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This morning I dressed appropriately to help bring my goal to fruition: manicure the lawn. The puppies are looking a lot like little white bunnies trying to cross the lawn. I dressed in my sweats, had everything at the ready for the first moment when the lawn looked even remotely dry enough to begin the task. I manifested the ability to manicure. Okay, so the last 15 minutes of it was in driving rain and wind, but I just wanted to get it done.
I wash off the lawnmower with the hose in the back, gather all my tools and put them away, then I walk into the house and cut through to the garage where I plug in the weed whacker battery and -- STEP IN A SMALL RIVER OF WATER!?!!?
That just isn't right.
Long story short, the water heater housing cracked. Not the pipes, not anything repairable, the housing. Best part: the emergency shut off valve to the water heater doesn't actually shut the water off. At least G, being a few inches taller than me, could reach it, but it just kept gushing. I was on the phone to a plumber and a wonderful knight in shining armour named Gary came to my rescue within 20 minutes. We had to replace the whole unit. He was fast and efficient and it was not a repair I'd have been able to do easily myself. I'm very grateful he was there and available. If I were trying to replace the unit myself, I'd say cross off two days for me to figure it all out, shop for the unit, and install it. I was already cold, dirty and wet when I discovered the leak, now I am doubly so. I want my hot shower and then the ability to launder all the things that got wet (it's right next to my laundry machines and hanging wash). I now only have to sit in my stink for 2 hours while the water heats up, not two days.
Half the garage was flooded, nothing was irreplaceably ruined. I used this as an opportunity to throw out a bunch of stuff and reorganize the laundry area. When the area dries, I'll put the things back where they belong. Maybe I'll even clean the other side of the garage then.
Fact: When water is torrentially flying out of one's water heater, even a certified tree-hugger like me forgets all about recycling. Said tree-hugger is more concerned with just making the water stop and if that means chucking things in the bin to get them out of my way, then that's what happens.
Before Gary arrived and we were actively labouring to save things from the water because the valve didn't work, G made a statement that almost made me stop bailing. He said, "This is such a blessing that this happened. We are so blessed." I calmly asked for clarification as I wasn't feeling terribly blessed in that very moment. What he meant was, it's fortunate that the heater blew that day. We're blessed that I found the issue within at least the hour it occurred, likely far less. Blessed that it happened today and not last week when we were in Canada. Blessed that we, despite the original shock and flapping of wings, we both hunkered down and dealt with the problem as best we could in a very timely manner. In less than 2 hours, we are done with all the drama. In another 2 hours I'll be showered and on my way to finishing the cleaning job and the laundry. We are also blessed because we have the $600 sitting in the bank to pay for the new water heater and installation right then and there.
We truly are blessed. Even wacky drama is easily dealt with and done in a timely fashion. Blessed indeed.
I wash off the lawnmower with the hose in the back, gather all my tools and put them away, then I walk into the house and cut through to the garage where I plug in the weed whacker battery and -- STEP IN A SMALL RIVER OF WATER!?!!?
That just isn't right.
Long story short, the water heater housing cracked. Not the pipes, not anything repairable, the housing. Best part: the emergency shut off valve to the water heater doesn't actually shut the water off. At least G, being a few inches taller than me, could reach it, but it just kept gushing. I was on the phone to a plumber and a wonderful knight in shining armour named Gary came to my rescue within 20 minutes. We had to replace the whole unit. He was fast and efficient and it was not a repair I'd have been able to do easily myself. I'm very grateful he was there and available. If I were trying to replace the unit myself, I'd say cross off two days for me to figure it all out, shop for the unit, and install it. I was already cold, dirty and wet when I discovered the leak, now I am doubly so. I want my hot shower and then the ability to launder all the things that got wet (it's right next to my laundry machines and hanging wash). I now only have to sit in my stink for 2 hours while the water heats up, not two days.
Half the garage was flooded, nothing was irreplaceably ruined. I used this as an opportunity to throw out a bunch of stuff and reorganize the laundry area. When the area dries, I'll put the things back where they belong. Maybe I'll even clean the other side of the garage then.
Fact: When water is torrentially flying out of one's water heater, even a certified tree-hugger like me forgets all about recycling. Said tree-hugger is more concerned with just making the water stop and if that means chucking things in the bin to get them out of my way, then that's what happens.
Before Gary arrived and we were actively labouring to save things from the water because the valve didn't work, G made a statement that almost made me stop bailing. He said, "This is such a blessing that this happened. We are so blessed." I calmly asked for clarification as I wasn't feeling terribly blessed in that very moment. What he meant was, it's fortunate that the heater blew that day. We're blessed that I found the issue within at least the hour it occurred, likely far less. Blessed that it happened today and not last week when we were in Canada. Blessed that we, despite the original shock and flapping of wings, we both hunkered down and dealt with the problem as best we could in a very timely manner. In less than 2 hours, we are done with all the drama. In another 2 hours I'll be showered and on my way to finishing the cleaning job and the laundry. We are also blessed because we have the $600 sitting in the bank to pay for the new water heater and installation right then and there.
We truly are blessed. Even wacky drama is easily dealt with and done in a timely fashion. Blessed indeed.
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*hugs*
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It is a very good idea to turn the power and water off to a hot water heater if you are going away for longer than a weekend,actually.
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It is a good idea to shut off the power to the heater when we leave except we have a house mate who would be very alarmed to have no hot water for his showers until we returned. *grins* Thanks for the tip, though. I'll keep it in mind should we all go away at the same time.
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I'm glad you were there to intervene in the deluge. I'm also glad you had a plumber install it. I know you have amazing tool skilz, but water heaters are heavy and tetchy things that need to be carefully installed. Knowing the level of help you would have received from your burly housemates, I really think Milady is better off not having done it herself.
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Actually, things were pretty much under control by 2pm. I was showered later in the day and, outside of an entry way taken with some tables and laundry that will return when the garage has sufficiently dried, all is fairly normal.
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