I Got Soaked

This a soliloquy about a rather catastrophic day in my earlier days of renewing Water Heaters.

Young Ian Thompson (Me) was eager to please and ready to get his business off the ground. As a crafty lad, he could problem-solve on the spot which led to great customer retention and satisfaction. This day he just had to slow down to realize the implications of his ideas. (Authors Note: It wasn’t bad at all excuse the drama).

One of the major things we require to perform our Crystal Clear service is needing to be able to shut OFF the Cold Water Valve at the inlet to the Water Heater. This is a hard rule now, thanks to Ian. Back to the story!

All set up at the client’s house, Ian was eager to perform the service quickly because the homeowner had to pick up his kids soon. Failure was not an option. Enter the frozen, open Cold Water valve that he didn’t check until now. Dang! Well, Ian had an idea, what if he shut off the Well Pump, and drained the water pressure from the pipes? Should work right? No.

By shutting the inlet valve as we perform our service we create a hydro-lock so when we remove the drain valve from the tank to initiate the service, little water drips out. In this case, even though the water was not pressurized by the pump, by draining the pipes we introduced air into the system, meaning no hydro-lock holding the water in.

Ian found this out as he finished unscrewing the drain valve and water came blasting out! Quickly he was able to install the tool and finished the service! Luckily, the service itself takes little time so Ian could spend considerable time cleaning and drying the client’s basement. It was unfinished and just got a bit wet, the client hardly minded as he was much more interested in the amount of sediment and junk that was removed from his tank. Ian learned a few lessons that day and returned to his truck slightly damp but happy. Another Water Heater was rescued, and more notes were added to the service journal. Sorry again Rob!