Life in China: A how-to guide... What to do when the heater explodes

That's right. EXPLODES. 

So, if perhaps your heater (that is run on steam and hot water) should break (maybe partly because you barely touched the screw/ pin that holds all that water in) and spray a geyser of hot water all over the place and flood your apartment... These are the things you should know.

Step 1.

Yell for help. This "adventure" would have been so much worse if the most amazing Sarah Roberts had not been there. 

Step 2.

Try to contain it. This isn't easy. You can put your finger over the hole, but be aware that the water is hot and there is a heck of a lot of pressure behind it. So while this method will work, it won't work forever. And by the end of it all you will have circles imprinted in your fingers from pressing so hard. My advice, find the pin if possible and try to at least put it back in the hole and use something (in our case, long underwear) to hold it in with. This is a lesson that took us a while, and caused many sore fingers. I was also told, after the fact, that a chopstick has been known to solve this problem as well.

Step 3.

While trying to contain it, call for help - you need someone who can turn the water off. Gerry was awesome and got us 4 repairmen (our friends - they come up a lot to check the heaters) up here in about 15-20 min.. that was a really long 15-20 min.

Step 4.

When help FINALLY arrives, let them take over and you begin the clean up process. Towels are a good place to start - also buckets. But your best friends are the broom and the sponge mop. So make a towel barrier (after you get all the water out of the living room and near the front door cleaned up - we had water all the way out onto the landing) and start pushing all the water into the bathroom so it can go down the drain. (You could enlist more help here, Chesney came to our aid and it was much more fun.) 

Step 5.

When all the water is cleaned up and your heater is repaired, begin on the laundry. SO MUCH LAUNDRY! Towels, bed stuff, clothes - all covered in plaster water... And when all the laundry is hung up to dry (cause remember you have no dryer) you can (if your mattress was thankfully spared like mine was - which is an incredibility in itself) put a sheet on the bed, find the only dry blankets left, borrow a pillow and go to bed.

Also, just an extra tip: don't run or walk too fast on wet floors... you will fall and hurt yourself.

This event happened on a Saturday night, in the middle of a 9 day work week. We are all so tired, but it definitely broke the monotony.

Enjoy some pictures of the aftermath.

It's a good thing they are fixing the walls next week, cause I destroyed them.

Demonstrating how we had to hold the pin in place. Notice the soaked clothes... I was drenched.

Wringing water out of my pants.

Chesney and her mop.