Thursday, March 13, 2008

A Quandry

LAst Sunday morning it was noticed that the drains in the kitchen were not flowing properly. In fact they were exceptionally slow.

Part of this meant that when the dishwasher ran it did not drain properly and so did not rinse properly as it got overfull during the cycle.

Monday and Tuesday the plumbers came. Turns out these drains feed into the storm sewer (they are below the sanitary line and so they could not tie in to that 50 years ago -- at which point in time it wouldn't have been seen as an issue to have grey water flowing directly to the river) and leave the building at teh other end from the kitchen. THe problem is outside the building. To further complicate matters, as the water attempts to drain from the kitchen it backs up in the bolier room, coming out the floor drain. Plumber was going to attempt to contact the township staff to get them to do something.

10 minutes ago I checked. Drains are no better (possibly getting worse). The UCW has a Ham supper on Sunday. I am not sure it is appropriate to host a dinner when the kitchen drains are not working properly, when dishes can not be done properly, when using the water means flooding the boiler room (although water there flows to a sump which is then pumped out--into the parking lot)

OTOH, cancelling the supper has logistical and financial difficulties. Not to mention that this is a community event at a time when this town really needs communtiy events (as a mental and psychic health issue).

The appropriate response would be?????????

6 comments:

  1. Any chance of hurrying the township's repair work because of the dinner? Or, is there a community hall you could relocate the meal to?

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  2. No advice, I'm afraid - just sympathy. My church is confronting a similar (less immediately urgent though) situation that will ultimately set us back about $40,000. Ugh.

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  3. no advice from here, but it is a serious concern, especially since church dinners, potlucks, etc. at times truly have saved my sanity due to sparse social opps

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  4. Talked to township twice today. They will send a steamer over tomorrow to try and break the sewer free.

    Longer term will likely be a pump and holding tank to tie in to the sanitary system like it should be anyway.

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  5. Would another church allow you to move the event there?

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  6. Well the exterior drain is thawed(ish)--a bore hole through the ice--and there is a hose running into the floor drain to keep it open/thaw the ice more.

    But hte drains still aren't all that free The plumber is supposed to call me back this PM.

    Moving to another church is of limited option. There are 2 in town with enogh space but churches can be fussy about their kitchens (both as mover and host). We should be ok now, it just may be that doing dishes will take longer and have to be careful about not using more than one drain at a time.

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