The Two Story House.

I just came back from a consultation in a ranch style house, but it had two stories. How can a ranch have two stories? His story and her story. The Mrs. called me in because she had concerns about brown stains the water caused in laundry and on fixtures. I tested the water and found 1/2 a part per million dissolved iron and 1/2 part per million precipitated iron. I discussed with the couple the solutions for the iron problem and that is when the Mr. informed me that there wasn't any problem. He brought me to the well tank and showed me the devices he had mounted on the outside of the plumbing. These devices were keeping the iron from staining anything, he informed me.

I did not argue with the man, I just went back to the kitchen where I had started my presentation, and I asked the Mrs. if she had to clean iron stains. She acknowledged the fact that she cleaned iron stains off of surfaces quite frequently (a couple times a week) and proceeded to make a display of 6 or 7 different products from abrasives to caustics to acids that she uses to get the job done. I read the labels aloud and asked the Mr. if he helped with the cleaning. No. Did he ever read the labels on these products? No. Was he at all concerned about his wife using all these chemicals? No.

I then cut my presentation at that point. There was no use going on since this man had absolutely no concern about his wife and her use of potentially harmful chemicals and he held the purse strings. I left my card and told them to call me if anything changed.

I can tell you that some of my best customers are recently divorced women who always wanted to fix some sort of water issue but had husbands who wouldn't do it. I don't believe that the discrepancy between these two about the water quality will cause a divorce, but I do believe it is a symptom of a man who really doesn't give a hoot about his wife. I never know what kind of problems I will run into when I go out to test someone's water.