Water. The Saga. Part 3: Maybe Some in the Kitchen?

Water and me seem to be fighting. The various water systems in the camper just don't seem to want to stay working for me... which is making my life interesting, to say the least.

While getting ready to go to the man's house last week for an impromptu sick childcare visit (and it turns out both the child and myself ended up uber sick, so interpret that phrase however you'd like), I was rummaging around in the storage space under the sink for cake making supplies. (sadly, I never got to make the cake I wanted to make.... it will be sprung on the man at a future, as of yet undetermined, date) I got what I needed and as I was packing up I kept hearing a dripping noise. And not a drip.....drip....drip..... noise. A fast dripping noise. I was in a hurry to get out as it was getting late and I really didn't relish the thought of driving for 3 hours at a later time that night, so cursing all things aquatic I shut off the water heater (that I had FINALLY gotten to stay lit not 2 days before...) and shut off the water and left. Had I NOT rummaged around for stuff under there, I would never have unintentionally moved a metal bowl to where I did, the water would never have hit it making a racket, and I would not have noticed the leak for a very long time. And who knows what damage would have happened.

For the record, I said a little prayer/chant to the water heater before I turned it off.

Upon my getting home almost a week later, I knew I wasn't going to be able to get up under the sink to fix something by myself. To my credit, I really could have spent several days figuring it out and getting SOMETHING going, but I figured the man could do it in a fraction of the time that I could. So I waited for him to get here.

Once he took a gander at it, he decided the whole faucet was shot and needed to be replaced. Easy enough.

Exiled to the outside while it gets a new mate. The dirty dishes are to help make it feel more at home.

Damn copper pipe. Looking so innocent. Asshattery is at hand. Meanwhile, the avocados look on in disbelief.

Off we went to Lowe's, where we purchased the relevant parts to put in a new kitchen faucet and shut-off valves to both the hot and the cold water.

We ran into airstream being extremely out there in their choice of materials, yet again. I'm not going to get in to the whole story, but suffice it to say that "3/8 inch" could evidently mean a variety of sizes. The poor man took a bunch of time to get everything resized to fit, only to find it was leaking slightly. (Oh. And this involved a second trip to Lowe's). At which point we decided to ditch doing things the right way, and just get the damn thing plumbed. We set out for WalMart (the only thing open at 9:45 at night around here) and managed to stop at a gas station half way there and acquire the hose clamps we were seeking. Home to connect the flexible hosing to the copper pipes by hose clamp, and turn on the water heater.

He can do anything. And look good doing it.

The man did have a stroke of genius, even for him. Need to bore out the inside of a copper ring? Chainsaw file + power drill = awesome.

 All Mike wanted was a shower.

All he got was the water heater REFUSING to stay lit. Did this surprise me? I wish I could say yes, but alas at that point it was pretty par for the course.

Several trips outside late at night, in the dark and in the mud, to check the thing later he got it to stay lit.

And I have a new kitchen faucet with hot AND cold running water.

For now.

Doesn't it kind of look like it wants to fly away from the evil water system?