This should become an Internet meme…
2 minute read
March 3, 2013, 10:01 PM
So you may have seen the new splash photo, showing me holding a monkey wrench at Home Depot. I was amused enough by it that I decided to make an “Internet meme” version of it. Take a look:
After all, what’s the fun of having a monkey wrench if you can’t throw it in someone’s plans, right?
Meanwhile, it’s funny how this picture came about. I actually was out looking to buy a monkey wrench today, and so while I was out with my friend Matthew today, we stopped by the Home Depot in Reston to look for one. Turns out, by the way, that monkey wrenches aren’t cheap. The cheapest monkey wrench at Home Depot was $15. The monkey wrench that I am holding in the picture was $100 (needless to say, I wasn’t about to buy it). After a discussion with a salesman, we determined that a pair of slip pliers would be sufficient for what I was doing, which was to change the showerhead in my bathroom.
The reason I ended up changing the showerhead today should be taken as a lesson for anyone who would otherwise be inclined to install water-saving devices in their house. The property management where I live notified us that they would be installing compact fluorescent lights and low-flow faucet aerators and showerheads. They did this last Tuesday. So far, so good, right? I got home that night to see all of the changes, and while the new CFLs were nice (I have been using CFLs since I moved in, so now I have a spare set), the new low flow devices were horrible. I quickly realized that these new devices weren’t saving me anything, and if anything, used more water than the older devices because they ran so slowly that it took twice as long just to wash my hands. It also lengthened my shower time considerably because of the slow water. I’m guessing that if these new water-saving devices had kept the pressure the same and just put out less water, I would have kept them. But since they killed the water pressure that I was getting out of my taps, they had to go. The old aerators went back on the same night, and I finally put the old showerhead back on this evening after getting the proper tool to do it. Funny how these well-intentioned changes backfired, though. The assumption was that one would use less water and take the same time doing it. But no – the water ran so slowly that it was harder to do everything. Net water saved was zero or worse, plus it pissed me off in the process. And I was actually welcoming the changes when they announced them, because I’m all for being green. But the implementation here was terrible. But at least I learned something. I also got to stand on the side of the tub and fool around with the showerhead.
So in short, don’t fix what isn’t broken. And now I know that I can change a showerhead with relative ease.
Categories: House, Matthew, Netculture