Not technically my house, it’s my parents. But I live here so… its still my “home” for the forseeable future.
(My older brother is still living here too lol, so is my maternal grandmother)
So dad was using some weird temporary fix thing on the heater (like the thing in the basement hat heats your entire house), and now it finally officially stopped working.
I feel like I’ve been living in slums for the most of my life lol.
Not really slum-slum, but kinda feels like it.
House looks so… like broken…
spider webs everywhere in the corners lol, so much pest infestation
bathtub water leaking issues
I’m not trying to complain, hey, at least I’m not out on the street and homeless… so I guess I’ll take that… 🤷♂️
But still…
Still… I’m basically just hiding in one room with the space heater turned on… don’t wanna even step outside the room.
This is making my depression much worse… idk why… like I always feel very very depressed at nights and in winters, and when I’m not in the right temperature, extreme colds and extreme heat…
and it just snowed, so…
ugh…
can’t even touch grass… unless I wanna freeze outside and touch snow…
or accidentally stemp on frozen water and fall and then I’d cry…
so…
yeah…
Political atmosphere is just the icing on top of this cake of misery
plus the occasional verbal abuse from family members
(pls don’t tell me something condesending like “just move out lolz” rent costs the same as an average monthly paycheck, not to mention, the utilities service fees that they charge even with 0 usage)
Anyways, greetings from Philly
I hate my life… even though I know a lot of people had it much worse so I have no right to complain really.
Still depressed tho… 🫠
Did you see the thread on electric blankets? Absolute game changer, especially when room temps are kept low, and much cheaper to purchase and maintain than most other heating solutions. You don’t need to keep it on your bed either; wrap yourself in an electric blanket with a thick blanket or two (or even a comforter) on top to insulate it when you’re on the couch or at a desk. It’s the closet thing the Western world has to a kotatsu in terms of comfort. Bonus tip: wear heavy clothes and crank up the dial and marinate in the heat until you’re uncomfortable, and you’ll feel ready to venture into the rest of the freezing house, at least for a little while.
S.A.D. is a real thing during winter. It may not be grass but get as much sun on your skin as you can during the day. Take vitamin A-E supplements if you can afford them, with a focus on the D. I’ve been there, friend.
During rough winters, I boarded up my kitchen windows/doors with plastic and just lived in there. The fridge puts off a decent amount of heat and I set the oven to 120°F if needed and just paced around the kitchen. Put all your oven safe pots and pans in there to act like a heat sink and slightly open the oven door.
Don’t get me wrong, it was still depressing as fuck but I was warm, surrounded by snacks, and I’m still here to tell the tale.
I would suggest an inexpensive CO2 detector because I’m sure there were a few times I almost giggled myself out of existence.
You got this. I believe in you.
I set the oven to 120°F
Bro 💀
Nah, I don’t really wanna die yet. I’ll just hide in a room with the space heater on and close the doors and windows.
RIP Electric Bills tho (lets hope my parents don’t make me pay them, I’m broke af)
even though I know a lot of people had it much worse so I have no right to complain really
I think it’s very cool that you are more than aware of other people’s worse conditions and also wise to be grateful for things we do have.
But your pain is still real, and shouldn’t be invalidated by that ime. I mean, should the second worst off person in the world not acknowledge their pain, because there’s someone worse off?
I hope some of these other comments in this thread were/will be helpful for you :)
Any idea what’s causing it? If youve got a multimeter (you can get a cheap one at Walmart etc, you dont have to spend out on a Klein or Fluke) we could walk you through some basic tests
Im sorry youre dealing with all this <3
I feel so embarassed to say this, so pls don’t judge, but I have no clue how any of that heating stuff works. 👀
My dad has always fixed those things (he isn’t exactly an expert on those thing either)
For context: My age is like 20-25. I’ve never really looked at those things before since those things always looks kinda dangerous.
The closest thing I’ve done of that sort was flip the circuit breaker off and back on when it tripped.
I also don’t really know how cars work (don’t have a license either) other than like filling gas.
I feel like I don’t even qualify to be a dude lol. I’m like the least “masculine” dude you’ll ever meet.
Thats okay! I was 30 before I learned any of it. Now im a licensed electrician :) the fun thing about learning is you never have to stop!
YouTube goes a long ways, too.
When you get some time, take a look at the heater. There might be a panel on it with a circuit breaker like youre used to. Is it off or tripped (the handles are in the middle position, between on and off)? We can start from there and work our way through it. The panel youre looking for likely has a hump to it and is held in place by a screw or two. When you get it off and find the breaker, please stop poking around with a screwdriver.
These things aren’t magic, theyre machines full of bits that fail and replacing those bits goes a long way :) that being said, electricity does like to kill people and start fires. We’re looking for where the electricity is supposed to be, and then backing off.
No time to learn like the present.
Heaters that new will have a diagram on the inside of the main panel, with a chart explaining what the diagnostic LED’s mean.
Anything you want to know about your exact heater is an internet search away. Most likely someone’s done a video on how to read the diagnostic lights (these things are stupid simple from an error perspective, there’s like 4 major systems that can fail, with few parts that can cause the failure).
Oil-fired systems are slightly more difficult to trouble-shoot than gas, but nothing to stop you. It’s almost always a controls failure.
If you choose to not learn this stuff it simply leaves you in your current predicament or at the mercy of whoever does know how to do something you don’t.
You have the world of information at your fingertips, and now with AI you could enter the exact model, the behaviour, and it’ll walk you through the exact next steps.
You’re cold right now because you chose to not even try to fix it.
spider webs everywhere in the corners
I know an easy fix for that.
bathtub water leaking issues
Depending where the leak is, this could be an easy fix.
I grew up poor (no indoor plumbing other than a kitchen sink until I was in my teens, most rooms did not have electricity) and had to learn how to fix stuff to survive. It helped when I moved out on my own and was able to save money by doing repairs myself.
I know an easy fix for that.
Ugh, I feel like I’m in a minecraft cave or something… like you could get rid of it, then 3-5 months later it spawns again…
whyyy lol
I remember in my ancestral home in Taishan, Guangdong, China, that place is like filled with spider webs near the ceiling of the house and like you need a roomstick to get rid of them.
Omg why I do feel like I live in some weird jungle or something where pests just like to SPAWN in here?
Is Philly a jungle? 🤔 (I mean it had trees before they cut them down to build houses… so I guess it technically is?)
Depending where the leak is, this could be an easy fix.
It’s like leaking below on to the 1st floor… like if you take too long in the shower or the water splashes in a certain way, it starts leaking… no clue how that works…
and sometimes it just clogs…
like it doesn’t drain fast enough vs the rate of water being filled…
and it starts leaking when the bathtub gets filled past a certain point (not even overflowing, just like… half way fill or something)
Dad had to fix these stuff because none of us knew how to nor want to.
I grew up poor (no indoor plumbing other than a kitchen sink until I was in my teens, most rooms did not have electricity)
Where?
Oh yea btw, there was no indoor bathrooms in rural China in 2000s, bit I think it had electricity some basic lighting, and a landline telephone. For bathrooms, its a shared communal bathroom.
like you could get rid of it, then 3-5 months later it spawns again.
Yeah, why wash your dishes, they will be dirty next time you eat. Either clean the spider webs, or stop complaining about them.
It’s like leaking below on to the 1st floor… like if you take too long in the shower or the water splashes in a certain way, it starts leaking… no clue how that works…
and sometimes it just clogs…
On the opposite side of the wall where the controls for the shower/tub are there should be an access panel (typical this is in a different room). Opening that and you may be able to see under the tub. If you look after it is used you may be able to see where the leak is originating. It could be something is loose, or there is a cracked pipe. It may also be fixed by getting a drain zip (long barbed piece of plastic you slide down the drain and then pull out, the barbs should hook a bunch of hair and pull it out. Once all that is gone it should help speed up drainage, and if the leak is small enough that may be enough. There are also drain plungers, like for your toilet but smaller and designed for sinks and tubs. Using that may push crud blocking the drain down the line, again speeding up drainage.
Where?
New Mexico
It’s like leaking below on to the 1st floor… like if you take too long in the shower or the water splashes in a certain way, it starts leaking… no clue how that works…
The silicone caulk that seals the gap between the top of the tub and the wall may have cracked. It’s a tedious task to scrape out old caulk (fresh doesn’t stick to dried silicone, so for repair all the old has to be removed), but ultimately not a difficult one. Applying new silicone is basically squeezing a tube around the tub edge, but requires some attention to detail - can’t leave any gaps - and for inexperienced people is pretty messy, getting silicone all over fingers smoothing and pushing into gaps while it’s still wet, and it never comes out of clothes so wear stuff you don’t care about when sealing.
