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Friday, June 06, 2008

Oh Yeah, I'm Definitely Blogging THIS

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CC is listening to: Nothing right now

On June 4 we had a new AC installed in our apartment. We were really relieved about this because we were having trouble cooling down the apartment and maintenance had agreed that it was time to change the AC. So the AC people came, replaced the AC unit, then left in the afternoon.

That night I was on the phone and Steve was in the shower. I heard this loud PPPSSSSHHHH and I figured it was just Steve turning the shower on. After I got off the phone I realized that was just WAY too loud a PSSSHHH so I started walking towards the bathroom to see what was going on. That's when I realized the sound wasn't coming from the bathroom, it was coming from the laundry room.

I walked in the laundry room and there's two inches of water in there. The sound was coming from the closet where the AC was placed. I opened the door and I kid you not, it was RAINING water. Not the dripping kind--the GUSHING kind, with the PPPPPSSSSSHHHHHH sound much louder in there.

I ran into the bathroom. Thank goodness Steve was done with his shower. I yanked him into the laundry room and showed him what was going on.

After I panicked for about 10 seconds, I grabbed the phone and called apartment maintenance. They were gone for the night (it was around 7 or so) but I got to the dispatcher. I told her it was a maintenance emergency, she got my information and told me she'll have maintenance come right away.

When I got back to the laundry room Steve had towels on the floor. I grabbed one to drain it over the patio and that's when I noticed the water alarm going off on the side of the building. A neighbor walked by, looked up at us, and said, "Do you need help?" And I yelled down, "Pipe burst. There's water EVERYWHERE!" And he said, "Did you shut off the main water valve?" I looked at Steve and he replied, "There isn't one in there!"

Then I heard sirens, and the repetitive loud low horn that could only belong to the fire department. I yelled to Steve, "Fire department's coming!" and ran out the apartment so I could direct them to where we were. That's when I saw the neighbor we talked to coming up the stairs. "Maybe I can help. I'm from the fire department." I said, "Oh you have no idea how happy I am to see YOU," and led him to where it was going on. By this time we had no power because Steve had the foresight to shut down the circuit breakers.

Then I ran back out and there were 3 firetrucks in the parking lot. I waved one of the firemen over and they came up the stairs.

We had about 8 firemen coming in and out of the apartment. They kept asking where the main shut off valve was and Steve and I didn't know. They looked under the kitchen sink, under the bathroom sink, behind the closet--it wasn't there. Finally they found it in the same closet where the water was coming from, but it was hidden inside the wall. They turned the valve off, and the water finally stopped.

After everything had calmed down a little, I was finally able to talk to them and ask what happened.

They said that what happened was that the sprinkler head in the closet activated. They don't know what caused it, but something in there got hot enough to trip the sprinkler. "That sprinkler fuse can take up to 125 degrees," one of them said. "and that fuse MELTED. At that point it triggered the sprinkler to cool everything down. It was doing its job."

Then the firemen (God bless the Germantown Fire Department) started helping us get rid of the excess water in our carpets by bringing up huge heavy squeegees from their truck. They started squeegeeing the water out of the carpet, out of the apartment, onto the patio and over the side of the building. They squeegeed in shifts--after one was tired another one would take over. I was very impressed because that's not their job. They'd already done their work and they could've left, but they stayed and helped with the soaked carpets.

While they were doing this I grabbed my camera and took some pictures.

Fire truck number 1...

Fire truck number 2...

Fire truck number 3.

Firemen coming up the stairs after the emergency part was over. The guy in front looked at me as he got to the top of the stairs and asked, "You're taking PICTURES?" and I replied, "Hey, this is going on my blog :-)."

Four of the firemen by the front door. There was no power, so I didn't have enough light in the apartment. I would've taken LOTS more pictures if I had more light.

A picture of the soaked carpet in the hallway. You can see the reflective strips on the fireman's uniform. He was squeegeeing, and I couldn't get him in the shot.

Taken at around 8pm. The police were here by this time.

Unfortunately we weren't the only apartment that was affected. We're on the third floor, and water had gone down into the second and first floor apartments. There was considerable water damage in those apartments too--water leaked in from the walls and light fixtures)--which makes you realize just how much water was coming out of that sprinkler. One of the firemen said it was like, 40 gallons a minute.

Let's see, who else arrived that night. First people from the apartment complex management office, then someone from MLGW (utilities), then the carpet guys came and started the process of repairing the carpets, and the sprinkler guy to replace the sprinkler head in our apartment so they could reactivate the sprinkler system by that night (it's the law). All three apartments had no power and would continue not to have power until we get the all-clear from the electrician, who was arriving the next day (the places needed to dry first). That meant we all had to stay somewhere else that night. The family in the first floor went to a hotel (paid for by the apartment), and Steve, the dogs and I stayed at the apartment model unit. The people that lived in the second floor apartment had just moved out, thank goodness.

The next morning, Steve and I had breakfast at McDonald's and took the dogs to his parents' house so they would be out of the way while repairs were done at the apartment. By the time we got there at around 10:30 or so, the carpet guys had already checked up on the carpet. I took the opportunity to take more pictures (for insurance purposes if necessary).

The leaning water heater (it didn't have enough support). See the black tube on the left side of the picture? That's from the new AC. They're practically right next to each other.

The replaced sprinkler head. The big hole next to it is where the connecting pipe should have been (explanation below).

View of the drying carpet from the patio

View from the other side. This is the starting point where the firemen were squeegeeing, pushing water all the way out onto the patio.

The carpet frames had to be pulled up. The carpet people will replace those on Monday.

Another picture of the drying carpet

The construction crew arrived shortly after I took these pictures. They started building a new foundation and added supports to the platform that was holding up the AC and water heater. Right as they were finishing up, the plumber arrived to check on the water heater to make sure that what happened the night before wouldn't happen again. We also formulated a theory on what exactly happened that night.

The plumber noticed that the escape pipe which connected the water heater to the ceiling was disconnected. This pipe led built-up hot gas out of the apartment. We're guessing that as the AC guys where installing the AC unit (it's a REALLY tight fit in there), they must have bumped into the heater enough to knock the pipe out of its connection. So what happened was that night, instead of the built-up hot gas being led away from the heater through the pipe as it was supposed to, the hot gas was escaping out of the main water heater unit and right to the sprinkler, which caused the fuse to melt and trigger the water. What the plumber said next made me thankful about what had happened to us: the hot gas was carbon monoxide. If it didn't trigger the sprinkler, we wouldn't have known there was anything wrong, and Steve and I could have gotten carbon monoxide poisoning. He reconnected the pipe, made sure everything was working okay, and gave us the thumbs-up.

This all happened about 20 hours after the incident. I was happy that it was resolved fairly quickly (and at no cost to us). The only things left that need to be addressed are that the construction crew needs to replace the sheet rock wall (they're here doing that right now), and the carpet guys need to replace the pads on Monday (one of them was here earlier today to spray the carpets to ensure that no mold and mildew form).

Later today I'm buying a fruit basket for the fire department to show our appreciation for what they did (I hope they're allowed to accept it). I'll bring my camera in case I can take a group picture :-). I'm also picking up a carbon monoxide detector and putting it in the laundry room so just in case we DO get a carbon monoxide leak (it's colorless and odorless), we'd know.

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