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Thursday, Dec. 05, 2002 - 9:34 p.m.

Having the water heater replaced is a simple job, right? What was I thinking!?

We now have hot water. Plenty of it, too.

That�s the good news.

Ready for the bad?

The plumber didn�t show up until 3 pm. Lease took personal business from her job to be here, and sat around waiting for them to show up for over 3 hours.

It wasn�t the plumber�s fault. They overscheduled, and we were stop number three on the water heater replacement list.

Today, they found out that two replacements a day are enough.

Since I get off at work at 4, I was home before the new heater was installed. One of the two plumbers left with the old heater, leaving the other to do all the pipe sweating and such by himself.

I went downstairs when I came home, and chatted a little with him, telling him I would be available to help if he needed a second set of hands.

Little did I know��.

By 5, I was starting to get a little worried. I knew that he was into overtime, but I also knew that it wasn�t on my dime. I was given a complete installed price, and any overage comes out of his employer�s pocket, not mine.

I went downstairs again, and asked him if he was getting close, or if he needed me to help. He asked me for a flashlight (his batteries were dead in his). I brought him down one with brand new alkalines in it. I then watch him as he tried to handle two wrenches and the flashlight. I offered my help again, which he took.

This was about 5:30 pm.

He left our house at 7:30 pm.

The job is still not finished.

Why?

Let me give you this illustration to make it easy to understand:

Everybody has seen, at one time or another, the Three Stooges short where Curly, Moe, and Larry are plumbers, right?

You know, where they start working on a leak, and by the time they are done the water pipes look just like the �Pipes� screen saver that is built into every Windows formatted computer? Curly keeps adding pipes, and the water keeps leaking out. By the time he was finished, water was coming out of the burners on the stove, and the stereotypical Black servant was slipping and falling all over the kitchen floor?

Well, take out the kitchen stove/Black servant part, and that�s kinda how it went here�..

He had everything together, turned the water on slowly, and waited. One of his soldiered joints started dripping. He fixed that one, and then another drip drip dripped.

Fixed that one, and then a 90� joint from the old pipe sprung a small, fountain-like geyser.

Shut the water off, fix that one.

Turn the water back on, another leak further up the line.

He went to his truck, and he returned with ANOTHER 90� elbow. He took his time, covering the threads with Teflon tape and pipe dope, and carefully tightened the pipes back together.

When he turned the water back on (for the 5th or 6th time- I was loosing track by then), everything looked good. No dripping, and no hissing from a leak.

Great!

He lit the pilot light, turned the burner on, and we both basked in the glow of natural gas heating. He set the thermostat at �medium�, telling me that works out to 125�. That should be hot enough, but we won�t know for a day or two.

He started gathering up his scattered supplies and tools ofo of the floor, and then�

Then��

Then���

Then ������

.

.

.

The last spot he had fixed started a very slow but steady drip..drip�drip�drip�onto the basement floor.

I swear, I thought I saw a tear form at the corner of his eye.

He had just told me that his children were at his Mom�s house, and that he was over two hours late picking them up.

I told he that he had done enough for one day (his first installation had started at 7 am, and it was now 7:30 pm). He said they were probably booked for tomorrow, but he would see what he could do about sending someone out first thing in the morning. Since the pipe that is leaking is the hot line coming out of the heater and into the pipes upstairs, I can shut the ball valve, turning the water off going into the leaky area. After we all take our showers and baths, I plan on doing just that until tomorrow morning. No sense in having a chance of a bigger leak spring up overnight.

Lease will be here all day, due to the official start of her cookie making for the holidays. So they need to be here tomorrow, not early next week.

I can guarantee you one thing- somebody will be here tomorrow morning, replacing whatever pipe that has to be changed to stop the drip.

It will be fixed, if they want their money. If not, there is always small claims court.

I don�t expect any problems, though. This is the company does all of our plumbing and heating at the storage, and they stand behind their work.

They are also one of the biggest plumbing and heating companies in Mohall. They have a very good reputation.

You don�t get that if you do incomplete work or leave people with sub-standard work.

It will be fixed tomorrow.


Oh yeah, it�s nice to have hot water again��.

Antique - Futuristic


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