More Hot Water

The hot water phenomenon repeated itself.  Hot water was pouring through every wateroutlet in the house, even the toilet flush.  I checked the shower valve position and was now (scientifically) convinced that the drunkard utility man was insane.

Scientifically Certified

After experimenting with the one and only water valve that seems to have anything to do with the external water supply, I came to the following realizations:

• The one and only water valve only controls the flow of hot water into the apartment;
• There is some sort of post-hot-water-valve linkage between hot and cold water pipes that mixes waters of different temperatures within the apartment;
• When the hot water supply is very hot, it overwhelms the system and makes all water (hot and erstwhile cold) very hot.
• If I reduce the hot water pressure into the apartment through the one and only valve, the cold water pressure prevails to the point that only lukewarm water comes out of the cold water taps.

And as such, I have learned to live with being in constant hot water.  This experience reinforces a lesson I learned with servicing my own high-speed internet connection in my previous apartment*.  Namely, one has to be a handy and crafty vigilante (at least) in utility matters in Russia.

V is for Vigilante

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* In my previous apartment, I noticed that my high-speed internet modem kept resetting.  I got nowhere with my ISP after repeated calls (pretty much like the US).  I came to the conclusion that one potential reason for the constat resets (hence an unusable internet link) was a noisy line.  Being that my signal came through the old-fashion coaxial cable, I traced the line back to the utility closet.  There, I found splitter after splitter after splitter, with my connection sitting at the end point, hence getting the weakest signal.  Practicing vigilantism, I reconnected myself further upstream, thereby tapping into a stronger connection.  Problem solved - and I got my first lesson in becoming a Russian.