Our water heater started leaking all over the place over the holidays. Then, it stopped working at all. We did our research. Picked out the model we wanted online and headed out to Home Depot... only to discover that the particular model we selected isn't available in California.
Gee, that would have been nice info to have had on your website.
So, instead, we bought the only alternative (at a couple of hundred dollars more in cost) and I installed the thing. Wasn't too bad. The biggest problems were the old gas ball valve and the water connections to the heater.
Had to replace the old ball valve on the gas pipe. Which meant turning off the main gas line and the very real possibility of dying in a fiery explosion if a did something careless or stupid.
So, did LOTS of research on that little bit of work. I learned that if you unscrew a fitting off of a gas line pipe, you should unscrew ALL of the fittings that twist in the same lateral motion. Retape and reinstall. The reason being that if you apply twisting motion on the pipe leading into the wall, and it moves... just enough to break the decades-old seal with the next fitting in the line... you could end up with a slow gas leak. Quietly filling up your wall spaces with explosive gas.
YIKES! Didn't want that to happen.
So I tore out the wall on the other side of the line in the kitchen. Luckily for me, the ball valve was attached to a short length of pipe that was then attached to an elbow joint. Was easy to check for leaks.
Anyway, after taking care of that, the water heater was installed and looking great. I was up on my rickety old, wood ladder, reaching overhead for the last of the tools I had used to install the overhead water pipe connections.... when the cursed ladder wobbled out from under me and sent me flying backwards to the concrete floor of the garage below.
I landed on my right shoulder blade... heard it go "CRRRUUNCHCH" and everything went into a haze of pain for a while.
Now I've got some cool x-rays of my lovely bones. The doctor thought it was kinda strange that I'd want a copy of the x-ray... but I think it looks really neat.
And that's where I've been since the holidays. Nursing that rotten... stinking... foul... sling. Because of a fractured shoulder-blade
It's been two months since I broke myself... and I've decided to declare myself healed now. As long as I ignore the occasional twinge of pain as I use my right arm, every things fine.
All in all, I'm pleased. It could have been a disaster. Like an injury to the actual joint. That would have doomed me to continual pain for the rest of my life. As it is, I just broke a bone that is now almost completely healed.
...rough, but manageable.
Now, about that trailer.
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