This is why I can't have nice things

[james_davis_nicoll]

Bus went missing. A bunch of us at the Stanley Park Mall split on a cab. That got me a few blocks from my place. Slog home, put a snack in the microwave, the power dies before I can hit on. I put the frozen snack back in the freezer, wait the power cut out. Power comes back on. I turn on the microwave.

White smoke comes out. See, I forgot to put the food back in before turning the microwave back on....

Fuck fuck fuck.

At least I didn't burn the house down.

Well, I know what my next major purchase is....

Any recommendations for cheap, reliable brands of microwave ovens?

Comments

for all that is holy

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

kithrup, what did you do? did it break the intake pipe?

that is extravagant* for plumbing.

*even in a 1912 house. where if something breaks it's pretty damned stupid.)

Re: for all that is holy

[kithrup.livejournal.com]

Old faucet. (I don't know if I'm using the right term -- the thing to turn the water on.) In this case, it was a very old plastic and metal thing, which you pulled out to turn on, and pushed to turn off. The cleaning people came, turned it on to clean out the shower stall, and... it wouldn't turn off.

The plumber had to cut off the tile, cut through the wall to get access to the pipes, cut through both pipes to replace the unit, and then install the new one. (He also replaced the shower head, but I think that was because it came with the faucet part at the hardware store.) The shower does not have a separate shut-off valve, and there was no other access to it other than through a wall.

This took 5-6 hours. I'm not pleased with the cost, not by a long shot, but for "oh crap the water has to stop NOW," I don't believe I was ripped off. If I'd been able to plan its replacement better, and hire a handyman, it probably would have been quite a bit less.

The part that I do hate is that I'd been thinking of replacing it for a while (I absolutely hated the old one, it was too hard to use), but I just put it off a bit too long.

Re: for all that is holy

[brooksmoses]

Does the shower now have a cut-off valve with an access panel in the cut-through wall, I hope?

Re: for all that is holy

[derekl1963.livejournal.com]

I've never heard of anyone providing a backup shutoff valve for any faucet in a house. But it *is* best practice to ensure that showers and tubs back up against an adjacent room so they can be accessed at need from the back through the drywall rather than from the front through the tile or fiberglass.

Re: for all that is holy

[brooksmoses]

I'm not sure what you mean by "backup"; every faucet I've ever seen in halfway-well-constructed houses has the control valve that you actually use in normal use, and a shutoff valve before it so you can replace washers in the control valve or whatever. kithrup was saying that his had no shutoff valve at all, aside from presumably the one for the whole house's water supply; thus the problem in replacing the control valve. So I was hoping one was added.

(Edit: Hmm, actually, I may just be thinking about kitchen/bathroom sink faucets, where the shutoff valve is easily accessible below the sink. I'm not sure whether many of the other houses I've been in have had shutoff valves for tub/shower faucets or not.)

The house my parents built (well, designed and general-contracted for and had other people build, mostly) actually had the showers backing up against a partition wall within the bathroom, and they put in plywood access panels in those walls so you merely had to unscrew them rather than chopping up the drywall, and the shutoff valve was behind that. Very convenient, and I'd forgotten that that arrangement of things was unusual.

Re: for all that is holy

[derekl1963.livejournal.com]

Yes, you're thinking of sink faucets. Shower and tub faucets almost never have separate shutoff valves - just the control valves.

Re: for all that is holy

[movingfinger.livejournal.com]

That exact same thing happened to my mom. In the construction of houses of a certain era, apparently no one thought the shower would ever need maintenance and those craftsmen and contractors were awesome mud-bed tilers. Sigh.

Re: for all that is holy

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

I have a 1912 house but the main useage bathroom on the second floor is a total remodel. Not a great one, but a remodel. There is a hole with a built-in (well, two drywall screws worth built-in) bookcase behind it, covering all the pertinent plumbing parts for the tub/shower.

Just after we moved in I needed some kind of service to the first floor bathroom toilet. Plumber accidentally broke that intake pipe. However it was just in the basement and had direct access. He installed new pipe and a new turn-off valve, it wasn't as costly because all the crap is accessible. But that bathroom,.. we need to redo the tub plumbing and that will take pulling off paneling in a stairwell. yikes.