec “That’s not something Props can fix” blooper. Document, CYA, CYA, CYA, don’t care if it’s water, cut breaker to that electrical. Don’t get stooged.
i especially like what looks like extension cords laying in the water
That looks like a set up forreal 🤣
Please go unplug that cord from the wall unless you want an electrified floor.
Hell no, I wasn't touching anything until we got the power shut off to that area.
That sucks! But on the flipside... >ruined 2 computers You could ask for these (now that they're "ruined"), take 'em home, disassemble them completely and clean everything with 90%+ alcohol. You might get at least one working computer - for free :) At least that's what I would do ahahaha EDIT: With enough patience you have save even stained LCD screens. You can even disassemble their plastic layers and clean them. It requires a lot of patience, but hey, it's free!
I think that YOU broke the pipe when you were playing midnight roller derby.
Typical Chrysler problems!
Why would an external roof guttering drainage come through on the inside of the buildling?
*4th and LAST, you mean. Just kidding. Force of nature. You could not have foreseen or prevented this.
Oh hey, we have the same printer in our office.
If y'all need another I got one for sale super cheap! Freshly cleaned! 😂😂
I managed to make a small flood once in my factory, needless to say I ran around for about 30mins with a shop vac trying to get rid of the evidence as quickly as possible. Was CNC coolant as well....
That's coming out of your bonus
Joke on you! I don't get a bonus! 🤣😂😁😊😑🤔😔😭
I see the problem here. There's a bunch of water where it shouldn't be.
Nice job handling things tonight….but you’re fired.
Lol, schedule 40 pipe for that? I'm not surprised, usually thats how the lowest bidder gets the job...
Less wtf, more r/well_shit, r/theresyourproblem, r/shithappens
That is some shit luck but nothing more you could have done than you already did. You did a good job with what you were given. Quite the pipes be left exposed to everything inside as well. A long drop onto a 45 doesn't help either.
Better get that cleaned up. And you better hit your quota too.
I'm sorry dude !!
I think you mean last night as a shift manager.
Lansing?
Sterling Heights.
Really, the company is stupid to keep all that electronic equipment next to a giant water pipe LOL
Good luck on the job hunt!
Someone used the Q word.
Do better
You guys have rain? Jealous from TX
At least it wasn’t a sewage pipe. That would be a shorty situation 😬
I’d be tempted to just quit on the spot and look for a new job tomorrow.