What a pleasant surprise I received as I stepped into the shower this morning. The warm stream of water was very powerful and actually massaged my back as it cascaded off and disappeared into the shower drain.
“That’s right, the Kinetico man was here yesterday,” I murmured to myself as I stood and enjoyed the powerful spray of warm water pelting my back.
Our water softener man had made one of his biannual visits to replace drinking water cartridges and check on the water softener’s efficiency. I was very glad to see him arrive for his analysis as we had suffered a water softener disaster this fall and I was curious to see if the faithful Kinetico softener had escaped the disaster unscathed.
The disaster began earlier this summer when Kathie came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, water dripping off her wet hair as she held in her hand the knob that shut the shower on and off as well as controlled the water temperature.
Now I know her well enough to know that she was expecting me to leap into action and remedy the runaway shower and I know myself well enough to know plumbing is very much above my pay grade! 🙁
But I must try something so I sprinted down the stairs and headed for my tool supply in the garage. Digging through my poorly equipped supply of tools I was able to locate a wrench that had a clamping ability. I’m sure it has a technical term but for now I’m calling it a ‘clamping ability’ wrench! 🙂
I sprinted back upstairs as fast as a seventy-seven year old man can sprint and to my surprise and relief I was able to shut the water off with the ‘clamping wrench’.
So for several weeks Kathie had to take showers maneuvering the huge ‘clamp wrench’ to control the water flow.
The appearance of the wrench in our bathroom reminded me of watching those Ma and Pa Kettle movies when I was a kid. (You youngsters that might be reading this blog and are thinking who the heck are Ma and Pa Kettle? Google it because I don’t have time to explain. I’m trying to finish this blog!)
Because of my plumbing insecurities I wasn’t in a hurry to check the hardware store for a replacement knob. And before I knew it our planned two week vacation to visit family in North Carolina approached.
I decided I would replace that shower knob when we returned from the two weeks in North Carolina, a decision I lived to regret. 🙁
Now I need to explain a couple things so that you’ll understand how the disaster could happen so easily.
Remember the ‘clamp wrench’ was very heavy. Also when the water was off the ‘clamp wrench’ was in the straight up and down position.
So off we went excited to spend two weeks traveling to South Carolina and visiting with siblings and their spouses.
Meanwhile back at the ranch (or should I say wrench?) the heavy ‘clamp wrench’ was not returned to the perfect upright position. The water was shut off so no one noticed the wrench had a slight tilt to it.
As the days passed gravity began its pull on the heavy ‘clamp wrench’. Who knows how long that took but probably we were traveling through the beautiful Appalachian Mountains when the ‘clamp wrench’ dropped far enough to open the faucet that drained into the bath tub.
The water ran and ran and ran!
When we arrived home we discovered thankfully the fuse that controlled the pressure tank had blown. Otherwise we probably would have drained our well dry and the septic tank would have been floating out in the middle of our yard! 🙁
As it was the brine tank was empty of softener salt and I think we can safely assume that the first couple showers that we had after returning from our trip were with unsoftened water.
Our Kinetico softener fortunately has a filter that prevents small particles that may be in the well water from entering into the softener. I have seen the filter after it has been filtering the well water for six months and it is gross.
The filter is packed with black mud-like gunk.
I feared to see what the filter would look like after the disaster from this fall. My fears were validated. The filter looked like a mud ball!
Our Kinetico man said he was amazed we had any water pressure at all!
That’s why my morning shower was so invigorating and felt so fine. 🙂 I’ve got to keep reminding myself of the shower’s new water power the next few mornings or in my groggy state the streaming water may slam me up against the shower wall! 🙂
So what is the moral of the story that I have just shared with you all?
No I don’t believe it was a message from on high urging me to attend plumbing school. But if I did I possibly would discover the true name for that ‘clamping ability wrench’. 🙂
I think the real message would be to call a plumber immediately after I was able to shut the run away shower off. Taking a two week vacation instead was a poor decision.
And now after wrestling with this blog composition I’ve kinda worked up a little sweat. I think I may just head for the bathroom and enjoy a hot, pulsating shower! 🙂
Until next time.
