sleeper
Member
Ok, so the story behind my new RO/DI unit. I'm sure some of you will find it entertaining.
I order the unit last Monday. It's slated for delivery Friday (nov 11). I know nothing about plumbing. Even though the package is not marked as fragile, or as a sign-only package, the UPS guy, who happens to come 5 minutes after I leave to see my father's game (he's a college basketball coach and his team was playing in my area), decides he's gonna hold the package and deliver it Monday (Nov 14).
So now, a week into the fiasco, I ask my unemployed artist roommate to wait around for the package. He waits around - til about noon, when he gets hungry and decides to go to the Tombs (the local restaurant/BAR) for SIX HOURS. Happily, I wrote a longwinded note to the UPS guy and stuck it on the front door just in case. So, I get home, and there it is! Yay! Only, problem is, I have to go pick my girlfriend up from the airport Monday night. No big deal, of course, but it means I've got at least another day before I can replace water that has evaporated so much the current maker is actually rippling the surface.
Ok, ok, SO. Tuesday comes. I "work from home" Tuesday morning to a) get my hair cut and b) install this device. A) Khan, my barber, has for some reason unbeknownst to me closed his shop on Tuesday morning. B) I get home, frustrated, and use my complete lack of plumbing expertise to turn off the cold water source and then unscrew the little bolt that leads from the sink's soft pipe to the wall. So far, so easy. I go to insert the adaptor and wham—it won't close over the screw. It turns out that the piece is probably about 40 years old and has this iold-school "nub" blocking it from fitting into the adaptor.
Ok, ok, I think, I've got to find a replacement piece. I replace the pieces I had disassembled, and annoyed, go to work. After work I go to the hardware store. They sell me a replacement soft pipe for $12 that has all the right-sized nuts and lugs.
Great, I think.
I go home, try to unscrew the big fat lug that connects the TOP of the soft pipe to the sink, and (that was Wed.) as many of my friends heard me very loudly vocalize, I didn't have the right sized monkey wrench.
Ok, ok, now I'm getting frustrated. So I go in to work yesterday and ask my boss, of all people, whether we have any monkey wrenches. "Indeed we do," he says, including a big ole one intended specifically for plumbing. This is extra notable since I write for a magazine. It's not like we're in the manufacturing industry or something. "Yay," I think, go upstairs and get it. The thing is 14". For context, think of the typical 6" one you get in most starter tool kits. It's literally twice as big plus two inches. "Ok, this will work," I say to myself… Oh, no. No no no no no, no, no.
I order the unit last Monday. It's slated for delivery Friday (nov 11). I know nothing about plumbing. Even though the package is not marked as fragile, or as a sign-only package, the UPS guy, who happens to come 5 minutes after I leave to see my father's game (he's a college basketball coach and his team was playing in my area), decides he's gonna hold the package and deliver it Monday (Nov 14).
So now, a week into the fiasco, I ask my unemployed artist roommate to wait around for the package. He waits around - til about noon, when he gets hungry and decides to go to the Tombs (the local restaurant/BAR) for SIX HOURS. Happily, I wrote a longwinded note to the UPS guy and stuck it on the front door just in case. So, I get home, and there it is! Yay! Only, problem is, I have to go pick my girlfriend up from the airport Monday night. No big deal, of course, but it means I've got at least another day before I can replace water that has evaporated so much the current maker is actually rippling the surface.
Ok, ok, SO. Tuesday comes. I "work from home" Tuesday morning to a) get my hair cut and b) install this device. A) Khan, my barber, has for some reason unbeknownst to me closed his shop on Tuesday morning. B) I get home, frustrated, and use my complete lack of plumbing expertise to turn off the cold water source and then unscrew the little bolt that leads from the sink's soft pipe to the wall. So far, so easy. I go to insert the adaptor and wham—it won't close over the screw. It turns out that the piece is probably about 40 years old and has this iold-school "nub" blocking it from fitting into the adaptor.
Ok, ok, I think, I've got to find a replacement piece. I replace the pieces I had disassembled, and annoyed, go to work. After work I go to the hardware store. They sell me a replacement soft pipe for $12 that has all the right-sized nuts and lugs.
Great, I think.
I go home, try to unscrew the big fat lug that connects the TOP of the soft pipe to the sink, and (that was Wed.) as many of my friends heard me very loudly vocalize, I didn't have the right sized monkey wrench.
Ok, ok, now I'm getting frustrated. So I go in to work yesterday and ask my boss, of all people, whether we have any monkey wrenches. "Indeed we do," he says, including a big ole one intended specifically for plumbing. This is extra notable since I write for a magazine. It's not like we're in the manufacturing industry or something. "Yay," I think, go upstairs and get it. The thing is 14". For context, think of the typical 6" one you get in most starter tool kits. It's literally twice as big plus two inches. "Ok, this will work," I say to myself… Oh, no. No no no no no, no, no.
