Can a brutha catch a break?
Fates are conspiring against me. I’m starting to wonder what horrific sin I committed to deserve such a backlash of Karma. Probably had something to do with water…
About six months ago, the hot water heater went kablooie. Well, it didn’t exactly blow up, as I don’t have a hole in the roof (anyone watch Myth Busters?), but it did give up the ghost in a major fashion. That particular fashion was to develop a not-so-slow leak, purging its 30 gallons of internal fluids all over the foyer. But that just wouldn’t be “major” fashion, in and of itself. No. This had to go one better. The shutoff valve for the heater tank refill was broken. What this means is that the 30 gallons that emptied themselves on the floor? They refreshed themselves. Constantly. There was a continuous flow of water upon the floor. Luckily (hah) it was a "relatively" slow leak, and we could "keep up" with the flow, until the repair was completed.
Then there was the fiasco with Lowe’s. We found a decently priced water heater (and decent was still fairly indecent), and they had installation services available. We didn’t really have the $300 to dish out for it, but as it was a gas heater, it was beyond my meager talents to install. We’d even called the night before to make sure that they could do it and the woman said, “No problem, let’s set it up over the phone. Do you have a credit card available?” Well, we didn’t want to make said transaction on the line, so said we’d pay for it in the morning when the store opened. No problem.
We got to the store and everything seemed well… We found the water heater we wanted, for the price we found online. Excellent! There was a sign right there that said “Installation guaranteed”. Said it right on the box, too! Now, we just need to wrestle it onto the trolley and figure out how to set up the installation. The two escapees from “Dazed and Confused” wearing the orange vests ought to know something, right? “Oh, we totally don’t do those.” What?? The sign says you do! The box says you do! The woman on the phone, who tried to take our money, said you do!! “We’ll make a call to our service center to double check.” They both walked around the corner and returned within 30 seconds, literally. “Yeah, we don’t do that.”
We had to call a plumber to do the job, and ended up paying 2.5 times what Lowe’s ‘promised’ they’d do it for. I was miffed. After calling Lowe’s and escalating up to the corporate level, the only satisfaction I received was a “Sorry, we’re working on hiring someone for that” and a promise of 10% off our next “big project”. Well, the store policy on “installation guaranteed” has changed. They no longer make those promises. They’ve added all kinds of little disclaimers to it. At least I’ve forced them to be a little more honest about it.
Well, flash to this weekend, and the water that suddenly started appearing in the hallway. I explored all the possibilities. I recently had to do some work repairing the tiling around the tub, so that all got re-sealed, and the silicone between the tub and wall was redone. The small hole in the bathroom trap drain got taped up as well. The leak seamed to have stopped, or so we’d hoped.
Last night, as Sheeps had gone to bed, I sat down at the computer to finish listening to a friend’s Podcast. Sheep’s frantic calling of my name had me come running. Luckily, she wasn’t asleep yet and heard “kachunk, whooooosh” come from the bathroom. I tracked the hissing sound to vanity and, upon opening the door, discovered a rather light spray coming out. I reached in to shut off the supply valve, and the whole pipe cracked off in my hand, and the spray became a steady stream – of scalding hot water hitting me in the face.
“Shut it off! Shut it off! Shut it off!!”, I calmly stated. Okay, I screamed it at the top of my lungs, as I slammed the cabinet door shut in a hopelessly foolish attempt to stop the water. Sheeps had no idea how to shut it off, nor should she, and I should have known better. I really didn’t know myself, but had a vague idea. I ran to the hot water heater closet, and managed to find the shutoff valve leading to the bathroom. The good news is that the hot water is currently off to the bathroom. The bad news is that the hot water is currently off to the bathroom.
This repair probably requires a plumber’s fine touch, but as we still owe Unka Sammy 600 smackers, and we still hold on to a small shred of hope of actually attending Gulf Wars (I haven’t missed one since One), I’m going to stay home this weekend and try my hand at plumbing. I should be going with Sheeps, as she is running a major SCA demo at the State Fair in Tampa, and I’m supposed to be helping, but I’ve got to try and fix this thing… No big deal. Just break a hole in the wall, replace the broken pipes and plumbing. Skills that I completely lack. But it'll be a learning experience, right?
So, any of you happen to have been plumbers in a former life?
About six months ago, the hot water heater went kablooie. Well, it didn’t exactly blow up, as I don’t have a hole in the roof (anyone watch Myth Busters?), but it did give up the ghost in a major fashion. That particular fashion was to develop a not-so-slow leak, purging its 30 gallons of internal fluids all over the foyer. But that just wouldn’t be “major” fashion, in and of itself. No. This had to go one better. The shutoff valve for the heater tank refill was broken. What this means is that the 30 gallons that emptied themselves on the floor? They refreshed themselves. Constantly. There was a continuous flow of water upon the floor. Luckily (hah) it was a "relatively" slow leak, and we could "keep up" with the flow, until the repair was completed.
Then there was the fiasco with Lowe’s. We found a decently priced water heater (and decent was still fairly indecent), and they had installation services available. We didn’t really have the $300 to dish out for it, but as it was a gas heater, it was beyond my meager talents to install. We’d even called the night before to make sure that they could do it and the woman said, “No problem, let’s set it up over the phone. Do you have a credit card available?” Well, we didn’t want to make said transaction on the line, so said we’d pay for it in the morning when the store opened. No problem.
We got to the store and everything seemed well… We found the water heater we wanted, for the price we found online. Excellent! There was a sign right there that said “Installation guaranteed”. Said it right on the box, too! Now, we just need to wrestle it onto the trolley and figure out how to set up the installation. The two escapees from “Dazed and Confused” wearing the orange vests ought to know something, right? “Oh, we totally don’t do those.” What?? The sign says you do! The box says you do! The woman on the phone, who tried to take our money, said you do!! “We’ll make a call to our service center to double check.” They both walked around the corner and returned within 30 seconds, literally. “Yeah, we don’t do that.”
We had to call a plumber to do the job, and ended up paying 2.5 times what Lowe’s ‘promised’ they’d do it for. I was miffed. After calling Lowe’s and escalating up to the corporate level, the only satisfaction I received was a “Sorry, we’re working on hiring someone for that” and a promise of 10% off our next “big project”. Well, the store policy on “installation guaranteed” has changed. They no longer make those promises. They’ve added all kinds of little disclaimers to it. At least I’ve forced them to be a little more honest about it.
Well, flash to this weekend, and the water that suddenly started appearing in the hallway. I explored all the possibilities. I recently had to do some work repairing the tiling around the tub, so that all got re-sealed, and the silicone between the tub and wall was redone. The small hole in the bathroom trap drain got taped up as well. The leak seamed to have stopped, or so we’d hoped.
Last night, as Sheeps had gone to bed, I sat down at the computer to finish listening to a friend’s Podcast. Sheep’s frantic calling of my name had me come running. Luckily, she wasn’t asleep yet and heard “kachunk, whooooosh” come from the bathroom. I tracked the hissing sound to vanity and, upon opening the door, discovered a rather light spray coming out. I reached in to shut off the supply valve, and the whole pipe cracked off in my hand, and the spray became a steady stream – of scalding hot water hitting me in the face.
“Shut it off! Shut it off! Shut it off!!”, I calmly stated. Okay, I screamed it at the top of my lungs, as I slammed the cabinet door shut in a hopelessly foolish attempt to stop the water. Sheeps had no idea how to shut it off, nor should she, and I should have known better. I really didn’t know myself, but had a vague idea. I ran to the hot water heater closet, and managed to find the shutoff valve leading to the bathroom. The good news is that the hot water is currently off to the bathroom. The bad news is that the hot water is currently off to the bathroom.
This repair probably requires a plumber’s fine touch, but as we still owe Unka Sammy 600 smackers, and we still hold on to a small shred of hope of actually attending Gulf Wars (I haven’t missed one since One), I’m going to stay home this weekend and try my hand at plumbing. I should be going with Sheeps, as she is running a major SCA demo at the State Fair in Tampa, and I’m supposed to be helping, but I’ve got to try and fix this thing… No big deal. Just break a hole in the wall, replace the broken pipes and plumbing. Skills that I completely lack. But it'll be a learning experience, right?
So, any of you happen to have been plumbers in a former life?
posted by Turtle at 11:24 AM
1 Comments:
I wish you luck on that one, mate. I know just enough about plumbing to know not to mess with it. Wood and wires I'm fine with. Copper tubing and 'sweating' the joints just scare me.
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