After years of work and still more work to be done, It was time to begin packing and taking things up to our house. This first official weekend of building meant getting the solar panel batteries back up to the property and plugged in. We couldn’t get our back up system working before we had to step away. Jer and I decided it would be better to bring them to where we could keep them charged and out of the cold.
First off, it was a rainy day. Not a great day to begin moving things but we did our best. The back tarp sprung four holes where the wicker table legs were sticking up. So much fun. We hustled to just get things on the deck and undercover. Jer did most of it, due to how heavy most of the tubs and boxes were.
My job was to get the fire going in the woodstove while Jer hooked up the power. When a house has sat freezing cold for months it takes around eighteen hours for everything to fully heat up. The beep of appliances sounded and our motion senser lights lit up announcing we had power. Yay!
Jer then moved to turn on the water. Almost instantly we knew something wasn’t right. We have one six-inch interior wall where most of our water and drains are plumbed. The sound of water spraying and puddling made our hearts sink. Even after Jer turned it off, it continued.
There were two problems. One, the hot water was leaking on our tankless water heater, now a puddle on the floor, but worse was the sound in the wall. Both Jer and I imagined having to tear into our now finished sheet rock wall to find the leak. Jer checked under the house and found a big puddle of water near the corner of the kitchen.
An investigation ensued, starting with pulling out the refrigerator. I told Jer I thought I heard it behind the oven and over in the very corner of the kitchen. The range came out next. No water behind the fridge or range but the outlet was wet. Strange. The top of our counter, which is still plywood, was wet. Stranger. We couldn’t find water anywhere.
Time to try testing the water again. Jer watched and listened for any water leaks while I barely turned the water on. He quickly yells, “Turn it off.” Our leak was found, a tiny pin-hole in the tube of our ice maker had shot water on the side of the range and up and over the counter top making it wet. What a relief. At least our water pressure is good and the leak a minor fix.
While we did spend the weekend without hot water, at least we had the warmth from the fire. And four of the five boxes I brought up were unpacked. Three cheers for a happy ending!
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