This evening as I pulled a bag of salad from the refrigerator, I heard water running very suddenly as if someone was taking a shower in the kitchen. In an attempt to find the source, I ran downstairs and asked Caleb to help me locate the sound. About twenty seconds later, a waterfall started right over our heads, pouring through the edge of my brand new drywall!
Fortunately, I was thinking clearly enough by that point to shut off the main water valve, located in a basement closet just a few feet away.
The waterfall slowed to a trickle and I went upstairs to locate the source. I pulled the fridge away from the wall to discover the icemaker line looking like this:
The tube that I had replaced last summer when we had bought a new fridge was all stretched out. Under constant water pressure, it was only a matter of time before the plastic bulged beyond the breaking point.
I wanted to yell at someone, but it turns out it was my own fault. I had bought the plastic line at Lowe's last summer without giving much thought to a key number:
I'm guessing I picked up the cheapest plastic tubing I could find. Because that's how I roll. (If I had made the trip to my brother's hardware store, I am sure he would have steered me in the right direction and prevented this evening's mess entirely.)
In the end, all I can say is I am so thankful that the bubble burst behind the fridge tonight while I stood in the kitchen. I can't imagine what a mess it could have made in the middle of the night or for several hours during the day when nobody but the dogs would be present to notice!
Thank you, Lord, for the good timing, because with all the other turmoil currently in our lives, if either of those other things would have happened, I believe my own internal pressure rating would have been exceeded!
No comments:
Post a Comment