A Dry Forty-Degree Week Still Floods the Floor

Last week in Battle Creek was quiet on the radar and loud on the thermostat. Monday opened near 63/46 under clear skies. Tuesday was the killer: a high near 69 and a low around 40, the coldest reading of the week, with gusts near 22 mph and zero rain. Wednesday warmed into the mid-70s with a 25-mph gust, then Thursday cooled to the upper 60s. Friday and Saturday stayed mostly dry with only a trace of drizzle, highs near 68 and 76, and lows in the low-to-mid 40s into the mid-50s. Sunday added about eight hundredths of an inch of drizzle on a muggy 67/55 day. That is not a storm week. It is a cold-tank week. The water that wrecks the floor this time comes from inside the heater, not the sky.

Cold nights mean longer showers and a tank that has to work harder while the garage and utility room sit colder. An 8-to-12-year-old heater, rust at the base, a wet ring on the floor, or a T&P valve that drips when nobody is home is how a quiet Tuesday turns into a soaked floor by the weekend. Look at the floor and the bottom of the tank this week. If it is wet where it should be dry, or the unit is past its window, call A.W. Crooks. We are 24/7 residential plumbing and HVAC in Battle Creek and the surrounding areas, and we do not add a weekend tax during hours. The $99 water heater check is live on tctcinc.com/specials: flush, T&P, look at the tank and the floor. Not a new heater. Parts and repairs not included.

Same walk after a dry week that still ran heat hard: the furnace. Ten minutes on heat. Walk to the unit. You want a clean start, no water on the floor, no burning-dust panic that will not quit. The Fall $99 furnace and $199 boiler tune-ups cover one system check. Repairs not included. Sunday's light drizzle is also worth a glance at the sump crock and the discharge hose in the yard, even when the week looked dry on the radar.

Wednesday's 25-mph gust and the midweek wind trip outdoor disconnects and breakers that will not reset. That is The Michigan Electric Company, residential and light commercial electrical and panels, same number. Generators are A.W. Crooks.

If you are building or running commercial or new-construction plumbing, that is The Plumbing Company, not Crooks. Not 24/7. One call center reaches all three.