7 Days Without Hot Water
You know how people say “you don’t know what you’ve had until it’s gone?”. Well, I lost something that I know now has much significance in my life. Judging by the post title I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure what that something was.
So it went a little something like this. I hop in the shower one night and let the water pressure start kicking in. Usually about less than a minute in, the water will then have passed through the water heater thus providing me with the hot warming “ooo ahh” sensation we are all accustomed to. 5 minutes into the shower I get frustrated and hop out. I check the gas water heater to see a little blue flame which looks like it’s about to extinguish. So like any man would do, I try to fix issue. And like most men, my arrogance causes me a separate issue. What I tried to do was to turn off the flame and ignite it again. Seemed simple enough, but the damn flame would not light. Half naked, cold, and irritated at this point, I threw on some clothes and saved the issue for later.
The next day I try jump starting the heater again. No results. Hong Kong weather was dropping at this time so fixing the heater became priority. Made an appointment with the gas company to check it out, but it wouldn’t be until the next morning. Well I still needed to shower, so I manned up and took on the cold water. Worst fucking decision. I found myself shouting profanities, panting, and reaching pitches in my voice I never thought I could hit. Not wanting to go through that excruciating process again, I came up with an alternate solution. As an Engineer, that’s what my degree entitles me to do. Solution: Take two small buckets, one larger than the other (shown above).
Heat up some water using an electric boiler. 3.4L should be sufficient.
Fill the larger bucket with the 3.4L of hot water and add cold water until lukewarm. The smaller bucket will be used as a scoop to pour the water over the body and delicate areas. And that’s it, damn I’m good.
The gas guy came the next morning and couldn’t get it working either. He said buying a new heater would be more economical than replacing parts on a 15 year old heater. I agreed and then he killed me by saying that the company wouldn’t sell or install the new heater. Apparently the gas exhaust escapes through the 1st floor where residents live, so they didn’t want to be held responsible if anything happens. Another day without hot water…
A few calls were made and found another company who could care less about someone’s well-being and agreed to do the install. However, they had to send a guy to check what model could fit. Another day without hot water… The guy did his checks the next morning and said it was no problem to find a fitting model. Great! So I picked one out within budget, but they didn’t have it in stock. Waited another 3 days before the sucker was finally put in. My god, a shower never felt better.
