Floor Drain Woes

     At least I hope it's the floor drain.  I'm running a test right now that should help find out.

     The air-conditioner and dehumidifier both empty into into the floor drain in the basement.  I went down to the basement this morning when I was getting ready for work (Roseholme Cottage is short on closet space, so about a quarter of the basement has been set up with hanger rails) and lo, there was a small puddle around the drain.

     We're short-handed at work this week.  I pretty much can't skip a day.  Tam had left much earlier for a busy day.  I turned the dehumidifier up to 605, wet-vacced the water right ebfore I left for work, and hoped for the best.

     Didn't get it.  Didn't get worst, either, but there was a fair-sized puddle when I got home.  Vacuumed it up again, made a supply run to The Source Of All Existential Terror -- yes, Mal-Wart, Lowe's having decided not to stock poison ivy killer! -- and when I returned, so had the puddle.  Removed the water again and tried to get the cover off the floor drain but it's well-rusted.  Got the screws out (a #3 Phillips hex-bit in a 10"-swing brace doesn't take no for an answer!) but multiple efforts failed to dislodge the cover.  One last desperate ploy remains: let it fill up again and try the big plunger.

     My test consists of running the dishwasher, which needs run anyway.  If I get big puddle of warm, soapy water, that'll tell me it's not just a mudded-up floor drain.  Yeah, maybe not the cleverest of ideas but it's what I've got.  I own a little portable sump pump and if I have to put it to work, I will.

     ...Whine, whine, whine.  The cool air is working,  And I had dinner.  Been plenty of times I had no chance at the one and not much at the other.