Well, due to some sea change in my three cats, two of them started ganging up on the third inexplicably. These cats are from the same litter, have never been separated, but for some reason this just started. And they won't let the one do his business in the litter box. Unacceptable, especially with a new baby coming, so we put them out in the garage for a while.
Well, the one still wasn't allowed in the litter box, so he's somehow been going under the water heater (haven't quite worked out how he does this).
To make a long story even longer, the wood stand on which the water heater sits is now rotting and wet, leaving the heater threatening to fall through at any time. Plus the garage is packed with hair and feces. So for some reason, my wife decides it's time to bring the cats back inside (problem still not addressed btw), which means it's time for me to save the water heater. So I went to remove it yesterday, and rebuild the wooden base it sits on. Easy, right?
New problem, the water heater is 15 years old, and filled with sediment. And it won't drain more tha a peepee trickle. 40 gallons weighs what, 300 pounds? Needless to say I couldn't move the thing. So I decided to tip it over and drain the water from the top. This may seem idiotic, but I still can't think of another way to do it. But no problem, I've been working out. So I balance it on two feet and tip it back. I'm now standing underneath it with 125 degree water pouring down my chest. This actually worked for a while, but wet hands and round smooth metal finally prevailed and I dropped the thing, which knocked my down into a pile of cat poop.
No problem, now it's draining for sure. But When it fell it broke off the (plastic) drain valve. 'Screw it', says I, and rebuilt the stand to put it back. Well, the broken valve in question had sheared off flush with the receptacle, and being really old plastic, it wouldn't unscrew. So I just chipped it out in pieces with a screwdriver, and cleaned the remnants out of the threads as best I could. The nearest hardware store had the valve, but it too was plastic. I got it in, but apparently the threads were so messed up by this time that it didn't hold.
And of course, it didn't fail until I had already filled the thing back up with water! So, 300 odd pounds through a 3/4" hole. I'm not a phisycist, but apparently that's a lot of pressure. The resulting blast of water was a high enough speed to fire tiny chips of sediment into my arm like a shotgun blast. today my forearm is peppered with wounds. It also obliterated a few boxes of Christmas decorations that I hadn't moved out yet.
I finally got a metal valve on there, moved all the ruined boxes out to the curb, and mopped up a bunch of hair and feces which had now been wetted into a thick sludge. Just over nine hours of work, and I have a whole new garage now. I pulled my car in there just so I could feel good about it.
Now here's the punchline. Guess whose house got skipped on the garbage route today?
Well, the one still wasn't allowed in the litter box, so he's somehow been going under the water heater (haven't quite worked out how he does this).
To make a long story even longer, the wood stand on which the water heater sits is now rotting and wet, leaving the heater threatening to fall through at any time. Plus the garage is packed with hair and feces. So for some reason, my wife decides it's time to bring the cats back inside (problem still not addressed btw), which means it's time for me to save the water heater. So I went to remove it yesterday, and rebuild the wooden base it sits on. Easy, right?
New problem, the water heater is 15 years old, and filled with sediment. And it won't drain more tha a peepee trickle. 40 gallons weighs what, 300 pounds? Needless to say I couldn't move the thing. So I decided to tip it over and drain the water from the top. This may seem idiotic, but I still can't think of another way to do it. But no problem, I've been working out. So I balance it on two feet and tip it back. I'm now standing underneath it with 125 degree water pouring down my chest. This actually worked for a while, but wet hands and round smooth metal finally prevailed and I dropped the thing, which knocked my down into a pile of cat poop.
No problem, now it's draining for sure. But When it fell it broke off the (plastic) drain valve. 'Screw it', says I, and rebuilt the stand to put it back. Well, the broken valve in question had sheared off flush with the receptacle, and being really old plastic, it wouldn't unscrew. So I just chipped it out in pieces with a screwdriver, and cleaned the remnants out of the threads as best I could. The nearest hardware store had the valve, but it too was plastic. I got it in, but apparently the threads were so messed up by this time that it didn't hold.
And of course, it didn't fail until I had already filled the thing back up with water! So, 300 odd pounds through a 3/4" hole. I'm not a phisycist, but apparently that's a lot of pressure. The resulting blast of water was a high enough speed to fire tiny chips of sediment into my arm like a shotgun blast. today my forearm is peppered with wounds. It also obliterated a few boxes of Christmas decorations that I hadn't moved out yet.
I finally got a metal valve on there, moved all the ruined boxes out to the curb, and mopped up a bunch of hair and feces which had now been wetted into a thick sludge. Just over nine hours of work, and I have a whole new garage now. I pulled my car in there just so I could feel good about it.
Now here's the punchline. Guess whose house got skipped on the garbage route today?
