I received two frantic phone calls in less than 12 hours several days ago. Both calls were about plumbing emergencies. The one young woman was so flustered she hung up on me the instant she discovered my Google Maps listing was about drawing plumbing plans, not doing plumbing service calls.
I speculated a pipe had burst and water was flooding her home once the line went dead.The second call was from the young woman who attends my church. I’ve shared other tales about her home-repair challenges in past columns.
This time the hot water in her home would only last for 10 seconds. Ice-cold water would then flow from the faucets and shower head. The last thing anyone wants in New Hampshire is to take a cold shower in February.
I asked her to send me a photo of her boiler room so I could start to diagnose the issue without a house call. I saw a pesky mixing valve in the photo. These valves blend cold water with the scalding hot water produced by the boiler.
Without one, your skin would look like a lobster in a cooking pot. Second-degree burns would follow in minutes. Mixing valves malfunction if they’re not exercised on a regular basis.
The young woman admitted she was pretty much clueless as to how all the plumbing worked in her home. I shared that the fix was easy, and she breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought she might need a new boiler.
Once the emergency was over, I pondered how these two calls could save millions of dollars if everybody reading this column could get up .
