revjlw
03/15/2004, 04:03 PM
I live in a parsonage - you know, the house that a congregation has for the pastor to live in? Built in 1917 by a rich lumber barron, beautiful woodwork, beamed ceilings, plaster walls, hardwood floors......
We - hubby and I - were gone overnight, leaving 16 year old home alone for the first time with instructions to feed and water dogs - 2 ea. - and feed fish. While gone, I ruptured the muscle which holds the arch in your foot on my right foot - ouch! - and came home from our "romantic evening" with a surgical boot and Vicadin. When we went to bed that evening we found the 46 gal two inches low and a "dark spot" on the hardwood floor of our bedroom on the second floor. We questioned the son - "No troubles Mom". We checked everything! No runs, no leaks no errors Topped up the tank - thank goodness for having water in the ready, checked everything again and all was well. So, we went to bed.
Two a.m. I wake up as I'm dashing across the bedroom - dashing is a bit of an overstatement, limping REALLY fast might say it better - toward the tank. When hubby comes to and after peeling himself off the ceiling from my hasty bed exit he too is at my side in front of the tank. I hit every switch I could find and shut down the power. There is water POURING onto the floor from the right side of the tank, but it stops shortly after the power goes off. Hubby is running around grabbing towels and rags. I'm standing on a step stool in front of the tank trying to figure it out. Did I mention that our sleeping habits are clothing optional?
Anyway, we established that no water leaked when the power was off. SO, we went back to bed. The rest of the night I kept seeing my tank in my mind. I woke up at 6 KNOWING the answer - sure enough, no red linkia star fish anywhere. The lil' bugger had crawled inside the discharge pipe for my CPR AquaFuge and plugged it. The water was pumping in and over, but couldn't flow back into the tank. Luckily the intake pump was only two inches below the height of the side of the tank!
Rest assured that the discharge pipe now wears a mesh bag and I have aquired new skills at patching and painting plaster.....
We - hubby and I - were gone overnight, leaving 16 year old home alone for the first time with instructions to feed and water dogs - 2 ea. - and feed fish. While gone, I ruptured the muscle which holds the arch in your foot on my right foot - ouch! - and came home from our "romantic evening" with a surgical boot and Vicadin. When we went to bed that evening we found the 46 gal two inches low and a "dark spot" on the hardwood floor of our bedroom on the second floor. We questioned the son - "No troubles Mom". We checked everything! No runs, no leaks no errors Topped up the tank - thank goodness for having water in the ready, checked everything again and all was well. So, we went to bed.
Two a.m. I wake up as I'm dashing across the bedroom - dashing is a bit of an overstatement, limping REALLY fast might say it better - toward the tank. When hubby comes to and after peeling himself off the ceiling from my hasty bed exit he too is at my side in front of the tank. I hit every switch I could find and shut down the power. There is water POURING onto the floor from the right side of the tank, but it stops shortly after the power goes off. Hubby is running around grabbing towels and rags. I'm standing on a step stool in front of the tank trying to figure it out. Did I mention that our sleeping habits are clothing optional?
Anyway, we established that no water leaked when the power was off. SO, we went back to bed. The rest of the night I kept seeing my tank in my mind. I woke up at 6 KNOWING the answer - sure enough, no red linkia star fish anywhere. The lil' bugger had crawled inside the discharge pipe for my CPR AquaFuge and plugged it. The water was pumping in and over, but couldn't flow back into the tank. Luckily the intake pump was only two inches below the height of the side of the tank!
Rest assured that the discharge pipe now wears a mesh bag and I have aquired new skills at patching and painting plaster.....