Boom! The 1/2-in. copper cap grazed my ear as a deafening roar announced its rocket-like ejection from inside the kitchen sink cabinet. Scalding steam followed its trajectory. Stunned, it took a second or two to collect my wits and think about what had just happened and why a copper cap had darn near embedded itself in my forehead. I had opened the basement-level washing machine boiler drains and the lines serving this new addition had been turned off. The system should have drained itself and no build-up of pressure should have existed. A few minutes' investigation revealed the hot and cold lines running to the kitchen had frozen shut while contractors were installing one of those preformed concrete basement stairways. Their plastic weather- and dust-shield enclosure inside the basement unfortunately included a few feet of our water lines.
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