Friends

07 February 2018

WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT WATER?


Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink. Only in my case it should read: water, water outside, but nothing in the house.

I tell a lie, there was some in the house only I couldn’t get at it. It started with me complaining to my regular water fixer/electrician/gas maintainer/sometimes odd job man (Mr K) that my hot water system was scalding. Like the good chap he is he promised to come on a certain day but, unlike his usual self, he forgot. Well, like any other person getting on in years, it was understandable. I phoned again and pleaded with him to jot it down in his memory book, that way I could rest assured he would turn up.   

Actually, Mr K did a great job putting things right and double checking everything and presenting me with a bill for £250. Admittedly he had to buy a new valve thingy so I guessed it was a reasonable figure. I know from past dealings that he never overcharged and always did a good job.

The water was still extremely hot but he had assured me that it would cool down when enough cold water entered the hot water system. I carried on for a day, doing all the usual things like washing dishes. I have given up on the dishwasher on the grounds that it would take a month to build up enough dishes to justify switching it on. Work it out if you like, three plates (one dinner plate, two small tea plates) a day, three cups, one glass, and the cat’s bowls (2 or 3 a day). No water, nothing. Cold water was available but I defy anyone to wash crocks in cold water. Fortunately, I have a kettle. That wasn’t the point though, the point was that my helpful man had to be summoned again. Actually I felt panicky, too much stress, you know.

So Mr K comes back – it took ten minutes from his house to mine but he came straight away when he heard the panic in my voice. Panic? I was almost in tears. As soon as he came in he said ‘I know what’s happened … I forgot to open {something} so the cold water wasn’t filling the hot tank. Simple, when you know what you’re talking about!

It took a couple of minutes for him to get out the ladder and climb into the loft and slide a switch but what a relief to get my hot (not scalding) water back. 

14 comments:

  1. We use our dishwasher once a week because if you don't use them the seal around the door dries out and has to be replaced. We learned that the hard way.

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  2. He needs to put in his memory book, "Turn all the valves back on!" I'd still stick with Mr. K, you know he is trustworthy, not always the case.

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  3. Oh yes I know exactly what he forgot to do. Easy enough mistake but also easy enough to come inside and purge the air from the system, this way you know that the valves are on. I wouldn't hold this mistake against him though.

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  4. Joeh, i won't let him go, he is too useful, plus he always comes straight away when I call,

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  5. Jimmy, this guy has serviced and repaired all sorts of things for us, I would be lost eithout him. There aren't too many around like him.

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  6. An old man once asked me why do they put rubbers on pencils?

    I said I didn't know.

    He said:

    "It's because everybody makes mistakes."

    I am glad you got back to normal Valerie.

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  7. That is unpleasant for you - I'm glad he came so fast and that you knew him well. I agree about the dishwasher, by the way. once a week is a good idea, even if you have to save up a couple of day's plates to make it seem a little more worthwhile. Better than the dishwasher becoming unusable for when you do need it!

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  8. Valerie, I am so glad to read that your handyman was able to correct the problem with the scalding hot water. Ironic enough, I had the EXACT same issue/problem several weeks ago in my apartment building. OMG...whenever I would turn on the faucet on to warm water, it came out SCALDING hot. Even if I just turned the hot water on a tad, the water that came out was so hot that it would literally burn my hands. I also had it happen when I was in the shower, the water burned my skin.

    I found out that the building was doing some sort of water pressure test with our water, so that was the cause. Blessedly, it went back to normal the next day. :)

    X

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  9. Dave, I've copied your reply... it might come in handy.

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  10. Jenny, I don't think I will go back to using the dishwasher. I am on my own and don't eat enormous meals and washing a few plates gets me out of the chair and actually doing something.

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  11. Ron, that's terrible. Whoever is in charge of the building should have let residents know what was going on. I can imagine the shock when you were having the shower....ouch! Thankfully, my shower is a separate unit to the other water system.

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  12. Happy ending! :-)

    Greetings from London.

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  13. With our household, we sometimes run the dishwasher twice a day. We would have a hard time if we lost our hot water for an extended period of time. Glad Mr. K got you squared away, Val. Take care.

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  14. Luckily, Pat could handle most of the maintenance issues in our homes, but he knew when to call in specialists like plumbers or furnace technicians. Still we sften had to wait for a scheduled appointment time usually between x and x hours. Now that we live in an apartment we no longer have to contact various maintenance folks, just notify the management office and thankfully there is an on-site staff. That said, I was happy to read that your water problem was finally resolved. Like you, we also do not use the dishwasher a lot, usually only once a week unless we have company join us for dinner.

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