It's a miracle!
Jun. 12th, 2006 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoWe've been suffering from leaky faucets. Now we both know how to change a washer, though after living 14 years in a 110+ year old house you approach such things gingerly and only at a time when several hardware stores will still be open if you need them. In fact, such experiences had made my mate gunshy about fixing the dribble in the shower, in spite of the fact that the fix he cobbled together in our prior house the month we moved in lasted the entire time we were there (and that was on one of those claw-footed tubs with a shower that came from a long gooseneck pipe that rose up from the taps, and a shower curtain that hung from a ring shaped rod suspended from the ceiling...) So, the bathtub tap has been drippy for years now.
But the real problem is the frost-free (so-called) hydrants in the two barns. For you city folks, these are special faucets that live two or three feet below the ground surface and are opened by a lever action mechanism that pulls a long (six or eight feet long) rod that goes down the center of the supply pipe. When shut off, the water drains out of the vertical riser into the soil, keeping things from freezing up at least in theory. They are very handy when they work, and horrid when they fail. It was getting so they didn't shut off completely, and you had to play with them to get them to stop running. When turned on, water literally sprayed out from around the packing nut. We diddled things but never got them to work for more than a few days. In the middle of the night I'd wake up because I heard the well pump cut on. It was replacing the water pressure lost to the barn taps.
So this morning, after I went to work, Mate decided to call a plumber. Uh oh. Maybe they'll show up by August. The miracle? "We might be able to squeeze you in this afternoon, I'll call around noon." And they did call back, the guy did show up, and fixed three of four leaky taps. The fourth he said might give way while being disassembled and then would need major repairs to the tune of $600, so that was postponed for now. Total cost, about $200. Results? Perfect. How often do you get a plumber in for so little, and have him actually show up on time and on the same day you called?
But the real problem is the frost-free (so-called) hydrants in the two barns. For you city folks, these are special faucets that live two or three feet below the ground surface and are opened by a lever action mechanism that pulls a long (six or eight feet long) rod that goes down the center of the supply pipe. When shut off, the water drains out of the vertical riser into the soil, keeping things from freezing up at least in theory. They are very handy when they work, and horrid when they fail. It was getting so they didn't shut off completely, and you had to play with them to get them to stop running. When turned on, water literally sprayed out from around the packing nut. We diddled things but never got them to work for more than a few days. In the middle of the night I'd wake up because I heard the well pump cut on. It was replacing the water pressure lost to the barn taps.
So this morning, after I went to work, Mate decided to call a plumber. Uh oh. Maybe they'll show up by August. The miracle? "We might be able to squeeze you in this afternoon, I'll call around noon." And they did call back, the guy did show up, and fixed three of four leaky taps. The fourth he said might give way while being disassembled and then would need major repairs to the tune of $600, so that was postponed for now. Total cost, about $200. Results? Perfect. How often do you get a plumber in for so little, and have him actually show up on time and on the same day you called?
