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Plumbers, part 3
Jan. 31st, 2019 10:27 amWhen last I wrote about this, the downstairs bathroom ceiling was dripping on a Saturday afternoon. I was developing a plan to drill a hole in the ceiling to see if water would just pour down. Arthur was discontent with this, so when the plumbing company supervisor (Ian) returned my message, we agreed to have a plumber come. Since it would be after 7 PM, we had entered the double time period (7 PM Saturday until 7 AM Monday). OK. If the world worked as *I* think it should, they'd send the absolute best plumber on staff for people who are paying double time, but our impression is that they sent the least experienced person. He cut a square out of the ceiling, opined that the leak was due to a backup in the discharge pipe from the bath/shower, called Ian for advice, decided he couldn't fix anything, set up an elaborate arrangement to have the drips go through a garbage bag into a bucket, swept up, requested a check for $500, and left. We decided almost immediately to put a 20 gallon trash can there instead of a bucket, so that we wouldn't have to get up in the middle of the night to empty it.
Monday morning I called Ian back, saying that it was still dripping, and what next? He stopped by that afternoon, said it couldn't possibly be because of the drainage pipe or it wouldn't be still dripping, and guessed that it was a pipe behind the upstairs sink. Arranged for someone to come at 7 AM on Wednesday (yesterday, which is to say more than four days since their first guy came). Ian blocked off four hours for this. After a total of nine hours here (mostly one guy for seven, but with a companion for two), more ceiling destruction, and extensive detective work, they decided that it was actually the hot water going into the upstairs bathroom radiator at fault. Seems to be true - after doing a work-around (kludge?) so that the radiator was no longer connected to the hot water heating system, the dripping stopped. The house is warm. So should I be happy rather than grumpy? He kept saying that he was almost ready to go, and then doing other stuff. I went into the basement to find him trying to drain the solar hot water heater (WTF?). I realized after he finally left that he had filled the garbage can with all the detritus and left it out in the snow. It was too heavy for me to move, so I also left it. If it isn't frozen to the yard, we will try to slide it down the icy driveway tomorrow and see if the garbage collectors will take it. Legally, they would be within their rights to leave it un-emptied, because it is in some sense demolition waste. I have a call into Ken at Eastern Solar, because the pump to the solar tank doesn't sound right to me. We still have a massive hole in the downstairs ceiling. At the plumber's advice, I went out and bought some pink insulation, which I amateurishly stuffed into the spaces from which they removed the old insulation, which was soaked by the leak. I have no ability to replace a plaster ceiling. They didn't manage to remove the presumed defective radiator, so we have a space heater in the bathroom to protect the sink pipes. (very freezy out, but nothing compared to the upper Midwest). Presumably, they will want to come back (at their convenience) to putter around and charge us another many dollars. Unlike most people, we can afford it, but I'd like to have them not botch things.
Monday morning I called Ian back, saying that it was still dripping, and what next? He stopped by that afternoon, said it couldn't possibly be because of the drainage pipe or it wouldn't be still dripping, and guessed that it was a pipe behind the upstairs sink. Arranged for someone to come at 7 AM on Wednesday (yesterday, which is to say more than four days since their first guy came). Ian blocked off four hours for this. After a total of nine hours here (mostly one guy for seven, but with a companion for two), more ceiling destruction, and extensive detective work, they decided that it was actually the hot water going into the upstairs bathroom radiator at fault. Seems to be true - after doing a work-around (kludge?) so that the radiator was no longer connected to the hot water heating system, the dripping stopped. The house is warm. So should I be happy rather than grumpy? He kept saying that he was almost ready to go, and then doing other stuff. I went into the basement to find him trying to drain the solar hot water heater (WTF?). I realized after he finally left that he had filled the garbage can with all the detritus and left it out in the snow. It was too heavy for me to move, so I also left it. If it isn't frozen to the yard, we will try to slide it down the icy driveway tomorrow and see if the garbage collectors will take it. Legally, they would be within their rights to leave it un-emptied, because it is in some sense demolition waste. I have a call into Ken at Eastern Solar, because the pump to the solar tank doesn't sound right to me. We still have a massive hole in the downstairs ceiling. At the plumber's advice, I went out and bought some pink insulation, which I amateurishly stuffed into the spaces from which they removed the old insulation, which was soaked by the leak. I have no ability to replace a plaster ceiling. They didn't manage to remove the presumed defective radiator, so we have a space heater in the bathroom to protect the sink pipes. (very freezy out, but nothing compared to the upper Midwest). Presumably, they will want to come back (at their convenience) to putter around and charge us another many dollars. Unlike most people, we can afford it, but I'd like to have them not botch things.
