For those of you playing the home game, yesterday morning we discovered that our water heater had sprung a leak overnight, leaving a pretty decently sized puddle in the middle of our basement floor. But we didn’t know it was the water heater at first, because the puddle seemed to emanate from between the water softener (which was notorious for breaking down whilst being essentially brand new) and the water heater (which up to this point had never given us any trouble as it got closer to being twenty years old). I had to dry the floors enough to be able to watch for where new water was coming from. Eventually it became apparent that the leak was from the hot water tank. So I had to shut it off, and unplug it. Shut off the gas line to it. Shut off the cold water inlet valve at the top of the tank, and then continue to mop up as we waited for the scalding hot water, inside an insulated tank cooled down enough to be drained. The 80 litre tank took quite some time to cool down. Then at 7:00 pm, when I was tired of the constant mopping, Shammi wringing, bucket emptying, and washing & drying of twenty odd towels I grabbed two containers, opened the drain plug, and then proceeded to hot swap my buckets while I emptied the tank. I put a good deal of water on the laundry room floor with the hot swaps, but less so than having 80 litres slowly dribbling out of the tank over several days. It never completely drained because, (as I was informed) by someone more in the know of mechanical things, due to how the tank had likely broken, the cold side was rushing back in due to lack of pressure and was refilling the tank for the pipes in the house. So it may very well refill and need to be drained again when the repair people come on Saturday to replace the unit.
Now my hands are cracked and dry from playing in the water all day yesterday. My back aches from all the bending and lifting full buckets of brackish water, and my cough/sore throat has made a bid for revitalization on my behalf. But, in other news I completed some last minute edits for a client report, and started two new jobs for a different client, and! Here’s the big news, I was finally paid by another client that had had some internal personnel issues leading to the mix up / miscommunication. It’s been remedied, all good now! Perfecto!
I do need to keep an eye on the floors, because of the tank is indeed refilling I don’t want to be surprised by another massive pool of dirty water in the middle of my basement. So I checked it early this morning, and I will do so again in a moment. This house likes to keep us on our toes. Home ownership is not for the weak of heart! It’s not an asset, it’s a liability!
Also, hey man it’s Friday! The last day of school for 2025. One of my last days of work before the new year too. I am making myself available early next week, and then ducking out until everybody goes back in January. I suppose if a world ending request comes in I can work, if it’s super-duper important, but usually these liminal days between Christmas and New Years are empty, and not really all that important. Most commercial print shops and suppliers have closed down for the Holidays, so nothing to rush about for.
Have a great Holiday season. Take care out there. Singapore, Germany, the US I see you all here reading the archives, a special nod to you all for your eyeballs, and site visits! Thank you. Download my books! They’re free, and you can read them on your devices as a PDF with no restrictions. It’s all good baby – yeah!
Greatwall Studios Graphic Design 