Once again, the title I’ve tagged to this blog delivers a glancing blow to accuracy. Per usual, the problem I’m about to expose is less about my soft water system and more about me.
First,
a brief look at water softening systems. They’re tasked with removing minerals
that make domestic water “hard.” They do this by passing raw water through a
tank filled with resin beads that attract and hold those minerals. Over time,
the system saturates with what I will call “gunk” and requires flushing. Salt
is the agent used for that flushing. To that end, I’m regularly required to
purchase and pour salt pellets into a plastic tank feeding the system.
A
problem called “bridging” sometimes occurs inside the salt tank. Bridging
happens when water causes the loose salt to form a solid crust or mass, making
transfer into the beads ineffective.
On
occasion, this bridged salt must be broken apart. This is where you enter
Mitch, stage left. And this is where the danger comes in.
Yesterday,
my tool of choice for breaking up the salt was a long, serrated bread knife.
One
could argue that a knife of any kind should never be my tool of choice for
anything, but we are well beyond that point. I’ll spare you the precise details
of what followed. Let’s just say serrated knives, salt, and Mitch form a
disadvantaged mix. As you can see in the photograph I’ve posted, I now have a
bandage on the pinky finger of my left hand. And finally, that thing they say
about salt in the wound. I can confirm the accuracy of that claim.
—Mitchell
Hegman
No comments:
Post a Comment