Easy Boiler Fix Turns Into A Leaking Ceiling

I think I've got the Clark Griswold curse.  You know trying to do the simple things and they turn into disasters?  What started as replacing two simple parts, turned into a new bathroom remodel.

I had some friends over that are handy with boiler heat to help me nurse along my old boiler for a couple more years.  It just needed a couple of parts, and that took no time at all.  With boiler heat, you need to bleed out any air in the copper lines once you are finished.  I went to do that, and that's when the problems happened.

When I vented the bleeder screw, a little bit of water rushed out.  I quickly put the screw back on and the water damage was very minimal.  For some reason, one of the breakers tripped on the circuit box.  After a few minutes, I went to investigate why we would have tripped a breaker out of no where.

Then I saw it, water leaking down the pipe, just below where I was working upstairs.  A leak had mysteriously appeared.  There was quite a bit of water, and the only way we could repair the leak was by cutting out a hole big enough to see what was going on.  The copper pipe had been resting on a piece of wire.  The little bit of water leaking from upstairs caused a spark that put a pinhole leak in the pipe.)  Freak occurence, and a nice mess to clean up.  We used a pipe repair kit for the time being, and I'll be learning some new plumbing methods here very soon.