Hot Water and DVD Players

I believe that I can boil down 90% of the frustrations I have had in China IN FOUR YEARS to HOT WATER and DVD PLAYERS. We are on our 4th DVD Player and 2nd Water Heater, waiting to see if we need a 3rd Water Heater. For those of you not in the know (i.e. had to listen to me complain about this already), this past week our brand new water heater (replaced in October) is not working. Allow me to recap...


Started Tuesday night around 9 p.m. when Tom went to finish washing some dishes he had started earlier (I know, that is awesome isn't it?). Ran the hot water, but alas, only cold water! He went out with the flashlight and had to relight the pilot. He thought it might have just been windy.  


On Wednesday morning, Tom had to relight at 6:00 a.m. and then wait 30 minutes for lukewarm water. After he showered and before he left for work he checked the hot water again and it was out. So he relight again and told me to hustle into the shower while the water was still warm. I took a pretty cold shower that day. Taking cold or lukewarm showers is an art that our family has had to perfect during previous episodes of the NO HOT WATER FOR SEVERAL DAYS show that seems to be broadcast several times a year in our home. Wednesday, we had the Vizcaya Management Office (they have responsibility for repair) come 4 times. And early afternoon I totally lost my cool...


Now allow me to digress to explain to anyone who does not live here nor has visited that ANY TYPE OF PLUMBING PROBLEM is cause for major concern. There is so little REAL experience with it that you rarely have a repairman that has ever even SEEN a hot water heater let alone fixed one. Combine that lack of experience with a cultural quirk that requires a Chinese repairman to assume the tenant caused the problem with magical powers and you can be assured that these types of repairs will take days if NOT weeks to  get resolved.


The first trip the Vizcaya repairman made on Wednesday morning at 11:00 a.m. resulted in him relighting and telling me/Ayi that it was the wind blowing the pilot out. (Note that we have a new water heater and it has a wooden shed around it and a small wooden "cover" that sits in front of the pilot to prevent wind from blowing it out). He also told us that the temperature on the heater was too low and insisted that whoever had lit the pilot must have moved it (his attempt to accuse the tenant of using magical powers to screw something up!) Whatever. I checked the pilot every 30 minutes and it was out by 12:00 p.m. I called him back. We (had to use Ayi to translate as I was quickly running out of Mandarin) told him the problem was NOT wind and he needed to call a REAL repairman. He started insisting it was the wind. He lit it and left. Dammit.  1:30 p.m.  the pilot was out AGAIN.  Ayi called the Management and told them we did NOT want a Vizcaya repairman, we wanted them to call a REAL repairman. They hung up on her. Vizcaya repairman came at 1:50 pm. This time I stood outside and Ayi and I argued with him. He actually opened the shed and was showing me how the wind magically wrapped around these little gaps in the shed wall and the pilot cover and was blowing the pilot out. His suggestion was that we hire someone to come build a better cover to keep the wind out. 


It was at this point that my anger, typically kept in check due to the hilarity of the situation, rose up and grabbed a hold of my brain. I started yelling English obscenities at him. I kept asking him WHY the wind was blowing it out when it WASN'T EVEN WINDY! And WHY we wouldn't just call a REAL REPAIRMEN (I actually asked for a NOT FAKE repairman as I could not remember the word for real in Mandarin). I took the silly piece of cardboard he was trying to wrap around the pilot cover and tossed it on the steps. During my rant, he refused to make eye contact and just kept talking over me like I was not speaking. In reality, I think I was freaking him out. At some point, I think I realized that there was NOTHING I could say to get this repairman to do what I was saying. I felt my anger flow into my arms and I actually considered, no fantasized about pushing him down the step he was standing on. I actually raised my arms, hands in tight fists, and leaned slightly forward to get a better angle to ensure my shove would have enough energy behind it. I now understand the metaphor "seeing red". Luckily it quickly dissipated as I realized that a repairman with a broken arm or leg would just be another delay in convincing someone that we had a problem that required a REAL repairman. I threw out one more obscenity ( good one IN MANDARIN. ) and left the scene. I grabbed my backpack and started WALKING to Concordia where in 45 minutes I would discuss with our Brownie Troop how "empowered girls can change the world". Sigh...


I had asked the Ayi to check the hot water that day at 4:30 and have them come again and relight if it was out. I was not going to be home until after 7:00 p.m. Tom also had a dinner event that night. I was pretty sure there was going to be no hot water and no resolution when I got back, but you never know! When I returned that night, I checked and no hot water. Figures. Went out and opened the shed. What I saw inside made me wish I had gone ahead with a little shove earlier in the day as it might have prevented what I discovered. There was now a weird make-shift "wind cover" in the form of three big pieces of cardboard surrounding a piece of foam that was wrapped around not just the pilot, but the whole bottom of the hot water heater! Thank God the heater was not working or our whole house might have BURNED DOWN!!!


I called Tom at his dinner and told him that someone with him that night, who spoke good Mandarin, should call the Vizcaya Management Office and INSIST that someone come.  Tom told me to cool down he would take care of it when he got home. I stayed up late that night watching Season 5 of Dexter. Not sure why it is that watching such violent drama helps make my own drama less significant. Though I did jot down a few notes for future reference. (Of course that is a joke)


Thursday morning was a beautiful day. No hot water, but at this point we are all experts in quick, cool showers. Tom lit the pilot at 6:00 am, took his shower at 6:40. I jumped in at 7. Not hot, but warm enough my that my shower took 7 minutes. Thursday we got the Landlord involved. And though she was working to get a real repairman, the Vizcaya repairman came back anyway. I REFUSED to talk to the repairman. He only came once. He relit and then decided to stand and watch the light. He was going to PROVE that the WIND was doing it. He left after 10 minutes. 10 minutes after he left, the pilot was out. Tom had started to do his own research and talked to his dad, who was a propane gas man all his life and knows a thing or two about hot water heaters. Tom formulated a theory on what needed to be done and took the heater apart when he got home. Nothing seemed obvious. He put back together, but oops, it appears that the now the pilot won't relight. Tom did a bit more research and felt it was some copper tube thing that needed to be replaced (note that this blog entry is NOT about the technical problem and solution. It is just about me venting. Please read Tom's FaceBook entries if you desire the scoop on the actual problem!) In the meantime, the landlord had arranged for a more "expert" repairman to come that night at 7:00 p.m. to assess. No idea if he was from Vizcaya or not. He and Tom both agreed on the part that needed to be replaced. Alas, he did have one and wasn't sure if he could get one before Monday. Went to be early knowing that Friday morning and perhaps the weekend was going to be a pain.


Friday morning. No Hot water. Tom went to clubhouse and took a shower in the locker room. Natalie headed to school with no shower, but it was Wacky Day. I heated up water on the stove and took what we had started calling "Little House on the Prairie" bath. Practically scalded myself working out the logistics of using the boiling water. Tom decided to do the repair himself. So he sourced the part he needed at some teeny place in Puxi and sent the driver to pick up what should have been a $5 part. Turned out it was $50! He left work early and brought the part home. Took apart the heater and put the new part in. YEAH! IT WORKED! TOM FIXED IT! It lit right up and started heating. I was so happy when I got home to find hot water available. My plan was to take a LONG bath and drink a nice glass of wine. Tom had his annual dinner Friday night, so he went up to get changed. Right before he left, he thought he would check to make sure everything seemed alright. Alas, the heater was off. Poor Tom. 


So here we sit, Saturday morning,4th day on the Prairie, no hot water. The landlord is trying to make arrangements to get someone here to fix it before Monday, but I have no confidence that will happen. I am debating between heading up to clubhouse or doing the "Little House" bath. Tom didn't come to bed until late so he won't be worrying about showering anytime soon. But as I sit here, I am thinking that Natalie might not have had a bath since... Well.... Since Tuesday night?


Last night was Pizza and Movie night. When we put in Season 1 of Happy Days (Natalie loves it), the DVD player started, but acted funky once in awhile. But we got through it. Sent Natalie to bed. Kiss Kiss. Another glass of wine. Back down to watch another DVD. ERROR? Watched Mad Men on the PC upstairs. Looks like we need to buy our 5th DVD Player today.