Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head...Wait...That's the Ceiling!

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where your first instinct is to panic? That was me this morning. I woke up, headed to the kitchen, bleary-eyed, and stopped halfway there to a small pool of water on the floor of the foyer and a dripping sound overhead.

Nothing like this to wake you up right away.

Yep, that's a bubble. And water dripping right out of the light fixture.

That was when that panic set in. The hubby wasn't home so the easy solution of having him inspect and fix it was out of the question. So, what does any woman do in this situation?...Call her daddy. Actually, my first thought was that I need to shut off the source of the water and drain the ceiling. But, I definitely needed to verify all of this with someone that knows a lot more than me.

So, I texted my dad who assured me that I was on the right track. After noticing a large pool of water on the roof, under the swamp cooler, I knew which valve to turn off. It is the water supply line for the swamp cooler. It's hidden under our basement bathroom sink. Note: If you don't know where all of the shutoff valves are in the house, learn right away. You never know when your ceiling may start to drip into your cereal and you have to shut off the water in a hurry.

After turning that all the way off, I took out my stepladder, laid out some large bowls, and slowly poked small holes into the ceiling where the water was creating a bulge. The water started pouring out of the holes into those bowls like a faucet.

Ewww, right?

With the damage contained, I knew I needed to now inspect what the problem was. So, I texted the symptoms to my dad and he let me know that it was likely that the float in the cooler had malfunctioned. Having no idea what the float was or what it would look like, I did what any novice would do...I Googled it. And I came up with this video:

Ok, I was on my way to learning. Facing a 90+ degree day, I pulled out my large ladder and climbed atop the roof. Now would be a good time to mention that I have a problem with heights. Not a deathly fear, but more of a shaking all the way up and down the ladder until I could firmly sit my butt down on the top kind of fear.

I knew how to open up the swamp cooler because I watched my husband change out the pads last year. At this point, I yelled to my daughter to grab my phone and take a few pictures. As long as I was going to be up there taking apart the AC, I might as well blog about it later. I mean, this is that whole "learning" part of things that I mention in the title of my blog, right?

The problem was not hard to find. The float was COATED in calcium, lime, and rust! The arm of the float didn't even move up and down until I smacked gently removed the build up.

But something was still wrong. When I moved the float upward, the water from the supply line would still drip. Not as much, but still dripped. Normally, a float will do just that, float on top of the water that the water supply line feeds into the cooler. If the pan fills too high, the float will rise with it and trigger the supply line valve to close, shutting off the water. But this was not working and, with the cooler having been off all night, the pan filled to the top and spilled over onto the roof, where it pooled on the roof and soaked through into my foyer.

Also, usually, a roof can stand up to this pretty well and will not always leak. However, after we moved in, I noticed some paint and wall bubbles in the foyer closet, indicating that there was a leak before. So, that part of the roof was already damaged. The leak today reaffirmed that we will definitely need to be replacing that part of the roof in the near future.

After seeing the calcified state of the float and that there was a cap that had fallen off from disintegration, I headed to Ace Hardware up the street. I took a LOT of pictures with me on my phone and the broken cap because I didn't know if floats are something that come in different sizes, types, etc. Thankfully, they are pretty standard. I bought a new float and a bottle of Limeaway for the rusted nuts and bolts of the old float.

Back up the roof with a little less shaking. Note: asphalt shingles get HOT in the summer. Take care when lifting yourself on the roof...use gloves. Ouch.

Some prying, light hammering, and the use of pliers. I got about half of it all disconnected.

 Cue the hiccup. There's one in every project/repair. The main assembly was so rusted, it had bonded to the cooler housing...and it did NOT want to break up with it. We're talking Taylor Swift kind of clingy.

So, thanks to the magic of previous Pinterest reading, I filled a ziplock bag with Limeaway, wrapped it around the part that was aggravating me being difficult, zipped it up and clamped it to the unit with my wrench. Wish I had taken a picture of that, it looked so high tech design.

1 hour later.

Back up the shaky ladder for the 10th time. (I swear the ladder was shaking with nerves, not me.) The good: There was progress because I could rotate the assembly with a wrench. The bad: the nut was still solidly rusted, and just turning along, firmly attached to the rest of it.

My awesomely awesome neighbor came home shortly before and headed over to see if I needed help. After we weren't able to unscrew it, even together, he brought over his sawzall. It is an electric hacksaw and it sliced through that old float assembly like he was cutting through thick bread. 10 seconds and it was off. All I could say, other than thanks, was that I had to get myself one of those. Tool envy...it comes along quicker than you expect once you start doing this stuff yourself.

The new float screwed in quick and easy. We adjusted the angle of the float, I turned on the water supply, and tightened it all down. Success! It poured out when the float was down and shut off when the float was up. It was all good. I put the panels back on and turned on the cooler. No leaks, no problems.

The only thing I was worried about was that the sound of the water pouring into the unit was louder than usual. I knew that the small hoses that wet the pads might not be in the exact right spot when I closed it up. So, I saved that one last task for my husband when he got home. I couldn't keep all the fun to myself, right?

So, the cooler works, the ceiling is drained and drying, and I now have a new skill that I certainly didn't realize I would need when I woke up this morning. Or at least, not until the water started dripping on my head.

What did I learn?
1. Don't panic.
2. Minimize/Contain damage by shutting off water, laying out towels and bowls.
3. Calling for help is always ok. Doesn't make you any less competent. Same with Googling things. And being stubborn about doing it all yourself may just make things worse.
4. Assess the symptoms and go explore possible causes of issue. Don't be scared to climb up the ladder, pop open an appliance, or unscrew a panel to take a closer look.
5. Take lots of pictures and/or notes. These may help someone at the hardware store to find what you need and they usually have a lot of helpful advice too.
6. Do your best and let others help. Oh, and take lots of pictures to brag with later.

I can't fully explain the awesome feeling you get when you have taken on a task that seemed huge and you end up dominating it, owning it, conquering it. It makes you feel like a power tool-wielding, butt-kicking DIY-er. I was beaming when the neighbor across the street asked if that was me he saw up on the roof earlier and he gave me a thumbs up.

Knowledge is cool. Simply Do.