Revenge of the Water Heater

Last week our water heater went out and I replaced the Thermo-Coupler and fixed it. Yay for me and my mechanical expertise.

Now, today our water heater is not working again. Ok, that is a slight exaggeration. It is sort of working. You see, while all of us were going about our daily lives, doing our jobs, tucking our kids in at night and kissing their foreheads and ensuring the safety and security of our prosperity, other folks were doing their jobs as well. In my case, the City of P-Town, not the place in Rhode Island, had decided it would be a good idea to replace all the light poles and power lines entering and departing my neighborhood. Which is good. It keeps the old ones from blowing down during a hurricane and taking out all the power in the old homestead all at once.

Unfortunately for me and my fellow citizens one of the light poles was right next to the main gas line that goes into our "Hood" and when the workers dug a hole as they have I am sure thousands of times before, they broke the line. Which basically meant all gas to my block and the surrounding blocks had their gas turned off. No stoves, no hot water and in some cases no heat or air conditioning. Hello 1930's America!!!

Now, when I got home there was a little yellow scrap of paper hanging on the door letting me know all this information. Given, it was a bit more abbreviated than what I just wrote but I am sure you understand my plight. Also, on this wonderfully informative slip of paper was a contact information and calming verbiage stating that all would be taken care of as soon as we called the 800 number on the bottom of the notice. Unfortunately one of the numbers of was missing and I had to do a bit more than just an Internet search to find the right series of digits to find a Live, Breathing, Talking, Sentient Human-Being. When I did I found the lady to be quite helpful and friendly. She informed me that a technician would be in my neighborhood most of the day and that he would be happy to turn my gas on and check for any leaks within the house that may have occurred during the shutdown.

Enter L.T., no not the running back from NFL fame, OK, sort of, this guy was more like the Original LT, you know the one who broke all sorts of NFL Line Backer records, not to mention one particular irritating quarterbacks leg. Now, I am not saying this guy was LT but he could have been his brother. Nice guy too. I hope that if any of you suffer a similar fate in the gas line supply system of your abode you get blessed with a affable technician like I did. He immediately got the gas back on and checked for leaks.

The stove and oven checked out just fine and dandy, the hot water heater on the other hand had some minor issues. What issues? Oh, nothing major, a minor gas leak which LT fixed quiet easily and with little effort. Then he discovered there was a an oxygen sensor malfunction that did not allow the gas flow to be regulated properly. Guess what I need a new burner unit. So I suppose it was not the Therm-Coupler after all. But who really is to say? Not me that's for sure. So, now I get to call another 800 number and hopefully I will get a real live human on the line to ship me out the proper part and I will have hot water indefinitely.

Yup, just another fun filled day in "Normal" life.