The new heater is – at last – in place. It’s pretty, and way more efficient than the old beastie. There’ll even be a week or two when it’s still needed before it goes to pilot light only because it’s no longer cold enough to be needed. And the pilot light stays on because turning the thing off is likely to mean holes in pipes by the time the next winter comes by (we made that mistake. Once.)
I have also been contemplating the mystery of feline photography. No matter what I do, when I get photos of Midnight, he’s regal, magnificent, and very floofy. When Westley slows down enough to be photographed, he’s about as derpy as it’s possible to get.
Honestly, can you believe this pair are littermates?
And whenever I have the camera out, Buttercup is somewhere else, damn it. Or she moves before I can take the photo. Like just now, the three of them were investigating the new heater, and were far too active for me to actually get a shot.
Still, here’s the new heater :
With a bonus Buttercup sitting on my laptop and a bit of the old beastie in the background.
Enjoy the kitties.
Mad Genius Club 
Westley sez blerp!
And says it with great focus and intent.
And cuteness!
I just discovered to my horror and delight that my daughter in law has never seen The Princess Bride. We are planning a reunion later this month and it will be slated for first up on movie night. Remastered blue ray.
I shall do my level best not to speak during the running, but expect I might fall short at least once or twice.
Thought based on you cats’ names you might find this interesting.
Indeed. Her Royal Highness Princess Buttercup got her name because she was a demanding little princess from the start (and beautiful, of course). So naturally, when Westley showed signs of alternating between shy retiring Farm Boy and Dread Kittehness, he became the Dread Kitty Westley.
My husband named Midnight 🙂
My husband introduced an entire office of “youngsters” to The Princess Bride followed by Yul Brynner and Gene Kelly.
They went forth and did likewise to their non-geek social groups. 😉
Excellent names for cats, and congrats on the new heater. I love heaters, and want to have one in every room, but then my husband points out that we live in Florida, so…
As an aside, I have been ordered by the Beautiful but Evil Space Princess to inform you that I need the next 5 Con Vampire books in the series delivered ASAP. I enjoy the books, and keep them on my Kindle for when I need to read something fun. Also, if you ever need a secretary bird who may be a dragon in any of your books, I can probably help with that.
Hole in pipe from lack of pilot light? Huh??
I have never had this problem….
If you turn the pilot light off, the pipes bringing the gas to your heater are more prone to corrosion. Which leads to holes. I don’t know the exact mechanism, but the pipes are copper, and the system is designed to have a small flow of gas at all times.
When we bought the house, we didn’t know this. We shut off the pilot light and turned off gas flow at the tank. When we tried to turn everything back on the following winter, we couldn’t: the heater needed to be cleaned and reconditioned because it had sat idle for 6 months, and there were holes in the gas pipes.
I’m presuming that if they’re not full of propane, the pipes end up full of air, and the air includes whatever pollutants and oxidizing agents it normally carries (including water). After a while, that causes corrosion, which causes holes.
Since then, losing the pilot means we get it fixed ASAP.
Ha! I have new desktop wallpaper now. That little pink tongue is just too cute.
Oh, that little pink tongue is positively adorable.
I’m surprised it doesn’t dry out, as much time as it spends poking out like that.
If the cats are prone to jumping onto the top of the heater check the temperature there and if it is too warm for little paws make plans to avoid burns.
We had similar warnings about not using the gas, both for copper and iron pipes. A bit of use would keep the condensation from accumulating.
Cat genetics being what they are, it doesn’t surprise me in the least that Midnight and Wesley look so different. I’ve also read where a litter might have kittens from two sires.
My wife and I kinda wonder about that with our cats, who are from the same litter, because of their size and weight. Shadow’s a sleek, ten pound sleek ball of gray fur, while Furball is a slightly fluffier fifteen pound ball of gray fur with white paws. Our vet thinks Furball might be part Maine coon because Furball is so heavy and it doesn’t seem to be fat.
Hang on… HOW does “pilot light off” mean “holes in pipes”?
The water heater’s pilot stays on because water heater. The furnace (“high efficiency” which means “sound-deadened pulsejet” has its own ignition. The last place I lived had no issue with the furnace pilot being full OFF for the Summer.
Probably depends on how much condensation shows up inside the pipe.
That said, I wonder if you couldn’t just put some kind of drying agent in there, and change it out periodically so that condensation wouldn’t stay on the pipes.
When I re-plumbed the gas pipes for the laundry room, the inspector recommended that instead of a 90° ‘L’ at the end I should put a ‘T’ with a 2″ pipe and cap on the bottom arm to trap any debris that got into the gas pipes. Such an arrangement would also trap water if it condensed inside. Any corrosion should be limited to the end cap, or at most the short pipe, which are easy to replace.
Copper pipes for gas?!? I’ve never understood why black iron is better than galvanized (my house has some of both), but I’ve never heard of copper for gas. How do you join it? Sweating gas pipes seems hazardous to one’s health, much like welding a gas tank.