andrew.pilsch.com

And the torrent of verbiage continues …

My father once said that plumbing is the bane of man’s existence. I think he’s probably correct in his assumption. In addition to all the other joys in my life right now, I came home on Sunday night to discover that our toilet is running. I don’t know how long this has been going on, as I never got a chance to ask (due to … other things). Soon enough, I found myself up to my elbows in toilet scum and shouting into a cellular telephone and trying to diagnose what was wrong with our errant crapper. As I had feared, the flapper valve that seals the tank has corroded. I thought I had time to fix this, before it gave out, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Also, while fixing these problems, I discover that the water line to the tank can’t be turned off, as sealing the shut-off valve doesn’t stop the water. Cute. Anyway, I called maintenance and, while I feel I’ve failed in my masculine duty, I hope to have a working toilet.

Then, as I was drifting off to sleep last night, I put two and two together. I had been surprised to receive a water bill that was $100 higher than usual, earlier in the week. Then, I connected that with a running toilet (that was running for an unknown length of time) and realized why my bill was so high. My roommates really fail at home repair.

Image Credit: “plumbing bits” by cmurtaugh.