Russian Steam Bath

Our Office kitchen looks innocent enough, with the little steam-heat radiator under the window. Yesterday, however, we arrived to find a window blown wide open and 18 degree f. outside temperatures were inside. We closed the window and turned on the oven to begin warming the icy room.

In less than an hour, someone found the kitchen floor FLOODING furiously. The tidy little radiator was spewing hot water with the force of a strong garden house. It was impossible to get at the leak so we organized a sloppy sort of bucket brigade. Lots of mopping, raised voices, and frantic emptying of heavy basins. (Nothing like the buttoned up look in the previous post!) The whole room was a steam bath!

Two men from Public Works arrived, couldn't turn it off, and left. Before long, the entire building had the hot water shut off and the flooding finally stopped. Our PW men returned with a new radiator, attached it, the water came back on, we dried out everything, and we're back to business as usual.