The doorbell rang at 8:30. I was afraid it was the neighbor telling me the drip had become a massive flood into their house from my busted heater. Instead it was a repair guy...Not the repair guy I hired, however. This was someone purportedly from the gas company, who told us in no uncertain terms that they did not have anyone available to come out to the house until Tuesday. That's why we didn't schedule an appointment with them and why I was more than a little creeped out that someone wearing a NJNG hat showed up.
I sent him away... and it took awhile to for the feelings of "something was just not right" to subside. Also during that time, I was afraid that I had misunderstood and sent away the wrong repair guy.
But two hours later, the right guy appeared, wearing the correct uniform and bearing the appropriate business card. He took one look at the water heater and let loose with a string of expletives like I've never heard before.
Not a good sign.
He spent the next hour and a half on the phone with his boss trying to find something - ANYTHING - that they could do for us. The heater is in a tiny little closet, pressed firmly against the wall and the furnace with a mere 1/4 inch of space in between. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if they made tanks the same size NOW that they did SEVENTEEN years ago. Because to put the same size tank in, we'd need to knock out a wall or remove our furance... neither are a very appealing option. Especially since the wall supports our stairs and, well, heat is kind of a necessity.
Oh, and did I mention all of our piping violates code? And that our ancient pipes are pushing 40 pounds more pressure than is technically safe because the damn pressure reducing valve also decided to rust away? That they have to disconnect all the gas and water mains into the house because the genius who constructed this place decided to place them right in front of the tank?
And now that they've figured out what kind of tank would work, they have to actually locate one. Apparently skinny, short midget tanks are not in hot demand.
After 3 hours, I have no heater, no hot water and have to take off again tomorrow for the stupid thing to be installed.
I can't wait to see what problems we have tomorrow... You know it won't go smoothly.
Now...where's that bartender with my drink? He better make it a double
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Might want to call the cops about gas man imposter...
Brad: Since he wasn't my stalker ex, I'll probably let the man slide...
If it makes you feel any better, a friend of mine had a similar thing happen. Her furnace was about 17 years old as well, and the pipes for the condo above her had been placed IN FRONT of her furnace after it was installed. In the end she had to pay $5,000 for a specially built furnace/air conditioner unit to fit in her space. And she still has holes in her wall because the effing handyman didn't finish his job (she very stupidly paid him in full before the job was completed).
Ms. S: Wow that sucks. It does make me feel a bit better though. Thanks
Post a Comment