Our Paris Apartment II, or How We Met Five Different Plumbers and Three Different Electricians in the Middle of a Paris Heatwave

 In my first post shortly after arriving in Paris, I said something about the fact that the elevator had been out of service for a few days.  I didn't want to complain too much because I was happy and excited and felt so lucky, but sometimes you have to lay out the unvarnished truth:  this apartment has some issues.

The main saga started about two and half weeks ago, as I recall.  I received a call at work from the gardien of the building asking if I was home.  I told her I was at work.  She does not speak English and my French is limited, as you know, so when she explained that a plumber needed access to our apartment, I could not glean the details or nuances of the situation from our phone conversation.  I did not feel like I could tell her to wait until the evening, so I left work right away to go back home.  I arrived back and let the waiting plumber into our apartment.  There was no problem that I could see, but the plumber explained that there was a leak from our apartment into the apartment below, and that it was causing damage.  I needed to contact the owner or manager of our apartment to obtain permission to do the necessary work.  In the meantime, the water to our apartment would be turned off.  (The plumber explained how I could turn on the water for "emergency usage," but that I should turn it off again immediately.  Didn't quite know what to make of that and wasn't sure what constituted "emergency usage").

I was able to obtain the permission fairly quickly, but the apartment manager wanted to send a different plumber instead.  (I inferred later that the first plumber was called by our downstairs neighbors, but was not the normal plumber that our property manager used.).  He arrived later that afternoon to assess the situation.  The assessment was, more or less, several deep sighs punctuated with mutterings of "tres compliquee, tres compliquee,..." 

He said he would come back in the morning at 10am to fix the leak.  And, by the way, Madame, could you stay at home from work tomorrow, as well?  I worked at home the next day, waiting for the plumber to arrive.  Finally at 5pm, I received a call that they would arrive in one hour.  ("Desole, la circulation..."). Two plumbers came and fixed the problem within about 45 minutes.  The water was turned back on.  A day and a half of limited water usage and enforced work-from-home, but otherwise, not a major inconvenience.

We were happy to be able to take showers again since the temperature had been creeping up and would exceed 90 degrees the next day.  We caught up on laundry and dishes (which we had been unable to do).  We went to a (non-air-conditioned) concert that evening and were happy to take long, cool showers before bed.  Settled in and falling to sleep, we were awoken by a loud knock on the door at midnight.  It was the downstairs neighbor.  The leak had apparently not been fixed.  He had been away and just arrived back to more dripping and water damage in his apartment.  Could we turn off the water again immediately?

The next day was a Sunday, and we were told by the manager that nothing was going to be fixed or resolved until Monday.  We were, again, without water as the heatwave continued.  

On Monday morning, a different set of plumbers arrived.  They also emphasized how complicated the job would be, and that special equipment would be necessary.  A couple of more visits and WFH days, and we were finally told that the problem had been solved.  And not a moment too early--the daily highs continued to be in the 90s and there was not a break in sight.  (Perhaps I should remind readers at this point that we do not have air conditioning in our apartment or offices.).   Almost as soon as the plumbers packed up and left, I started running the water for a highly-anticipated shower to cool off.  

During the shower, I noticed a strange sensation that I dismissed at first.  I thought that, perhaps, there was a sharp edge on the shower fixture that I was rubbing up against and getting scratched by.  It happened a couple more times and, if anything seemed to be getting worse.  I thought it was time to end the shower and get out, but as I reached over to turn off the water, I received what felt like a very strong static electricity shock.  Static electricity in the shower??  I reached over again and was shocked again.  And a third time.  I grabbed a dry washcloth to turn off the shower (and mitigate the shock, I hoped) and called Glenn.  He quickly assessed the situation:  somehow, in the work that the plumbers had done, they had likely allowed an uninsulated wire to come into contact with the plumbing system.  The shower fixtures were conducting electricity from our apartment's electrical system.   

Incredulous, we emailed the property manager once again.  We said (very clearly we thought) that this situation was not safe and needed to be addressed immediately.  Somehow, we imagined that an emergency crew would be called in to diagnose and fix the problem right away and that we would be given hotel vouchers or other alternative housing in the meantime.  Well, that's not exactly what happened.

The first electrician he called in (the next day, another WFH day) said that the current was not strong enough to cause injury and that we should just make sure not to stand on the metal drain covering while we were showering.  (He tested the current when everything was dry, not after running the shower for a few minutes or with wet feet and hands.). We said that was not acceptable.  A second electrician would be able to come by on Monday--could I please be at home to meet him?  As the thermometer inched into the mid-90's, we decided that we would not be staying at the apartment over the weekend.  Our friends Esther and Abhijit offered the use of their apartment in the 15th for the weekend, which we gladly accepted.  

We were back in time to meet the next electrician on Monday morning at 8am.  I was prepared to do a full demonstration of the problem, involving running the shower for a few minutes, but after a couple of quick checks, he told me that it was not necessary.  He explained that nothing in the apartment was grounded (he walked around repeating "pas de terre") and that it was not normal (also repeating "pas normal").  He did not have the supplies to fix the problem with him but could return on Thursday.  Even though the prospect of not having a usable shower for another three days was almost more than I could take, I at least felt relief that he recognized and understood the problem.  

As it turns out, the property manager decided to describe the findings of the plumber #2 to plumber #1 and his colleague plumber #3 so we did not have to wait until Thursday.  Plumbers #1 and 2 came the next morning (WFH again) and were able to connect the system to the building's ground wire, just in time for the heatwave to break.  We have, though, had several blissful showerful and shock-free days since then.  

We are trying to decide when to mention a small issue with the plumbing ventilation in the 7th floor bathroom to the property manager.  I think we'll wait a while.