Post by Wolfgang on May 29, 2020 19:16:21 GMT -5
Three valuable lessons for the young'uns: (1) find a smart significant other for your lifetime companion, (2) know where the main water valve is located, and (3) save all hex wrenches.
My wife was taking a shower this morning and suddenly, let out a scream. When I went to her rescue, she (while naked) informed me that she couldn't turn off the shower. The handle was stuck. I checked myself and sure enough, something was wrong with the handle. My wife was still naked. So, I quickly ran to the main water valve1 and turned off the water to the property.
I tried to disassemble the shower handle but there was a hex nut. I looked for all the hex wrenches (see photo below). I needed a 7/64-inch hex wrench. I tried all my hex wrenches but did not have any that fit, i.e., did not have the 7/64-inch wrench.2 I could either run to Home Depot to buy one or I could try to "hack" one instead. I didn't know if it would work but what I did was use the largest possible hex wrench that fit in the hole, wrapped it with aluminum foil, and kind of worked it in there by artificially creating wedges. It worked. Then, I looked inside to figure out what the problem was.
In the meantime, the wife did some quick search on the Internet for the shower head/handle/tub assembly (Moen), the parts inside, the lifetime warranty policy, and found out what you should do if the handle doesn't turn off the water. She discovered through her research that 99% of the time, the source of the problem was a faulty cartridge.3 So, while I was examining inside the wall behind the handle, my wife (now dressed with only a towel) had already figured out via Google what to do.4
So, we drove to Home Depot5 and bought the cartridge. I managed to remove the defective cartridge and plug in the new cartridge rather easily. The wife was sort of furious because she wanted me to watch a youtube video showing how to do this. I told her, "Hey, babe, this ain't my first rodeo."
We saved $$$ by not calling a plumber. We also saved time because my wife is smart. Don't marry someone who is dumb and acts helpless.
So, hope y'all learned some life lessons today.
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1 It's a good idea to know where the main water valve to your property is located and how to operate it.
2 You normally don't have to buy hex wrenches because when you buy something that needs to be assembled, it already comes with hex wrenches by default. So, you should simply gather them and put them in a box somewhere. I've done that but for some reason, the crucial 7/64-inch hex wrench was missing from my box.
3 The use of the term "cartridge" is not very helpful or illuminating. In a variety of fields, it's normally used as a catch-all "thing" that contains a combination of mechanisms that make something work a particular way. For example, ink cartridge for a printer, VHS cassette tape, ROM or RAM cartridge. No one really goes "inside" the cartridge to fix it. Usually, you simply replace a defective cartridge with a new cartridge. It's packaged this way to make the technician's job easier. Plus, the company making the cartridge can: (a) make $$$ from the sale of cartridges, and (b) reap the goodwill benefits that come with making the lives of technicians and home hobbyists easier.
4 I would've eventually found the same solution but my wife was very helpful and sped things up.
5 The wife was fully dressed.
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Hex wrench:
The wife on a beach:
My wife was taking a shower this morning and suddenly, let out a scream. When I went to her rescue, she (while naked) informed me that she couldn't turn off the shower. The handle was stuck. I checked myself and sure enough, something was wrong with the handle. My wife was still naked. So, I quickly ran to the main water valve1 and turned off the water to the property.
I tried to disassemble the shower handle but there was a hex nut. I looked for all the hex wrenches (see photo below). I needed a 7/64-inch hex wrench. I tried all my hex wrenches but did not have any that fit, i.e., did not have the 7/64-inch wrench.2 I could either run to Home Depot to buy one or I could try to "hack" one instead. I didn't know if it would work but what I did was use the largest possible hex wrench that fit in the hole, wrapped it with aluminum foil, and kind of worked it in there by artificially creating wedges. It worked. Then, I looked inside to figure out what the problem was.
In the meantime, the wife did some quick search on the Internet for the shower head/handle/tub assembly (Moen), the parts inside, the lifetime warranty policy, and found out what you should do if the handle doesn't turn off the water. She discovered through her research that 99% of the time, the source of the problem was a faulty cartridge.3 So, while I was examining inside the wall behind the handle, my wife (now dressed with only a towel) had already figured out via Google what to do.4
So, we drove to Home Depot5 and bought the cartridge. I managed to remove the defective cartridge and plug in the new cartridge rather easily. The wife was sort of furious because she wanted me to watch a youtube video showing how to do this. I told her, "Hey, babe, this ain't my first rodeo."
We saved $$$ by not calling a plumber. We also saved time because my wife is smart. Don't marry someone who is dumb and acts helpless.
So, hope y'all learned some life lessons today.
---
1 It's a good idea to know where the main water valve to your property is located and how to operate it.
2 You normally don't have to buy hex wrenches because when you buy something that needs to be assembled, it already comes with hex wrenches by default. So, you should simply gather them and put them in a box somewhere. I've done that but for some reason, the crucial 7/64-inch hex wrench was missing from my box.
3 The use of the term "cartridge" is not very helpful or illuminating. In a variety of fields, it's normally used as a catch-all "thing" that contains a combination of mechanisms that make something work a particular way. For example, ink cartridge for a printer, VHS cassette tape, ROM or RAM cartridge. No one really goes "inside" the cartridge to fix it. Usually, you simply replace a defective cartridge with a new cartridge. It's packaged this way to make the technician's job easier. Plus, the company making the cartridge can: (a) make $$$ from the sale of cartridges, and (b) reap the goodwill benefits that come with making the lives of technicians and home hobbyists easier.
4 I would've eventually found the same solution but my wife was very helpful and sped things up.
5 The wife was fully dressed.
----
Hex wrench:
The wife on a beach: