Last week our condo’s hot water heater stopped working. The blue light had three flashes and then eight flashes, which ChatGPT diagnosed as a bad vapor sensor. My first inclination was to bring in a pro, but my AI sidekick insisted that it was an easy fix I could do myself in five minutes if I ordered a simple part from Amazon.
The part came on Friday evening, and Saturday afternoon I set out to be a self-reliant “man of the house.” My wife, Stephanie, understandably was tired of no hot water for three days. No dishwasher, no shower. I take a cold shower in the morning, so it was less urgent for me.
The part was two pieces—a little white plug with two prongs and a plastic cup to push it inside. ChatGPT told me it would be easier to figure out the repair by following its instructions rather than the print ones that came with the spare part, which were confusing because they had a bunch of versions for various generations of water heaters.
I got nervous pretty early when I had to pop out some little plugs that were secured really tightly. ChatGPT kept reassuring me that this was low stakes. Even if something went wrong, it was no big deal. No toxic flames would be let out, and I wouldn’t damage the whole hot water heater.
After an hour, I finally was able to get out the plug I needed to replace. But ChatGPT kept getting confused about how the new plug went in. I totally could see how to fix this thing, but I couldn’t get the new plug connected. After struggling with it a while, I cross referenced it with the print instructions and things finally seemed clear. But then the clip that connected to one of the prongs on the new plug was broken, and I had a bare wire. It had been two hours of frustration at that point, my body folded up in between my washing machine, furnace and water heater, and my judgement was a bit questionable.
ChatGPT advised it would be easy to strip a little off the wire and crimp it inside the old connector and secure it to the new plug—dumb plan for me. When I tried to strip the wire with some scissors from our living room, I predictably cut the wire.
I started calling some plumbers to come fix it, even though it seemed like overkill. I had just listened to a podcast about essentialism—taking out the unnecessary tasks that get in the way of doing the truly important things. I rationalized that this experience was a serendipitous, valuable lesson. Next time this happened, I would save unnecessary stress and time and call a pro. As my dad likes to say, “Mozart didn’t move pianos! (Nor Frank Sinatra).”
Finally I reached a plumber, some English guy at Oasis Heating. I described to him what I had done. I told him my water heater was eight years old, and then he blindsided me, telling me I may have ruined the whole heater and have to buy a new one. I was like WTF?!!! I was in disbelief.
This was a tiny electrical issue in a sensor, and I knew that made no sense. ChatGPT assured me that he was just a jerk trying to sell me a new water heater. Nonetheless, I sat down to dinner pissed off and flagellating myself for having poor judgement. I should have called a pro and I should not have tried to reconnect wires! I hate the word “should.”
A few minutes later, the plumber sent a text with a link to a spare part on Amazon, the one that would replace the wire I had accidentally cut and then connect to my new plug. It was ten bucks and could be delivered by morning. He even said he would get on FaceTime with me if I had trouble finishing the repair.
Another 180 degree turn in my head. I proclaimed to Stephanie that I was going to solve this problem! I said, “I need you to believe in me!” And she said ok. Have I mentioned before that she’s an amazing (and patient) wife?
Next day the part came, and in just a few minutes I fixed my water heater! I went back to feeling the original serendipity I had sensed. I had gotten an opportunity to lean into discomfort and be empowered. Next time the repair might actually only take 10 minutes (if no wires broke in the process).
Is it possible to have had two opposing serendipitous occurrences in one experience? I think this is one of those times. I feel empowered, and I am being more mindful of the value of essentialism as well.
Questions:
What was your most empowering DIY victory?
Your most humbling “call the pro” moment?
8 Comments
Hey Noah
My most victorious DIY, building a new machine shed on the farm with just me and my mom a year after my dad had died. He was in construction his whole life, so I learned a lot, but since he was gone it was all on my shoulders. It went really well.
I got my first tool set when I was 6 and started taking Briggs and Stratton engines apart and putting them together to see how they worked. Today, I do all of my mechanic work on pretty much anything from the combine to the vacuum cleaner. I really do like to wench as a hobby though. I relish the challenge.
You may be told by people that you should have called for the “pro”. True it is there are things that you may not want to handle. But I challenge you to take the steps to do some simple fixes like this. Yes, you may have spent more time on it than just calling someone. Yes, you may have had frayed nerves for a day. However, you should have learned something, that is the whole point that you can’t get by calling someone to do it for you. These things help our critical thinking skills, problem-solving ability, hand-eye coordination and resolve to see it though till the job is done. Those are things our population needs much improvement on today.
Good for you for getting it done! You never know when the next time will happen and now you have some sense of preparedness in case it does.
Add a wire stripper to your tool drawer, they are pretty inexpensive.
Same here, taking the lawn mower apart at 6. Me & a neighbor kid would spend summers running our small engines out in the yard. The other kids playing sports thought we were weird. I’m so glad I had the interest. 46 years self employed as a machinist-welder-fab-designer, no regrets.
Thanks for the recognition!
These things make one grow!
I’m blessed to have multiple options as far as calling someone or doing it myself. So it takes an extra push to decide to do it myself.
The ironic thing and cool thing is that as much as people say AI stops people from working hard and stretching themselves, it was the tool that nudged me to do it myself!
It can be a great asset and get you into trouble.🤪🤞💪
When it comes to being a homeowner, I often ask myself SHOULD I instead of could I, but the answer is not always based on skill. The factors of time and expense are big for me. If it’s going to save me only a marginal amount of money but eat up my time? I will likely hire a pro. I know what my time (and stress) is worth. Actively choosing for a learning experience sounds like a worthy investment of time, but to me the stress of doing it (did I screw it up? do I have to call someone now) would likely lead me to call in a professional.
That is the puzzle. That’s what this whole thing was about.
It’s hard to tell what the universe is nudging me to do sometimes.
I went with my gut.
Or maybe I was just seduced by AI
What’s cool is that AI is a tool that might empower us because it gives us a perspective that we hadn’t thought of.
And you know how I feel about the word “should”.
Don’t judge yourself. That’s not a recipe for feeling good. It’s not a recipe for forward momentum. It just frustrates.
I thank the universe every day that I was gifted and blessed to have been born with natural mechinical (and electrical) ability. Thankfully I have never called a ‘pro’. I’m also one of many machinists out there that will fix things no matter how long it takes or costs, just because I can. And I sometimes get maximun inspriation when someone tells me ‘you can’t do that’. Just watch me……lol
Fred,
That is awesome. For you, you are doing it because you both have to do it and you GET to do it.
At least you’re mindful that there are times when it might not seem to make logical sense as far as costs for you to do it, but you choose do it because that’s in your DNA. And it creates character and discovery to do things that on the surface aren’t necessary.
Choices we make that are mindful create rich lives.
exactly what Fred said
I have fixed so many traditional hot water heaters, boilers and ovens by replacing the “thermcouple” that keeps the pilot lit and keeps from building from exploding…
I keep two in each car…