1. DEARHEART! I need help now! We have a plumbing emergency.
My beloved husband did not overstate. A valve had become devalued, and water was pouring out all over the bathroom floor. The only good thing was that he happened to be standing there when it started. But he didn’t know how to turn off the water at the pump; I’ve always done it. So I got that, and we called the landlord.
2. “The only way to control that is to turn the water off completely.”
True. And I had wanted a shower, having gotten thoroughly chilled looking for something in my car.
3. “That doesn’t go anywhere? That’s just crazy!”
So quoth the plumber this morning, looking at the end of a pipe sticking out of the wall, with a bucket under it and the valve that failed attached. That stub used to go to the toilet, but that now has a new water pipe courtesy of last winter’s replumbing kluge. It being as cold as it is, removing the pipe entirely wasn’t feasible, so he just put a new valve on it. And really, that should hold it.
But when I told the plumber we had no water, they put us at the top of the morning’s list, arriving about 30 minutes after I called. Considering that it’s 20 – 25 minutes drive from town and they had just opened, I was very impressed. And having drained the pipes when we turned the water off, nothing froze overnight in spite of the 5 degree F. low. So all’s well that end’s so, in the latest saga of the old farmhouse.