As mentioned in our last post, the rainy season has finally arrived. Among other things, this time of year reminds us of how much we appreciated our clothes dryer back in the States. Even when the rain stopped over the weekend, it took two days to dry our sheets:
Last year, the wet season came much earlier, and having never experienced one before, we weren’t prepared. When we finally got a hygrometer, we realized how high the humidity actually was:
By the time we were able to find and purchase a dehumidifier, the books were wrinkling up and the walls and ceiling were getting pretty moldy:
The inside humidity was especially evident when the outside temperature dropped a bit, overloading the windows with enough condensation to start a small indoor garden:
This year, we have the dehumidifier running all day and are trying to stay ahead of the moisture!
Speaking of keeping dry, I recently had a minor success in one of our two bathrooms. By the way, if you ever want to convert your half-bath to a full-bath, just do what the Chinese do – mount a shower on the wall:
While this can be convenient if you’re good at multitasking on a busy morning, the entire bathroom floor will be wet after using the shower, especially if the floor drain is not the lowest point on the floor (which it never seems to be). To remedy this, I caulked a piece of plastic conduit to the floor and hung the shower curtain directly above:
I attached some split-shot fishing weights to the bottom of the shower curtain to keep it inside of the track:
But lately, the water supply valve for the entire apartment has developed a steady leak (about 2 liters/day), surrounding the toilet with a perennial puddle. Since there’s no good way to isolate this valve (and the thought of hiring another plumber is a bit overwhelming), I did what all good engineers would do: treat the symptom. Hence, I now have a soap dish catching the drip and diverting it to a floor drain behind the toilet:
Thankfully, you’ve reached the dry end of a somewhat dry blog about keeping dry.
yes, I wonder how to dry off sometimes when all the floor is wet. It is a trick I have not learned yet. You try to keep the water splashing as little as possible but it really do not help much. You are getting to be a real Chinese plumber! I have seen this type of repair before! HaHa~
Sounds like your dehumidfier is having to work overtime – water from outside and inside. How about another laundry drying option – buy another dehumidifier and put it in the bathroom and hang the laundry in there. Need anymore help from 10k miles away??
Great idea – I’ll let you know how it works. You are clearly suited for life in China. We have a job here waiting for you, so let me know when you and Regina are ready!
Ah! Your water diverting device brings back memories. When I was working at a biotech pilot plant many years ago we had a steam regulator with a persistent condensate leak. We couldn’t tear it down to repair it without disrupting the very precious (and expensive) batch of cells cultivating within the system, so I positioned a funnel underneath and directed the tubing to a nearby drain. My co-workers were very happy about the simple solution and dubbed it the “Robnett device”. Seems like the term would also apply here for your simple (“prac”) solution.
I could’ve predicted that only fellow engineers would comment on this blog! By the way (to Mark), the dehumidifier in the bathroom does a good job of drying the clothes. We’ll be using this on future wet weeks.
Ironically, Charlie and I ( we are visiting Memphis) just repaired a bathroom sink when I happened to check your blog. I was about to tell you about our repair until I read Barbara’s comment which of course trumped my story.
There’s nothing like being the only dentist in a family of engineers to keep you humble…