"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
24 April 2008Jack Flash, call your serviceMeanwhile, Rob "Flack" O'Hara is losing service:
Came home the other day, found a note on the front door. "Your gas has been turned off due to a suspected leak. Call us to arrange an inspection. Love, Oklahoma Natural Gas." Turns out, ONG has a courtesy service where they automatically shut your gas off when your bill hits a certain number. Apparently that number is around $500.
That's a lotta leak. Except that it wasn't:
ONG was called and the night shift fellow (who was quite friendly) stopped by. He checked our meter and found a tiny leak — so small, it may be costing us $2/month. The real problem, as determined by "the guy", is that when our air conditioner was fixed last summer, they crossed the wiring somehow, which causes our heater and furnace to cycle continually. This makes the gas heater fire up whether or not we turn on the heat, or the A/C. In fact, while he was there we looked at the heater, which was on and blowing heat at full blast while our air conditioner was fighting it to cool the house.
Your basic crossfire hurricane. Sheesh.
To fix the leak at the meter, the guy said they would be sending out a construction crew to dig up the back yard. Apparently the leak is underground, somewhere between the meter and the house. The solution for this is to dig everything up and move the meter next to the house. This is done free of charge, which is fortunate as I wouldn't pay much to stop a $2/month leak.
Been there, done that, except that my leak was more like $40 a month. Every once in a while I get a whiff of something that might be gas, but then in this neighborhood it might as easily be sewer gas. "Though this be madness, yet there is methane in 't." In the meantime, Flack worries:
The part I'm looking forward to the most (sarcasm to follow) is the fact that our cable runs there as well, which I fully expect them to sever — I also expect this to happen on or around Saturday, the day of my gaming party at the house. I am already planning on not having cable television, cable modem, or telephone (which we also get via cable) for the weekend. I'd bet money on not having it this weekend.
Well, nobody's digging until Call Okie shows up to mark where the lines are. I called in my leak on a Wednesday; it was Friday before all the markers were in place, and the line was replaced Monday. If nothing else, this suggests that the cable might actually remain intact through Saturday. Posted at 9:09 AM to Family Joules , Soonerland |