The Devil's in the Details

Things are starting to come together at the house.

New Term of the Day: Sullage hose

I'm nearly out of the old duplex, thanks to some help with Connor and Shelley. Connor has come over two Saturday's in a row to help me pack things up and throw things out. My knee has been very painful for the last month or so, which is a really convenient time for it to decide to protest things.

Saturday will be Grand Central Station over at the rental with Connor and I  there getting another load (kitchen dishes and bathroom still to pack), rental agent coming over with a prospective tenant (second one in a week), and the bond cleaner coming over to give me a quote. 

Meanwhile, in my new house, with the old washing machine leaking all over the floor, I decided to buy a new washer which was delivered and installed a few days ago. I had a look out in the back yard to see what the problem was with the black sullage hose. This was the hose that seemed to have a clog and backed up the laundry sink (and tub). I have since come to learn that "sullage" is any domestic water coming from the house that is not from the toilet. Good to know.

As it turned out the hose was full of water and had somehow kinked itself up in several places. Once the kinks were undone the water flowed out fine. Problem solved.

So, once the washer was in place and had been installed by the delivery guys, I tried to do a load of washing. I must admit to some trepidation as I waited for some issue to crop up. I watched for a few minutes, but there was no dramatic spurting of water on the floor, so I felt safe enough to go back to the kitchen and do some more stuff.

Suddenly, I heard a bing, bing, bing from the laundry room. Sigh. I hate being right. 

Error message E10 was flashing in time with the chiming of the machine. Quickly I searched for the instruction book and flipped to the error messages at the back. E10 had 5 possible causes, all around the idea that the machine is not filling with water. 

I checked that the faucet was turned on. Not as easy as it sounds. With the water hose firmly (and I do mean FIRMLY) attached by the delivery man there was no way easily see if it was getting water. Where's a wrench?...who knows what box those were in and whether they are here or still at the other place. Ah, they did give me a wrench type thing for adjusting the feet of the washer.

Gave it a bit of a turn, and yes, it works. Uh oh, water is coming out. That must mean the water is still on. Great deduction Sherlock (as my brother would say -- actually this is the cleaned up version of what he would say). 

Tried  the machine again. Nope, still same error. OK, book says there is a filter in the nozzle that must be turned on. Right.

I got the aluminum bowl still in the sink from the last washing machine fiasco, put it under the tap, twisted the knob the other way, and got the hose off. You know, it's a bit harder than it sounds to twist the wrench and hold the bowl under the tap at the same time, and get the hose off. Glad I'm not a plumber!

With the hose unplugged from the tap I can see an itty bitty little plastic piece that will turn. Hoping I've turned it the right way, I reconnected the hose to the tap and restarted the machine. No error. OK, fine. 

After a few minutes I realized that yep, it's all good. Whew!

I realized that all the above really made me nervous. I guess deep-down I still have some worries that I can do all the things needed to have a house of my own without someone knowledgeable around. But, there's always the instruction manual, and google. And if those don't work I can hire someone.

And I still remember that having a guy around is not always proof that something will get fixed. My dad was the perennial ignorer of things he didn't feel like fixing. One time, the lights went out in a certain room of the house. Mom told Dad, and as their distribution of knowledge went,  this was clearly a Man Of The House thing.

Dad ignored it. After three days of waiting, Mom called the electric company, sent a repairman out to their place, inserted a new fuse to replace the old one, and gave Dad a hefty call-out bill along with a dirty look for wasting his time. 

We all get the things done, in whatever way we can.

Adventures with water-based appliances

Well, I've been moved in about a half a week and I've started to slowly unpack things.

One really cool thing that the previous owners left for me was a dishwasher! I was really excited about this because I haven't had a dishwasher for probably 6 years or so. So, I bought some dish washing tablets and decided to try it out  this evening.

Before I go any further, lets play a game called "What's wrong with this picture"?

Yes, the cutlery basket is missing. Luckily, a quick google tells me  they are easily replaceable for under $20, so no big deal.

Yesterday I had a bit more of an emergency with my washing machine. So, I hired a removalist (furniture mover) to move my stuff from across  town to my lovely new place. They even hooked up the washing machine for me.

I decided to try out the washer with a small load of clothes. Everything seemed to be going fine until the spin cycle when the washer disperses the dirty water into the laundry sink. I noticed the water was really gray and mucky. And it didn't seem to be going down. I waited until it got perilously close to the top of the sink before I realized that no, it wasn't going to magically sort itself out.

So, I stopped the washer and decided that it was time to bail it out. The bathroom is nearby, so I decided to use an aluminum mixing bowl (since I didn't have a bucket) to bail the water and dump it down the sink in the bathroom. I made two or three trips sloshing water as I went. On the fourth trip my feet flew out from under me, and I landed with a crashing thump on my posterior.

After ascertaining that all parts were still in working order I climbed to my feet and said "well, that was a bad idea". I happened to look in the tub, and the water from the washer was backing up into it. Not good, or so it seemed to me. Being basically clueless in the ways of plumbing.

Meanwhile in the laundry room I still had 3/4 of a sink of mucky water and some drowning clothes in the washer. I found the key to the back porch, got that unlocked and then proceeded, carefully this time, to empty the water out of the laundry sink and pour it off the veranda onto the ground.

Eventually, the laundry sink was as empty as I could get it, but still stopped up. I figured that I could get the water spun out so that I could at least dry my clothes and then I'd deal with the mess. The spin cycle worked, and it only filled the sink half-way. Perhaps things were looking up.

I got the clothes transferred to the dryer, and went to have a sit down and a bit of a think. I called a girl friend and she said "sounds like you have a clog". I thought to myself, of course I've got a clog, I know that!

She then proceeded to tell me all the other things it could be. The most entertaining but scary one was that the grey water outlet that puts the water from the washer and other drains out into the yard could be plugged up with frogs who like to crawl in the drain pipes and then get scalded to death from  the hot water. Poor froggies.

Do plumbers even deal with stuff like that?

Finally I ended my call and went back out to the laundry room, and miraculously the water had drained from both the laundry sink and bathroom tub.

Maybe it was just excess water and gunk from the house sitting unoccupied for two months. I can only hope. Otherwise it's off to call the plumber and hope it's not frogs.

Have you seen my house?

I finally bought a house!

It's hard to believe, but I finally got the country cottage that I've been wanting for years. It's a four bedroom little place on an acre and a half just on the outskirts of town. It's still close to work and all the things, but it is quiet!

There are two porches, one on the front, and one on the back. I've already got an old comfy sofa on the back porch for sitting and pondering.

I'm still in the process of moving the last of my things in, and I'm pretty much living out of boxes. I bought a few emergency items like soap, shampoo, etc because I still haven't packed the bathroom at the old place.

Turns out I bought two bottles of conditioner rather than one  of shampoo. Hello washing hair with a bar of soap. It was rose scented at least!

I had my first "country" adventure today. I went to run out to the shops after work, and when I came back it was pitch black. There are very few street lights and all the houses are set back a ways from the road. I drove past my house, and then had to turn around and drive back slowly before I could find it.

I guess I better buy some solar lights and put them on either side of the gate!

It's not like I can stop at a neighbor's and say "Excuse me, I've misplaced my house. :)