Anybody want some snow?
And yes, that green thing in the middle that's poking through is my paper box. Four inches more and you wouldn't see it.
Forum Discussion
And now nearly all of the snow has melted, plus it's been raining, and my folks have no hot water because their basement is flooded and the water has gotten high enough to submerge the burner in their water heater. SMH.
They've always had issues with water in their basement during heavy rains and snow melts, and the water heater is up on a small stand because of it. This flooding is terrible, though. More than a foot and a half deep. Over the tops of our barn boots. Ugh.
Unfortunately, it's a very old farmhouse, and the basement floor, though concrete, is uneven. It does have a drain near one corner, but it's the corner that's the highest, of course. LOL. They REALLY need a sump pump, or at least a utility pump that sits on the floor that they can plug in when they need to. My basement has a pedestal type sump pump, and it's been working overtime over the last couple of days.
That's awful, Gabe. They definitely need a sump pump.
Gabe,
Oh my!! I definitely do not miss snow, although it is nice to visit once in a blue moon. lol
*Felicia*
Before I retired I used to panic when it snowed, especially since I had to drive from Southern Fauquier to the Dulles area. I drive a Mustang GT, which is American for 'snow sled'.
Nowadays I look at it as exercise. I go out there even if there's a bit more than a dusting to shovel away.
" I drive a Mustang GT, which is American for 'snow sled'."
LOL. What fun on snowy hills this must be.
Luckily, the water had receded enough that I was able to get their water heater going again. It's a newer type with a piezo ignitor, and it's an enclosed (to easy access) burner chamber, which means it takes a lot to be able to open it up to see the burner and all.
I took a few tries, but it lit, and it seemed like it was doing fine. The burner then went off and the blinking light on the control that lets you know that the pilot is lit stopped blinking. Stupid me, I didn't wait very long and I tried to light it again. After a few tries, and after gas was evidently pooling inside the chamber, I darn near blew myself up. A flame shot out from around the access seal, and it blew the flue collector off the top. Luckily it didn't go anywhere as it's screwed to the flue pipe, but it detached from the top. I had to re-seat it.
Call me old fashioned, but I like simple, pilot lit water heaters with an access door that is easy to remove so one can inspect the burner chamber. Not practically sealed chambers that take removing screws, wires, the gas line and pilot gas line from the gas valve in order to gain the same access.
Years ago I had a customer with a no heat issue with their oil boiler. They told me that they only hit the burner reset button one time, which is a warning clearly written on the burner control (Only press reset button one time). I changed the filter, strainer and nozzle and blew out the oil line, as they had just gotten fuel, which stirred up dirt in the old tank and caused the problem in the first place. It sucked up nasty, dirty oil, which fouled those three things I changed.
Anyway, I bled the air out of the fuel line system and started it up. Everything seemed fine until the thing started rumbling and just about dancing on the floor. Smoke started to come out of it. I turned the burner off and closed all air access, including wrapping rags around the air intake on the burner to try to starve the fire to get it out, but it didn't stop.
It turns out that the homeowner had lied, even after I told him the importance of telling me how many times he hit the reset button. He had hit it over and over and over again, loading the burner chamber with a ton of oil. SMH. Needless to say, I ended up calling the fire department as I couldn't stop it. His boiler was ruined and his half finished basement was covered in soot. Think copier or printer toner all over everything. He certainly paid for that mistake. SMH.
The flame shooting out tonight reminded me of that. But, it's up and running now, and they have hot water again. :)
Glad everyone's safe. When you start talking gas lines and pilots combined with flooding, the pilots go out and bubble up through the water... that's just bad news waiting to happen. Bunch of houses blew up in Mass. just recently on gas explosions.
