Disaster at Cinema Murray

Or "Captain Randy reenacts The Poseidon Adventure."

So, a short opening post and pics so some of you may benefit from my misery. Then I've got to get back to drinking.

The was one of those weekends when the universe conspired against me. First, Friday night we went downstair to pick out a movie. My daughter in her stocking feet said, "the floor's wet." We quickly determined that the water heater was leaking. It sat in the equipment room near the theater entry. And yes, the carpet was wet. We damped it up - didn't seem too bad, created a barrier around the water heater, and left it at that.

Bright and early Saturday I started making calls. By 8 P.M. we have a brand new, shockingly expensive tankless water heater installed in the 2nd utility room. The old 75 gallon tank is still sitting there until tomorrow - it's too leaky to move and they have to bring a special bag to haul it out.

With all the traffic over the carpet, we noticed it was getting wetter and wetter, so we pulled it up to discover that the pad was completely soaked. So I pulled the entire entry way carpet up and pulled up the pad. Not so bad.

Sunday morning (today). Checked things out - carpet drying nicely. The gas had been turned off during the install, so the furnace was off. I decided it was a good opportunity to clean the furnace filters, so I hauled them outside and hosed them down, then stuck the running hose in the hot tub. It was the first time I'd had the hose on all winter. I made a trip downstairs and . . .

There was a complete waterfall coming down the door seal at the theater entrance.

I was a complete moment of heart break. I sprinted back, yelling. My wife got the water off and we immediately began toweling and trying to isolate the gallons of water. I can't even talk about it right now.

I called in the pros with water extraction equipment and industrial strength dehumidifiers and fans. I'm just depressed and stunned. I'll know in about 3 days if that will be enough or if we'll have to start pulling down walls.

Here are a few pics - I'll post details as I have them.

Cleaning up the water

Lessons for all of you: if you have a standard tank water heater, get it replaced before year 10 and go tankless if you can (there's a 30% government tax credit for tankless).

#2 - make sure you have frost-proof exterior faucets.

Randy

Thanks, everyone.

It was a hard weekend, but fast and decisive action seems to have worked. The theater this AM was 90 degrees and all the carpets were dry - the entry hall too. We have at least 2 more days of active drying to go. I'm fairly confident this will take care of things, but I won't feel better until everything is restored and back in place.

Why did I pick this week to stop sniffing glue?

Randy

Well, I noticed that the new water heater was in the same form factor as the Flux Capacitor.

And I was trying to figure out how to get the theater up to 88 miles per hour and skip back to last week to try and avoid this mess.

Randy

Too early to tell, but my neighbor put one in last year and liked it. So far it seems fine (and I have 2 daughters, too - one away at college at the moment).

We put in this model Rinnai R75LSi - and yes, it was expensive, but after the 30% tax credit, the savings on gas, and long life, it will be an easy net positive. They can't be installed just anywhere - and that will effect how long it takes hot water to reach your sink or shower and how you set your dials.

Thanks again everyone - it ain't over yet, but we're making progress. I just learned that fixing the external faucet that caused this is going to be a mess, too.

Randy

Update:

We're making progress - this is the final day with the dehumidifiers and fans - the current temp. in the theater is 106 degrees! They tell me that it's completely dry, but must run today by their protocol.

The next step after they remove the equipment tonight is to get the carpet pad back down and carpet re-seated - I don't think it will need to be replaced.

And the plumber finally replaced the external faucet that caused the big mess. The split in the line was a full foot back on the copper and a 1" long blowout. No wonder water was pouring in. I had that one removed and capped, so that problem can never occur again. The new one, placed in the utility room near the sump, has an interior shutoff valve AND a drain - so before it freezes I can take care of the issue. I have another at the front of the house I'm going to do the same thing with.

Thanks for all the support and I'll post as things progress.

Thanks,

Randy

Yes - I thought I was OK too and left the hose on. Don't do it! I'll take pics of the busted line - it's eye opening.

Randy

update - took another day, but the gear is all out and bone dry. Carpet repair tomorrow and then pretty much back to normal after a carpet clean.

Damn. That was one hell of a long week.

Randy

And in the sweet 16!

Give me a shout if you're in the area (after I have things back in shape). Always happy to meet and show the place off to fellow hobbyists!

Randy