My water heater replacement did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. The plumber arrived around 2PM, checked everything out and got to work immediately. Around 5:30 PM, he called me over to show me that a vent pipe elbow he was connecting to was broken. He explained that he could not use it because it might leak carbon monoxide and was against code.
And, of course, it was an odd sized part that he didn’t carry on his truck. His suppliers were all closed by then and he doubted the part was carried at Lowe’s or Home Depot.
His plan was to go home, eat some dinner and see if he had a used one in his garage. If he did, he’d come back to install it. He said he was leaving his tools so he could finish the job. If, by some chance, he didn’t have the part, he was still coming back later that night to retrieve his tools because he had two jobs scheduled for the next day.
In the meantime, I drove to Lowe’s in the pouring down rain on the off-chance I’d find the part. I did! 45 minutes later I’m back home handing it to him. He compares it to the other part and says, “is this one longer?” It was. By an anchor two.
And naturally, due to TUF, it wouldn’t’t fit because my new hot water heater was also an inch or two taller than my old one. There was no way he could make it fit.
So we agreed he’d head home and return later that night.
Half an hour later I get a call from him. His truck had broken down about 4 miles from my home. He suspected a faulty fuel pipe or fuel gauge issues and asked if I could bring him some gas just in case that would solve the problem.
I, of course, do not own a gas can. Nor did he have one of his truck. But when you’re stuck in the rain on the side of the road with nobody else to call, it sucks. So I told him I’d pickup a can somewhere and be there as soon as I could.
As I walked outside, I thought I’d ask my neighbor across the street if he had a can I could borrow. Nobody was home at his house, of course.
Just as I was about to leave for the hardware store to buy a can, another neighbor pulled into his driveway. He had a gas can I could borrow.
Off I went. 30 minutes later we’re pouring 2 gallons of gas into the plumber’s truck. It starts up and then stalls out. He wonders if more gas might help – in case his secondary ruled pump isn’t circulating the gas at full power. So I drive off to refill the can.
We filled his tank with the extra gallons and agreed that I will follow him to the nearest gas station so he can fill up and then follow him to make sure he gets home. We cancel his return trip to house that night. He is, of course, fully booked the next day but needs to come to my house sometime around 8-9AM to pickup his tools.
So, it is now nearly 9 AM the next day. We exchanged texts and he said he’ll stop by for his tools as soon as soon as he can. He did find the part I need at his house and texted that he’ll get back to finish my installation as soon as he can.
I don’t know if he’s thinking that’s today, the day after Thanksgiving or next week. I’ll ask he when he’s picking up his stuff.
If I didn’t anticipate TUF being a constant presence in my life, I’d be upset.
Instead I am almost laughing at the absurdity of it all.
After all, the worst that happens is I go a few days without hot water. I have cold water. I have no water leaking from my new, nearly installed tank. I have new shutoff valves installed. My dogs did pretty good being locked up in one room while a stranger worked on my HW tank for hours.
I can shower at the pool except for on Thanksgiving Day. So, at worst, I’ll skip a day or have one icy shower if I absolutely feel I need it. My pool schedule is shot to sh!t, but I’ll work around it.
Whatever. I’ll deal with it.
I expect TUF.