Hot Water Dilemma

When I came home from work earlier this month I was enjoying the much warmer weather and grateful the ice had mostly melted off the roads. When my garage door opened though I found a small flood of water covering the garage floor. There was a leak from the corner where my hot water tank is that was squirting water across the garage.

My first two thoughts were that it must have been leaking for a while, and I really didn't want to spend my Christmas money on a new hot water tank.

Of course, it was already after 6:00 and since half of Tulsa was having similar problems I couldn't get a plumber that night. The best I could manage was to shut off my water completely and try to get someone out the following day. 

So much for my relaxing evening plans (which included a hot bath and early bedtime). 

Ollie and I went to my dad's since I didn't relish the idea of doing without water all evening. Luckily I was able to find someone who could take a quick look at the leak the next morning to diagnose the problem and get the ball rolling on fixing it. 

That's when I got really, really lucky. 

Mike Ridenour came out and could tell immediately the problem wasn't the tank. I was viewing that news with tentative optimism. I wouldn't need to spend $300 on a new tank, but would the real problem be even worse?

At that point I was having horrifying images of having to rip up my yard or something to find the leak.

It turns out that under the pedestal my hot water tank sits on there used to be a pump to pump water around the house. When the pump was removed the pipe connected to it was capped off. With the negative temperatures we had the capped pipe froze and cracked. Once our weather warmed up a bit the pipe started spewing the built up water across the garage due to the high pressure. 

Ignore the mess, the newly capped pipe is on the right.

All Mike had to do was remove the cracked section of pipe and recap the pipe further down. The entire visit took 10 minutes and cost me $25.

How's that for luck?

I couldn't believe that I managed to get away that easily, really that was something I might have been able to fix myself with the right tools (and knowing what the problem was, of course).

The hole isn't large, but
I'll need to watch for mold.

I'm still going to need to keep an eye on the drywall around the hot water tank.

Since the leak lasted long enough to melt a small hole in the drywall, I'm anticipating mold. I might get lucky and not have a problem. Even if I do it is in the garage so shouldn't be a huge issue, but as you can see, trying to replace that section of drywall won't be a walk in the park since I would need to create holes for the drain and dryer vent (although the dryer is inside now so this vent isn't actually used).

Has anyone else had lucky run-ins with plumbing problems? Or horror stories that still make you cringe?

A Chilly Breeze

You may remember a while back when I had Mullin Plumbing out to repair the faucet handles in my tub. In order to do the work the plumber had to remove the panel accessing the pipes to the tub. Since removing the panel messed up the paint job around the edges I told him not to replace the panel since I wanted to touch up the paint first.

Of course, that was when the weather was warm.

Getting the insulation ready to put in.

Weeks later I still hadn't found the time to fix the panel and I started noticing a chilly breeze in the restroom. Replacing the panel quickly became a priority. That's also around the time that I remembered to check the vents to my crawl space. Every single one was open. Oops. Once I closed all the vents the chill in my bathroom was noticeably less, but I still needed to get the panel in place so I could stop heating my crawl space.

I borrowed my dad's drill and some extra insulation he had so that even once the panel was back in place the breeze wouldn't get in. I cut a section of the insulation, fitted it into the opening (paper side out) and put the panel in place. The tricky part was that the frame didn't offer much for the screws to grab hold to and the insulation was thick enough that trying to hold the panel in place until the screws were in place was frustrating. It also didn't help that the panel is so close to the toilet that I couldn't use the drill for the screws on the left. I had to track down my screwdriver.

It always amazes me how a project you put off for ages can take less than 10 minutes once you take the time to get started.

The job all finished!

Is your house cool?

This month we have experienced mind-blowing heat in Oklahoma--as well as many other areas of the U.S. Until this past weekend the temperature in Tulsa had been well over 100 degrees for almost three weeks straight. It's amazing how nice 90 degrees can feel.

That said, 90 degrees really only feels nice when you're outside. When it's 90 degrees INSIDE all you want to do is collapse naked in front of a fan. My A/C is blowing cold air, but just can't seem to cool the house sufficiently when it's so hot. Of course, I should call the repairman. However, with summer coming to a close and a break from the extreme heat, I'm finding it hard to justify the cost and time away from work.

Just in case you are in a similar situation, here are a few ideas of ways to help cool your home.

• For starters, it's amazing what a difference fans can make. I have a fan in each bedroom and one in the eating area. The living area was the main room I was having trouble with so I finally bought a portable fan. Even when the thermostat says 90 the rooms are bearable with fans.
• PSO says that "almost 40% of the heat that builds up in your home enters through the windows." One suggestion they made was reflective window coatings (plastic sheets treated with dyes or thin layers of metal). These deflect up to 97% of infrared heat away from the interior of your home. I've also read that double-paned windows are more weather resistant so your home is less susceptible to outdoor temperatures. 
• While on the topic of windows, creating a cross-breeze by opening windows in the cooler parts of the day will help with your home's ventilation. During the afternoon shut all windows and doors and crank up the A/C. I mainly do this in the spring and fall when A/C is more of an option than a necessity.
• Insulation is another important house feature that will help maintain your home's temperature. Good insulation will keep the heat out in the summer and keep it in during the winter. Make sure that exterior walls, attic space and areas around air vents are well-insulated.
• Shutting blinds and curtains during the sunniest parts of the day will keep the sun from heating the house as quickly. Cultivating shady plants near your home will also help.
• Using appliances such as ovens, dryers or dishwashers causes the air around them to warm. Avoiding use of larger appliances during the hotter parts of the day means the A/C won't need to work as hard.
• As a last note, make sure all your expensive cold air isn't escaping through poorly sealed doors and windows. Many energy companies offer efficiency screenings, but often you can find places that need to be caulked on your own. For example, I know my decorative front door has a few paper-thin cracks (I just haven't had a chance to seal them).

Hope you all are enjoying our cooler weather! Have to say--warm house and all--I'm a summer girl. I'm hoping that we still have a couple months of beautiful weather before the drudgery of winter.