Bath time

Hot water would really help this situation

Our water heater is broken.

Without prompting, the landlord decided to replace our furnace last week. This was great since it had started acting up but I was loathe to call the landlord since it wasn't consistent and the last time there was a problem he wanted to know if I knew how to use the thermostat (yes, I can turn the dial on the wall that I've been using for the past seven years, thanks.) But now we have a shiny new furnace that works a treat. However, we have no hot water.

So when HVAC guys installed the new furnace, they shut off the gas for obvious reasons. When everything was in, they turned it back on and relit the pilot to the water heater but clearly something didn't take. The next morning I was the first to bathe and hopped in to a tepid shower even with it turned as hot as possible. At first I though the heat had been turned down on the water heater but it was actually that the pilot went out and would not stay lit. This was discovered by the maintenance man rebuilding our hallway wall (taken out to facilitate furnace replacement) and confirmed when the HVAC guy returned later that evening. So now we're waiting for a part to come in so that the heater will safely stay lit and we can wash not only the dishes but ourselves again.

We'll be keeping her once the bathwater is gone

Not that we are entirely without resources. In the 1930s many in Boston would have lived in cold water flats, heating water on the stove for dishes and bathing. I'm not ambitious (or patient) enough to heat enough water to fill the bath tub, but we have sponged ourselves down with a sink full of water and I manged to wash dishes yesterday. Today would be the day Sprog really needs a post-nappy change wash though. But lucky for her, she fits nicely in the sink.

UPDATE: As I was writing this the HVAC man returned and he is working on replacing the thermal coupling (which was apparently "fried") right now. We may be able to wash the stink off of all of us soon!