Under the category: Why didn't I do this before?
Crossword Puzzle: 5 Down: "Hard water" (3 letters)
A wise guy told me, "Make hay while the sun shines", a corollary is, "Put up rain gutters in dry weather".
Some times here in North Texas we go a whole winter without getting snow or ice. But some times we do get snow and or ice. When we get rain in freezing weather it should be no mystery as to what happens to the water on the ground. Yeah it gets hard. What is a 3-letter word for "hard water", it is "i-c-e". Due to a very poor design by the home builder, when it rains during freezing weather, the water that runs off of my garage roof and drains right onto the fan unit of my HVAC system. The ice that forms sometimes around the fan, either freezes it solid (which means I have de-ice it with hot water from a tea kettle), or it builds up on the fan blades, so that when the thermostat tells the unit to start up, the built up ice is flung off the blades with a violent sound of crashing. A crushing rattle that jolts me from my sleep inside my bedroom on the other side of the wall. At this point my options are limited; my white-trash fix-it solution is to cover the top of the fan with a piece of plywood and then place a segment of a rain gutter on top of the wood to keep the water from pouring into the unit and freezing up again. I always say, "Mark, once it warms up. you got to get a permanent solution to this redneck rigging." Ah, but when it is a warm Texas spring day, the need to put up a rain gutter does not seem to be the most pressing need.
So it is a new year. But like so many Januaries before; it rains, it freezes and I find myself storming out of my warm bed, thinly clad in my skivvies, sloshing barefooted through the sodden sod and around the woodpile to throw a piece of plywood to cover the top of the HVAC fan unit while the rain comes down.
Mid-January, 2015 we had a mild spell. I had an inspiration. Do the damned gutter and drain - NOW! I already had a few rain gutter piece from an earlier inspiration, so I measured the eaves, calculated the length of additional gutter plus hangers, seam sealant etc. I fit all the pieces together on a balmy weekend afternoon, then I climbed off the roof and stood looking up at the eaves like a bedazzled fool. Why didn't I do this before?
Rain was in the forecast for the coming days. I took the wife out for dinner, the windshield wipers were pounding out a satisfying rhythm as we pulled into the neighborhood. The automatic garage door opener did its job, and we pulled up the driveway and into a dry garage. I parked as my sweetheart retired to the house. But instead of going inside, I just had to go stand out in the rain and watch and listen as the water trickled down the gutter and out the drain pipe. I stood in the rainy darkness, watching and listening for a long time. I must have looked like a fool, but I wasn't concerned, because I felt real good as the water flowed out around my feet - and not on my HVAC fan.
As 'Coolhand Luke" would sing, "I don't care if rains or freezes..."
*******************
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Dwayne.
Dwayne who?
Dwayne the water off the roof, the HVAC is dwowning!
Crossword Puzzle: 5 Down: "Hard water" (3 letters)
A wise guy told me, "Make hay while the sun shines", a corollary is, "Put up rain gutters in dry weather".
Some times here in North Texas we go a whole winter without getting snow or ice. But some times we do get snow and or ice. When we get rain in freezing weather it should be no mystery as to what happens to the water on the ground. Yeah it gets hard. What is a 3-letter word for "hard water", it is "i-c-e". Due to a very poor design by the home builder, when it rains during freezing weather, the water that runs off of my garage roof and drains right onto the fan unit of my HVAC system. The ice that forms sometimes around the fan, either freezes it solid (which means I have de-ice it with hot water from a tea kettle), or it builds up on the fan blades, so that when the thermostat tells the unit to start up, the built up ice is flung off the blades with a violent sound of crashing. A crushing rattle that jolts me from my sleep inside my bedroom on the other side of the wall. At this point my options are limited; my white-trash fix-it solution is to cover the top of the fan with a piece of plywood and then place a segment of a rain gutter on top of the wood to keep the water from pouring into the unit and freezing up again. I always say, "Mark, once it warms up. you got to get a permanent solution to this redneck rigging." Ah, but when it is a warm Texas spring day, the need to put up a rain gutter does not seem to be the most pressing need.
So it is a new year. But like so many Januaries before; it rains, it freezes and I find myself storming out of my warm bed, thinly clad in my skivvies, sloshing barefooted through the sodden sod and around the woodpile to throw a piece of plywood to cover the top of the HVAC fan unit while the rain comes down.
Mid-January, 2015 we had a mild spell. I had an inspiration. Do the damned gutter and drain - NOW! I already had a few rain gutter piece from an earlier inspiration, so I measured the eaves, calculated the length of additional gutter plus hangers, seam sealant etc. I fit all the pieces together on a balmy weekend afternoon, then I climbed off the roof and stood looking up at the eaves like a bedazzled fool. Why didn't I do this before?
Rain was in the forecast for the coming days. I took the wife out for dinner, the windshield wipers were pounding out a satisfying rhythm as we pulled into the neighborhood. The automatic garage door opener did its job, and we pulled up the driveway and into a dry garage. I parked as my sweetheart retired to the house. But instead of going inside, I just had to go stand out in the rain and watch and listen as the water trickled down the gutter and out the drain pipe. I stood in the rainy darkness, watching and listening for a long time. I must have looked like a fool, but I wasn't concerned, because I felt real good as the water flowed out around my feet - and not on my HVAC fan.
As 'Coolhand Luke" would sing, "I don't care if rains or freezes..."
*******************
Knock, Knock
Who's there?
Dwayne.
Dwayne who?
Dwayne the water off the roof, the HVAC is dwowning!
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