Page 5 - Nov 9 18

nhVillagernewspaper.com November 9, 2018 The Villager 5

Plumbing insights

At our house we recently experienced a season of to clear clogs. I got a cheap facsimile, which was basi-
plumbing. TGIO. Thank goodness it’s over (I hope). cally a long, barbed ribbon of plastic.
It started with a water heater that refused to heat I snaked that doohickey down the drain and
water. Which was a problem. Obviously. pulled up a slimy hairball the size of a small kitten. It
I’m not much for cold showers. would have been gross had I not been so very proud.
Unfortunately it didn’t end there. Plumber three arrived frst thing Monday morn-
A cold shower is one thing. No shower is another. ing. God bless him. He worked like a warrior, cutting
This next adventure started with a clog in the through old pipes and piecing in new to create an un-
bathtub/shower, which quickly spread to another tub/ clogged work of PVC art. It was a beautiful sight and
shower that was attached to the same drainage sys- I didn’t know if I’d ever have the heart to cover it up
tem. One clog, two tubs. with a new kitchen ceiling patch.
Three plumbers. He also produced another kitten-sized hairball:
The frst guy used a snake. Not a reptile, but a the cause of our past weekend’s shower-free status.
tool with the same name. It’s used to slither down- After paying the plumbing bills and being wit-
ward through the pipes to clear clogs. Except not ours. ness to the two kittens – aka clogs – I’ll never ignore
The snake was stymied. As was the plumber. an errant strand of hair in the sink again. To think I
Enter plumber number two. He diagnosed the used to rinse them down the drain!
problem – after knocking a hole in our kitchen ceil- Prevention became my mantra. I was (am) sin-
ing. It was in our drum traps, which I’d never heard cere – zealous even – in my commitment to avoid
of before. Suddenly knowledge about drum traps clogs in the future. But how? We could all shave our
leapt to the top of my to-do list. Plumber number two heads, but I’m not sure that would work as a long-
kindly explained we had an antiquated kind that were term solution. It was time to visit the place with all
in need of an update, except he didn’t have the right the answers: Google.
parts on hand to fx the clog that day. Viola! I discovered an amazing invention called
This was on a Friday afternoon. He wouldn’t be a drain strainer. It sits on top of the bathtub drain and
able to return until Monday. It was going to be a long works like a kitchen strainer, except instead of veg-
weekend. gies it catches hair, soap slime and other grossities
Our clog was comprehensive; the pipes were that schlep off of our bodies in the shower. Every so Cyan Magenta Yellow Black
completely blocked. If we ran the shower, the tub often (depending on your personal shedding capa-
quickly flled with water that didn’t drain. Even if bility) you simply empty the hair-goo blob from the
left overnight. The shortest, most abbreviated shower strainer.
forced us to bail with a bucket into the nearby toilet. It goes without saying that I am the only per-
Cleanliness at a cost. son in my house with the talent and overall prowess
To our credit, we didn’t completely stink up the required to empty the hair from a full strainer. It’s a
place, thanks to a new invention called a sink shower, responsibility I take seriously. Plus, it’s a small price
which wasn’t really a shower, but involved water and to pay for the assurance that I’ll never have to give
a sink and a fair amount of scrubbing – of our skin, birth to drain kittens ever again.
not the sink.
Our dilemma also made me appreciate the im- Jill Pertler is an award-winning syndicated col-
portance of a clog-free life. A sink in another bath- umnist, published playwright, author and member of 5
room was slow to drain so I decided to proactively the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Don’t
take things into my own hands, or in this case snake. miss a slice; follow the Slices of Life page on Face-
Plumbing professionals use professional grade snakes book.

Hillsboro-Deering Support Staf, Local #6219, made a generous donation to outstanding balances for students
lunches, to H-DES, H-DMS, and H-DHS. No child should have to go hungry, due to fnances. From L – R: April Burnham,
Wanda Anctil, Kelly D’Errico, Michelle Connelly, Carolyn Lischke, Patti Kallander and in front Susan Kingsbury