It’s 6 am and warm water is leaking out of the top of my aged but previously trustworthy hotwater service…..It’s seeping all over the floor of the laundry and has reached the carpet in the hallway. Perhaps there was a bang which woke me up, as it doesn’t seem to have been going for long, but it is running very fast…
I’ve tried turning off the tap at the main – but nothing is working….it’s still leaking and has been doing so for two hours. Waiting for someone from Rheem to call me back I find myself cursing that I’d hadn’t agreed to RACV Emergency Home Assist when on a call about home insurance the sales consultant suggested it to me a few weeks ago…
Water is everywhere, why won’t it stop pouring out of the water heater???…
It’s times like this that living alone is troublesome…. The water is still coming out, two and a half hours later…. there’s no one else to wait for him to come. I want to go to Collectors and Writing Workshop at U3A today… should I ever hear back from a plumber who can come and stop the water….
Why won’t it stop?….
When I eventually speak to someone at Rheem, they say that if it’s leaking from the top it will definitely need to be replaced, that it will keep running until the source of the problem is reached in terms of the level…OMG!
.
I thought turning off the water would be the thing to do…. but it’s still running …
.
I have been trying to get help now for two and a half hour. My brother in law, who lives on a farm half an hour out of town, confirmed the need to turn off the mains water and seemed okay about my turning off the hot water at the electricity meter board. This was confirmed by the local electrician who eventually responded to a referral by Rheem…. He’s trying to get a plumber for me… apparently…
Meanwhile, the water is still running!
…. Stewart the plumber has finally arrived… strong handshake, used my name…. I’m feeling better already! Stewart assesses the situation quickly… it has “definitely gone”…. he’s turned off the input tap and the release valve…. He needs a torch! I don’t have one… my phone has one but we couldn’t work out how to use it….but he’s now collected his from his car with his tool kit.
I'm asked for a length of garden hose….I had one near by and Stewart's now draining the water out into the garden and has just checked that I did isolate the hot water service.
Bang, bang, tap, tap, knock, knock, twirl….Stewart’s calling to let the electrician know what is happening… ‘I’m in the cupboard now’ (the hot water unit is in a cupboard off my toilet).
Stewart tells me that the unit was installed in 1989… it seems that 28 years is a good innings for a hot water heater!
I’ve been living in the house for nearly 20 years, so have realised that at some time I might have problems with my trusty hot water service…. Well, today was the day. A failed hot water service I is a heavy expense on a pension. Fortunately I can manage this time, and it should ‘last me out’.
It’s all systems go…. Stewart will be back at 1pm which means that I can go to Collectors! I need to be there as I have the end of year slide show to screen on the computer….. I’ll have to leave the door open…. … as the hose needs to drain out… such is life.
Maybe I’ll even get to Writing Workshop for at least some of the time and be able to share this story?
Bev Lee
November 2017
I’ve tried turning off the tap at the main – but nothing is working….it’s still leaking and has been doing so for two hours. Waiting for someone from Rheem to call me back I find myself cursing that I’d hadn’t agreed to RACV Emergency Home Assist when on a call about home insurance the sales consultant suggested it to me a few weeks ago…
Water is everywhere, why won’t it stop pouring out of the water heater???…
It’s times like this that living alone is troublesome…. The water is still coming out, two and a half hours later…. there’s no one else to wait for him to come. I want to go to Collectors and Writing Workshop at U3A today… should I ever hear back from a plumber who can come and stop the water….
Why won’t it stop?….
When I eventually speak to someone at Rheem, they say that if it’s leaking from the top it will definitely need to be replaced, that it will keep running until the source of the problem is reached in terms of the level…OMG!
.
I thought turning off the water would be the thing to do…. but it’s still running …
.
I have been trying to get help now for two and a half hour. My brother in law, who lives on a farm half an hour out of town, confirmed the need to turn off the mains water and seemed okay about my turning off the hot water at the electricity meter board. This was confirmed by the local electrician who eventually responded to a referral by Rheem…. He’s trying to get a plumber for me… apparently…
Meanwhile, the water is still running!
…. Stewart the plumber has finally arrived… strong handshake, used my name…. I’m feeling better already! Stewart assesses the situation quickly… it has “definitely gone”…. he’s turned off the input tap and the release valve…. He needs a torch! I don’t have one… my phone has one but we couldn’t work out how to use it….but he’s now collected his from his car with his tool kit.
I'm asked for a length of garden hose….I had one near by and Stewart's now draining the water out into the garden and has just checked that I did isolate the hot water service.
Bang, bang, tap, tap, knock, knock, twirl….Stewart’s calling to let the electrician know what is happening… ‘I’m in the cupboard now’ (the hot water unit is in a cupboard off my toilet).
Stewart tells me that the unit was installed in 1989… it seems that 28 years is a good innings for a hot water heater!
I’ve been living in the house for nearly 20 years, so have realised that at some time I might have problems with my trusty hot water service…. Well, today was the day. A failed hot water service I is a heavy expense on a pension. Fortunately I can manage this time, and it should ‘last me out’.
It’s all systems go…. Stewart will be back at 1pm which means that I can go to Collectors! I need to be there as I have the end of year slide show to screen on the computer….. I’ll have to leave the door open…. … as the hose needs to drain out… such is life.
Maybe I’ll even get to Writing Workshop for at least some of the time and be able to share this story?
Bev Lee
November 2017
