Rant: That time I drilled through a water pipe behind a fire alarm panel

Honestly, I've been installing alarm systems for like 4 years now and never thought twice about where I was drilling screws into walls. Last Tuesday I was putting up a new Vista 21iP panel in a basement in Denver and punched a screw right into a copper pipe. Water started spraying out behind the panel and I panicked for a solid minute before shutting the main valve. The homeowner was standing right there and gave me this look like I was an idiot. Turns out I should have been using a stud finder or at least knocking on the drywall first to listen for hollow spots. My old mentor never taught me that trick, he just said send it and hope for the best. Has anyone else made a dumb plumbing mistake on a job?

3 comments

3 Comments

park.abby1mo ago

In Denver too, I now always use a cheap endoscope camera to check behind the wall first.

the_kevin1mo ago

Yeah that camera has saved me so many headaches.

felix14729d ago

I read some article online about how plumbers in new builds sometimes run pipes right behind fire alarm panels because it's the easiest path. Never even crossed my mind until I saw someone else post about it on another forum. Guess we all learn the hard way.