The toilet in the master bathroom here was running slowly. Plunging it did not good. So yesterday morning I went to Big R and bought a bottle of slow drain goop. I put a slug of it down the toilet before we went to Reno yesterday afternoon, and to my relief, when we got home, all was running normally again. Having plumbing problems while we get ready for a major trip was not something I wanted to face.

During the recent rain, I started hearing sounds suspiciously like dripping water coming from the ceiling of the front bathroom in Fernley House. Yesterday, I saw where some of that water had appeared, and it wasn't great news.

( Not What You Want to See )

Later in the day, Lisa went up onto the roof (which can be accessed from the second-floor balcony) to inspect the situation. She carefully went over to the vent and determined that the seal around it had failed and was letting water through the roof around the base of the vent, where it was probably dripping down the outside of the vent pipe and getting into the ceiling. Because we get so little rain here, this was not much of a problem in the past, but of course we do need to fix it because we do get some rain and snow. It's unclear how much damp we have in the ceiling, and it's a difficult place to access.

Lisa also discovered that a small number of roof shingles had come loose, and one was completely gone. We headed to Lowe's to get repair material.

( Fixing a Hole )

Besides the new shingles, we bought a couple of cans of roof gasket sealant. When things dry out (which should be by this weekend), Lisa will go back up there and re-do the seal around the vent. There are two other vents up there for other plumbing in the house, and she'll take the opportunity to do those as well.

It took about five more trips to the hardware/plumbing store than it should have done, but Lisa was able to get the toilet in the south bathroom fixed yesterday. It now properly fills (that was the original problem) and she also was able to replace the gasket that had a slow leak that had been getting steadily faster. So no more water waste through that route, either.

The specialist plumbing-supply company in Reno closes at 4:30 PM, so as soon as I possibly could after getting off work at 3 PM, Lisa and I drove to Reno to try and get the specialty parts for the leaking toilet. I had taken pictures of the toilet, but forgot to get the model number off the tank. We'll see if we got the right parts when Lisa goes to put it together.

After some lesser grocery shopping, we got dinner in Reno, and while we initially intended to do a large run to WinCo, I was looking so tired that Lisa agreed that we should just go home and put me to bed.

Despite having (we thought) depressurized the hot water tank, we found this morning more water accumulated.

( The Hole Truth )

Because of the concerns over additional leakage, Lisa decided that we can't risk trying to patch the hole temporarily and re-pressurize the tank. We left a message with our plumber's answering service, explaining that it's not an emergency, but it is something that needs to be addressed as soon as possible on Monday during normal working hours if possible.

I finally puzzled out what the usage units on my water bill are by digging through the city of Fernley's web site: kilogallons. The billing units are per 1,000 gallons of water, but the meters apparently don't read any more finely than that. Whether than means 1,001 gallons bills me as 2 kgal, I don't know. But now I do know that I have a baseline usage (with the now-repaired leak) of 4000-5000 gallons/month. We'll see next month what fixing the leaking pipe does to consumption. I can see that it won't actually affect the bill that much, as the variable amount per kgal is trivial compared to the base charge.

Yesterday around Noon, Lisa was doing some yard work while I worked on Day Jobbe. She burst into the living room and said, "You need to call Marraccini Plumbing right away!"

I followed her out to see what the problem was. It was big, wet trouble: a significant water leak was flooding the area behind the house near the garage.

( Major Leak at Fernley House )

Lisa had had the presence of mind to refill the travel trailer's 40-gallon tank and several gallon jugs of tap water before she shut off the main feed from the city, so we had a little bit of water, but no main feed until the leak was repaired. She and I went to Big R and bought a new freeze-proof hydrant to replace the one already installed. There was no immediate proof that it was the source of the leak, but it was getting rusty and we decided that replacing it would be prudent, as we do think we may install a swamp cooler that would be fed from here someday. Then we went out to dinner at the Black Bear Diner. Having no running water is always a good excuse to go out to dinner.

( The Leak, Day 2 )

We paid the $1240 bill for the repairs. (Well, at least I'll get Amtrak miles for it.) We don't begrudge Marraccini the money. It was hard work, and I'm grateful that they came so quickly. Indeed, Steve-the-Plumber told us that originally he was going to tell us when he got the emergency call from the answering service that they were too busy to respond, but when he heard the address and realized who it was, he went ahead and made the extra trip. (He likes Lisa. She knows what she wants and when she helps, she's actually helpful.)

After Steve and Angelo replaced the broken joint and pipe and installed the new hydrant, they told us to let things sit for several hours to allow the joint adhesive to dry before turning the water on. This gave Lisa time to build a new tool.

( Implements of Construction )

So we were without main water for a bit more than a day, but it was never truly a crisis. As it happens, we're close to the day when the regular water bill cycles. We are very curious as to see what the water bill after the next one is going to be and whether we'll see a drop. We certainly expect to see a reduction in usage, and in these severe drought conditions, we're very glad that we're no longer leaking away at Fernley House.

Today's job was to get the electrical conduit laid and into the bathroom through the hole Lisa drilled yesterday.

( Another Milestone Achieved )

Lisa was very happy when she came out from under the house, because she says the under-house electrical work is now done. She doesn't have to go back down there anymore. There's about 2m of conduit and wire coiled up in the bathroom floor awaiting her installing the cut-off box for the hot water heater.

We went to Lowe's this evening and bought a 20A circuit breaker to replace the 60A breaker that came with the cut-off box. The 10/3 line will be connected to a 30A breaker at the main box, but inasmuch as Lisa has specified the 3000W/240V (thus 12.5A) heating element for the water heater, she wanted to put the smaller breaker on the cut-off box. Everything is just a little over-engineered and with a lot of leeway, which is just how she likes it.

Once she has finished building the base for the water heater and installing the cut-off box, we can call our plumber and say, "Ready when you are."

Yesterday evening after I got home from work, I went into the kitchen to find the sink all backed up with dirty grey water. The bathroom drains were unaffected. Unfortunately, this has happened often enough that I know what's going on. I'm on the bottom of a three-high stack of apartments that share common drains. Every 1-3 years, the pipes below me (which collect everything from above me as well as my own sink) clog up.

( Messy Details )

Since I expect to move in April or May (earlier is better, but depends on me getting an opening in the apartment building I've spotted into which I want to move), this should be the last time I have to deal with this periodic plumbing problem.