Drip, drip, drip!
Upon check-out a guest informed me that the sink in her room drained slowly and she could hear a ‘drip, drip, drip’ from the toilet. After an entire night of ‘drip, drip, drip’, she joked that she was getting sea sick.
I apologized profusely and since she is a regular guest, I offered a free night on her next trip. I also let her know that I would fix both plumbing issues right away.
“Right away” is NOT the way it turned out!
After gathering all the tools necessary from the workshop I first tackled the ‘slow’ drain. Easy: uncouple the stopper and push the ‘snake’ down the drain while rotating the handle. Twenty minutes later, sweating profusely and with fifteen feet of ‘snake’ down the drain – I discovered it was still blocked! I tried the ‘big snake’ – 20 feet and after an hour of battling the drain, I gave up and called the plumber!
Next, onto the ‘drip, drip, drip’. I popped off the toilet tank cover, flushed the toilet and it appeared that everything worked fine. There was no leak from the tank to the toilet bowl. I went back to the sink to see how the plumber was progressing. And that’s when I heard it – drip, drip, drip!
I listened again – nothing. Then I noticed a small drip from the infill valve. There was a leak INSIDE the valve rubber seal. Perhaps some sediment, I thought. No problem. Within a few minutes I was able to turn off the water, remove the valve, pull it apart, clean the seal, place it back into the tank and, voilà, no more dripping. Yea! A good piece of investigative maintenance.
As I was packing up my tools, I noticed that the tank was not quite square to the wall. Off perhaps by ¼ of an inch. No problem. I turned the tank just a little to straighten it out and suddenly water began to pour like Buttermilk Falls. I had broken the rubber gasket between the tank and the bowl! Yikes, what a mess. Two hours later, after a trip to town for a new gasket it was finally finished.
Two little problems took over 3 hours of labor, lots of perspiration (it was a hot day) and a $240 bill from the plumber. Now that’s “true inn keeping.”
Until next time,
Laurence
Photo: Echo Lake Inn
Laurence
