I recently blogged about how When It Rains It Pours, but now I need to add some more. (To recap, the dishwasher failed, but needs a new shut-off valve before it can be installed. The hot water heater started to leak just a little and we've been treating it tenderly until we can get a new one installed. Steve's away this week, until tonight, and the plumber came Monday to see if he can install the one Steve wants.) Ok, so it turns out, even though the plumber can install the heater we want, we'd have to wait 3 weeks to get it.
On Monday the heater started making a slightly bigger puddle. So I turned it off for the day and turned it back on before bed so I could take a shower. After my shower, the puddle was actively getting bigger. That scared me, so I decided to turn off the heater and try to drain it. Easier said than done. This, of course, was at 2:00 in the morning and I called Steve in DC and woke him up to help me figure out the best plan. I think I drained some of it and the water seems to have stopped flowing. Steve, in the meantime was working on getting an appointment with the plumber. The plumber is coming tomorrow (when Steve's home) to install the not-really-as-good-as-the-one-Steve-wants water heater. So now we're figuring out how to live without a hot water tank. Other than not being able to take a shower or give the kids a bath, it's not too bad. I boil a pot of water on the Stove and use it to help the kids wash their hands and wash dishes that can't wait.
At least we have electricity and heat. Well... that is... until I came home yesterday evening and discovered we had no heat! I was starting to contemplate putting the kids on air mattresses in the family room where we have a gas fireplace, but Steve helped me troubleshoot over the phone and we discovered that the thermostat wasn't working, probably due to a dead battery. After fiddling with it for a while, the heat kicked on. Phew!
And today the kids are home because of this awful "wintery mix!" I did shovel just enough to get out of the driveway for a neighborhood playgroup, but I almost didn't make it back up. We were supposed to do a gymnastics make-up today, but I don't want to venture out again....
I am so looking forward to having a new hot water heater and dishwasher tomorrow!
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2 comments:
Home repairs are the pits - every thing leads to another thing and it's never simple.
hopefully you have hot water and a dishwasher tomorrow! I might have bailed to a hotel when the heat went out. And yes, the weather was horrible yesterday. But we were just delayed, not closed.
Why do things break in batches? I swear it's true!
Hope things get swinging in the other direction very soon.
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