Monday, October 21, 2013

Cold Shower At Dawn: Life Without Gas, Day Three

     The real cold shower was yesterday before work (a much-needed extra shift).  This morning it was a standing tub bath, quick and chilly. 

     In both instances, it is remarkable how much joy can be found in a quart and a half of warm water, saved 'til last and poured from head to toe.  Delightful!  --Maybe it's the contrast?  Pure luxury, that's what it is.

     As I wrote, bathing was long past and the plumber was in the basement, unscrewing things.  The perversity of the universe and black iron pipe being what it is, at any given point the wrong part is fixing to unscrew and has to be persuaded otherwise, which is why he gets the big bucks.

     But now he's left -- the blessing and curse of living within a mile or two of a first-rate plumbing supplier is that plumbers rarely bother to show up with a big pile of parts, figuring whatever they need is a short drive and a cup of hot coffee away.  It works out.

     Breakfast: A lovely cuppa weak coffee (near-disaster with my Chemex, spilled about ten percent of the grounds while brewing) and two slices of pumpernickel toast with heart-healthy margarine.  --It's the staff of life, right?

     Here's hoping for a return of a gas-free basement and a working stove, water heater and furnace before the day is over.  Wish Tam and me luck, please!

17 comments:

  1. Luck is for gamblers. I wish you much skill in the hands and nose of your plumber.

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  2. I wish you luck both with the process , and the bill when he finishes up .

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  3. I'd hope it would be resolved today. You've hired an expert, he has easy access to a well stocked supply store and it sounds as if cold showers are not much fun at all.

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  4. Cold showers are not fun, but they build character.

    Here's to an industrious plumber with charity in his heart. And no weird out-of-production fittings required.

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  5. After the too damned many hurricanes we've endured, I found a large mixing bowl, a five gallon bucket and a microwave lead to something more pleasant than a cold bath.

    It's not much better, but it is warm.

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  6. Cold showers are not fun. I hope your expert gets it done quickly, correctly and not too expensively.

    And perhaps some kind of natural gas alarm? This is why my home is all electric.....

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  7. I went 10 days or so in November about eight years ago when my water heater cacked it and it was giant tsuris getting the new one installed. So I can sympathize. Here's hoping you get a hot shower tomorrow morning.

    I found myself thinking of the people who endured fuel and other shortages in WWII era Great Britain when I was taking my bath in 4" deep of water (all I could heat on my stove and carry to the tub)

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  8. Fingers crossed and a couple of sausages burnt for Offler.

    BGM

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  9. Today I'm thankful for having developed the skills to do this kind of work myself.

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  10. One technique I have used when the day is sufficiently warm:

    • Before leaving for work, take the 100-ft garden hose, carry it up onto the roof.

    • Drop the trigger/sprayer end down the side of the house, leaving enough excess that it can be pulled through the bathroom window and into the shower.

    •Drop the supply end down to the outside faucet.

    •Dress the hosepipe in a loose zigzag pattern on the portion of the roof most likely to get afternoon sun.

    •Turn on the tap to pressurize the hose

    •Pull the hose into the shower and allow it to run until all of the air is out and you are getting a smooth shower of water.

    •Turn off the faucet. This is the tricky bit because the anti-siphon valve that you should have in such a faucet might just let all the accumulated water drain back down. If you have an auxilliary shutoff that can be mounted between the hose bib and the hose, shut that off first.

    By 5 PM all of the water within the hosepipe will be heated by the sun to a medium lukewarm. Not as nice as a hot shower, but much more comfortable than a cold one. You've got about 4 gallons of water to work with before the fresh cold water hits you.

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  11. That would indeed work, though not right now: 40s and falling and the sun hid about 1 p.m.

    We're back on the gas now, though, and it's goooood. So far.

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  12. No heat and no hot water is not a fun way to be. Glad it's up and running.

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  13. Welcome back to the 20th Century!

    We had the gas go off in our area when I lived in Ohio. A big pipeline coming in from out of state froze up. (The gas wasn't as dry as it was supposed to be, and nighttime lows were approaching -15F.) It was weird having to heat with kerosene and cook in the microwave, but still have hot showers and Nintendo.

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  14. You land lubbers... get a cheap garden sprayer and replace the end with the kind of salad sprayer - kitchen-sink attachment that has its own shutoff. Fill the sprayer with water. Add enough boiling water to make the whole "warm enough." Wet down. Soap up. Rinse off.

    Brush out the hair really good, tie it back and wear a hat.

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  15. Here's hoping things warm up there before the cold front arrives. We have a freeze warning here, which means you're not too far behind. :(

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  16. 33 degrees here at alarm-clock time! Good thing the heat's back on.

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