Even though some on dialysis are of the viewpoint that life is centered on this life-giving requirement, other life-requirements do also happen. This blog is about a couple of “happenings” that recently took place in our space that were of high(er) priority.
Last Saturday evening our septic alarm went off indicating something amiss in our system. Our system is a bastard concoction. Seems our black water sewage system does not have enough fall for proper “flushing” to the main drains in the street. A small holding tank was placed in our yard with a Liberty Series 41 Lift Pump and a pole with a low float switch (turns the pump on and off) and a high float switch that sounds the alarm if the effluent level gets too high.
The alarm has sounded once previously and the bottom float switch was bad. Tried calling around for professionals to fix the problem and of course the soonest anyone could come was Monday. Try shutting down all showers, washing hands while on dialysis, etc let alone no toilet use – just doesn’t work.
Turns out our son has vast experience installing such systems so we called him and he came first thing Sunday morning with a spare float switch in hand. Didn’t need it. The power cord to the pump insulation had failed, effluent had entered the hot wires and totally corroded them in two a length of about two feet. We cut this power cord off and spliced in a completely new cord back to the junction box and sealed it with heat shrink and we are back in business.
The entire ordeal took about three hours from start to finish. Luckily we were working in the shade (we are having 100+ temps here in N. Texas). To preclude this from happening again, I ordered a replacement pump from eBay and it’s due to arrive tomorrow. The current installation has all the wiring hard-wired via a junction box that’s buried in the ground. When I have to replace a component, I’m going to wire in a standard male and female plug to make installation much more straightforward.
On to yesterday. On the way back from helping our son finish up the electrical wiring in his new chicken coup, the temp was 110F. Was starting to take a shower, and my wife came and got me to listen to the compressor unit of our whole house a/c. It was making a screeching noise indicating a bearing going out in the unit’s fan. My wife called the HVAC company we have a maintenance contract with and believe it or not they arrived in less than an hour.
The condenser fan by now had totally crapped out and was not even attempting to turn on. No fan, no a/c and it’s currently 105F or so. My wife would melt without a/c in this weather.
Luckily the repairman had a replacement fan on the truck and affected repair. Bottom line, some $900 later we can again flush toilets and have a/c in the N. Texas sun. Life in this regard is good.
My whole point is that dialysis takes center stage, but, sometimes you have to go with the flow.
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