Our hot water system blew up the other night and I took it as a sign.
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A sign we may not have a hot shower moving forward if we didn't act quick smart.
Alas, "quick" and "smart" rarely describe how we go about dealing with residential crises. Undeniably small crises, yes.
But you know - the cost, the inconvenience, the cold showers.
First things first.
Taming the roaring sound coming out of our kaput gas hot water system late that night following detonation.
Sounded like it was bleeding out before me with a Nord Stream level gas leak.
The instruction from inside the safety of the household/blast zone was to turn it off.
In the dark, on my knees with a mobile phone torch reminding me how they always put hot water systems in hard to get at places.
Also reminding me about petrol stations that blow up because people use mobile phones while they pump.
Anything that could be twisted was cranked, including my mind, but still the roar persisted.
From inside the house particularly.
To do something effective.
For once.
So I rang a 24/7 plumbing hotline and got the message to ring back in the morning.
24/7 must mean ring at 24 to 7.
Shutting off the mains water eventually quietened things down.
The water stopped running too. Boom boom.
In the silence that followed we pondered the seriousness of our situation. From here on in, the dishwasher would no longer work.
Desperate times.
Next morning the quest for replace and install commenced.
A breathtaking excercise in terms of taking quotes.
The most memorable one being along the lines of 'It costs how much?!!!'
Also an exercise in social media trying to filter the legit online reviews from competitors trash-talking rivals.
Talk about a forum for hate.
I certainly hated trying to work out which review I could rely on.
Our old system had been installed nearly before the advent of social media, so we'd had a good run.
And in the end we decided to go with what we knew.
Which was not a lot.
But let's call that a like for like.
Plumbers duly came round and reminded me how big their hands are - power packed individuals who alas wouldn't be able to do the job that day.
Which got us to the first cold shower that night.
Lots of yelps from those who dared open capillaries under the old cold water nozzle.
Otherwise much dabbing with washer into a container of warm water brewed up in the jug. Frontier stuff.
Next day, after a heat wave string of days, the most unlikely rain bomb strikes.
Naturally.
So much water, so few plumbers working.
Bring on cold shower night number two.
Talk about going with the flow. Or lack of it.
Eventually a new system was installed and we warmed to it immediately.
It couldn't be any easier once someone who knows what they're doing does it.
Our old system had lasted 17 years - nearly as long as our cat, minus the kitty litter issues.
So here's hoping the new one purrs along just as reliably without any eruptions.
