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Saturday, February 11, 2012

Water torture

My lovely wife and I are staying at my dad’s place in Florida. He pays a monthly fee to the park. Unmetered water is included in the basic fee. When we got here, the toilet in the spare bathroom constantly leaked water down the drain. The water level dropped then the valve would open, filling up the toilet tank again -over and over and over . . .


Dad had it as a pretty low priority. Eventually, he wanted to change the whole toilet. Since the water was free, it didn’t bother him.

The sound of constantly running water drove me nuts. At home, running water like that would be a big problem. A leaky toilet can put too much water into a septic system, causing it to fail. My water comes from a well and is pumped into the house. Constant water flow stresses the well, the pump and the solar electric system that powers the pump.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and went down to the hardware store. Replacing the innards of the toilet took about 15 minutes and 17 dollars. Well worth it for my personal peace of mind.

-Sixbears

7 comments:

  1. Beautiful illustration of how people do not appreciate that which they do not directly pay for. I am sure that your Dad is not normally wasteful, but human nature is funny that way.

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  2. He's frugal. The water was free and fixing it costs money. The water lost cost more than the fix, but it wasn't coming out of his pocket.

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  3. It's good for all concerned that you were there to accomplish the task. My Dad would often put things off because his skill level wasn't what it used to be. One of the first things he mentioned when living with us is, "I don't have responsibility for all that stuff any more."

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  4. Dad did ask me where I found the parts -as if he didn't know.

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  5. It was good of you fixing the toilet. Look around, maybe you can find some more things to fix for him. I'm sure he would appreciate it.

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  6. Yeah that would drive me nuts too!

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