Some days off are better than others.

It has actually been happening a while, but like the technique of turning up the car radio so I don't hear the ping in the engine, I hoped if I ignored it - it would go away.  Hopefully when the bank account looks a little better we could remedy the problem then.  So with chagrin I acknowledged the leak coming from the fridge.

The immediate solution used to be to call the repairman.  Or repair woman for that matter.  But this time I went straight to the computer and looked up what was going on.  Yes, others had had the same problem with their Maytag refrigerator.  Turns out that if the temperature is too cold; which it was.  And if it is leaking from the ice maker; which it did.  That all could be solved by unplugging the electricity and letting everything inside defrost.  Ta da!

So the fridge was melting away and I took this opportunity to clean up behind the refrigerator and get everything okie-dokey.  All was good until about six hours in and then pop- fizz- bang- and slush.  A jet of water poured out from behind the ice box as the hose which lead to the ice maker.  As the water gushed out Marla and I took turns filling up the 18 Ltr. water bottle until we could figure something out.  My inspiration was to run the water into a garden hose and send it all out into the back yard.  That being done, Marla held a firm grip on the join until I could call the plumber from Mr. Rooter (we have a service contract with them).

It was a two hour wait until the plumber would come so I set out to clean up the access to the waterlines for him.  Now you may ask "why didn't you just shut off the water?"  For some silly reason there was no shut off valve for the waterline to the fridge.  So why not shut off the water to the house so that Marla was not left 'holding the hose'.    Well in our 1950's house, there have been a few additions over the years.  One of those additions ended up encasing the water's lead line to the house over a meter and a half under the house in the crawl space, behind a wooden wall.  there was no way for me to reach it.

Our plumber guy was very good.  Fast friendly and was really good at telling us what we needed and what we didn't need.  He gave me good news that he could take care of us even in the evening.  But he also gave me bad news that the pipes in our kitchen's cold water were made of galvanized steel.  That means they have been building up junk like hardening of the arteries.

So once the plumber came we set out to accomplish at least two things.  First was to relocated the shut off valve where a human could reach it.  Second was to put in a for real shut off valve for the ice maker.  Along the was we decided to install a regulator in the waterline to protect the plumbing pipes and repair the sink's taps.  The latter was on one my household to do lists but I couldn't do it without shutting the water off.  So that is another thing off my list.

All total my day off ended costing us $750.  But a lot of really good things were done.  Oh, one thing remaining - the ice maker works but the thing still leaks.  So now we need to call a service man - or service person.