Death and Taxes

They say the only certain things in life are death and taxes. Well, for me anyway, you can add flooding into the list of certainties. When I mixed a batch of water this weekend for a water change I decided to adjust the connection on my DI water container's float valve. It always dripped a little bit. However, I refused to call it a leak since it evaporated faster than it dripped. Sure, the underside of the container would be a little damp but nothing more. On Sunday I decided to fix this leak. I applied a little more Teflon tape and tightened the connections. I was set.

Monday night I decided it was time to print out the taxes. We were reamed so hard this year it hurts to sit. Every time I think I'm turning into a Democrat I turn back into a Republican at tax time but I digress. The Democrat in me decided to use the printer in the basement office since I can manually do two sided printing and save a few trees using that printer. So while checking on my print job I felt a cold sensation on my foot through the carpeting. At first I thought something pinched me. However there was nothing there but 2 year old carpeting. I decided to feel for the culprit. When I pushed down on the carpet I was able to feel that it was wet underneath. It was like the carpeting was floating. I ran into the other room and saw my RO water container was completely filled and water was everywhere. Mind you this is at about 9:30 pm and my taxes aren't done yet.

I solicited help from my wife we moved her collection of books that were on the floor. Oddly, these were all still floating and had not gotten wet yet. However, it didn't take long for the carpet to get soaked once we started walking on it. My wife tried in vain for hours to suck up the water using the carpet cleaner but alas it was not to be. At 11:30 we decided it was time to rip out the padding to save the carpet. SO the carpeting got untacked and rolled back. The padding that was drenched was ripped out and hauled away. There is no way that the carpet cleaner could have dried that carpet. The padding was completely saturated. After using the shop vac to dry the floor the carpeting was rolled back and dried with the carpet shampooer. We then placed some milk crates under the affected area and set up a fan to blow under and over the wet carpet. We also have a dehumidifier running. Taxes got signed and we went to bed at 1:00 am. Hopefully, we saved the carpet.

I didn't take the time to figure out the cause of the leak. It looked like a powerhead or heater cord got tangled with the float valve keeping it open and allowing the container to overfill.

Incidentally, I bought two corals on Sunday. Star Polyps and a Toadstool leather. I'll post pictures soon.