The Stupid Hot Water Heater
The final foster care/adoption home study inspection was completed on Wednesday. All went well and we got approved with the exception of one minor, irritating thing. Our hot water heater was set too high. I had a feeling this was going to be an issue, not just because I knew the water was pretty hot, but because we had a maintenance guy fiddling with it for two days prior, replacing the ignitor and trying to figure out why every so often we just didn’t have hot water. My excuse for not having hot water (and anything else going wrong) is always, “eh, it’s military housing,” but I still needed to have it working. After the guy left, I turned it down from very hot to just hot. It has to be between 110 and 130 degrees Fahrenheit, so while I figured that ought to do it, I still had misgivings and expected to not pass. Turns out, I was spot on.
I turned it down even more and our social worker came back the next day, took the temperature under a running faucet, and somehow our stupid hot water heater (SHWH) was HOTTER than it had been before! How that works, I’ll never understand.
We discussed the SHWH and came to the conclusion that maybe the knob that is supposed to allow you to set temperature just wasn’t working. I turned it all the way down to see if anything would happen and waited about eight hours. If it was scalding, it was broken. Turns out it was finally cool; apparently, it works when it feels like it. The only trouble was that it was registering at 111 degrees, which means if all my stars didn’t line up perfectly at the next test, it might be too cool. While they will just keep coming back and retesting until you get it right- that’s just annoying for everyone involved. I need all of my patience for my children and my job, so I can’t have a SHWH consistently using up too much of my annoyance quota or my whole world could go into a tailspin. When they say it’s all about the little things? They are so right.
So I shoved my butter knife very grown up flat head screw driver back into the little slot in the knob, and ever so slightly turned the cutlery to about two millimeters hotter. I checked the temperature again several hours later and we’re at 117. We are getting this tested again on Tuesday, so I am going to see if I can get it closer to 125 (so my shower can last more than ten minutes), but not too close to 130. I plan to pass this next check with flying colors.
We are very, very close. I am just telling myself that we hit this week long SHWH snafu because the kids who need us don’t need us for another week, and God is timing this to perfection. That might be completely silly and not at all why, but it is keeping me from gritting my teeth over the situation.
This too shall pass and yup, its a test…or shall we say, a testimony? Great things are in store, keep having that faith that you’ve had for this long;it ‘s all part of the next journey!
I love your thought about the timing thing- ’cause you might just be spot on. Sometimes, everything is NOT coincidental!! Keep up your faith, there is someone else in charge!
Wow, I had no idea they could be so picky about things. I am really happy to hear you’ve gotten sooo far in the process, just this little step left and I know you’ll get it all perfectly alright