primitives discuss rain pouring down

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1158764

Oh my.

quakerboy (9,801 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

Gah. When it rains it pours. and then some.

This is more a rant than a specific request, though if anyone has insight, I am more than happy to pick your brain for it.

So.. last night, baking some burgers in the oven. Seems to be taking a little longer than it should. And the little thermometer that hangs from the rack says approx 150, even though the upper thing says 350. So I drop the probe for our electric thermometer on the tray. It says 190. Huh. So I start an internal quiz about whether I am ready/confidant enough to attempt to diagnose and fix an oven myself, while checking the prices of new ovens online. Seeing as the ceramic cooktop was damaged when we moved in, I wouldn't feel bad about a new one, excepting the trying to pay for one while broke part. I wonder how much plasma I would have to donate to get a new oven?

But then the burgers are done, somehow, anyway. And a second round cook in normal time. Later, my wife turns it up to 500, just to see what happens. the hanging thermometer reads about 250. The probe jumps toward 350, then "high". So maybe the hanging thermometer is just broken. It did go through a self cleaning cycle, so that's probable, and a much cheaper fix. So, unless we notice future problems, that seems to have resolved itself.

This morning, I wake to a note on the bathroom mirror. "Do not shower. Water is dripping from the kitchen ceiling. Note on your desk". Oh yay. Sure enough, water is dripping from the light fixture. Relevant to showers, since the bathroom is directly over the kitchen.

We ran into this before, when we first moved in. Called a plumber in a panic, and he determined that water was coming down the shower wall, along the back of the tub, over the edge to the floor, and into a previously unnoticed crack between the wall and the tub, covered loosely by plastic edging. So we bought the little $5 plastic tub corner thingies, sprayed down a lot of antimold spray, and waited for things to dry. In the year since, there has been no sign of trouble.

So, not sure what happened this time. 2 hours later, its still dripping. Noone's using water upstairs. It is raining, but why would that come through right there, and only there. Just in case, we did try food coloring in the two second most likely culprits(toilet and tub), but the water is still coming through clear. So maybe my sister just managed to spaz and dump a few bucketfuls of water outside the tub somehow. It did appear damp at the hole, though none of the pooling that the plumber pointed out last time. For now, the light fixture comes down, the space is as opened as we can, while we wait for it to dry and hope its not actually a plumbing issue.

To take the light fixture off, I had to shut off the power to the kitchen lights. Which meant killing all power to the downstairs, given how the place is wired. Oops, killed my computer in the middle of coming to visit DU. Also, turned off the fridge. 3 wire nuts later, maybe 2 minutes time, I flip the breaker back on. The fridge reads 52 degrees. This is not not the normal temperature. Its usually set at 38. would 3 minutes off, unopened, really raise it 14 degrees? Its supposed to be pretty high efficiency, and its power use is pretty low, when I checked it last. It seems to be back to normal, an hour later. Is my fridge dying?

Im just waiting to see what comes next. The microwave? Maybe a toilet can start leaking. Or a rock through a window?

jeff47 (3,317 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

1. It's leaking from the supply lines

Your shower is leaking from the lines that bring water to the shower, or from the shower valve. It's not going to stop leaking until someone fixes it. Depending on how your house is plumbed, there may be a shut-off you can use to turn off just the shower. Your only other alternative is to shut off the water to the whole house.

As for the fridge, that shouldn't have heated up that much. Defrosting cycles in freezers can heat the compartment some, but this is the fridge. Doesn't mean it's about to die, but it is odd. Should probably check it every so often.

quakerboy (9,801 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

2. I don't think so

It did this exact thing over a year ago. Within half a day, it stopped dripping. That was when the plumber said it was due to water going over the edge of the tub. And once that avenue of water was blocked, we didnt see it anymore. Until today.

And it has stopped dripping completely again. Which would strongly seem to argue against it being a leak from the incoming water.

I've been playing with it a bit, to see if I can learn anything. with the aid of food coloring, I dumped blue water down tub, and red in the toilet. No sign of either color or a continuing of the leak.

This would seem to leave only two possibilities. Either my sister flailed and got water outside the tub, or water is leaking from the outside world. I dyed some rubbing alcohol green and poured it down the hole beside the tub, as I didn't want to just put more water in an already potentially mold prone space. No sign of it so far, which concerns me. I really really want it to be that, as the only other thing I can think of is a roof leak(flat roof, the other buildings have had issues, and both times this happened, it has been raining. Though the many uneventful rains in between these occurrences would seem to argue against it.