One of the best things (maybe the best thing) about moving into the Cabana Beach Condos is the friendship that developed between Kim, Bryan and myself. Once I returned from my Christmas/New Year holiday and began building and replacing the railings, Kim and Bryan told me they were going to be going to visit Kim’s mom in Vancouver, BC for about 2 and a half months and would I be interested in managing the condo for them while they’re gone. Things like setting the trash and recyclables out for pick up, greeting new quests, paying the electric bills, scheduling the cleaning lady between quests, and just generally being available and seeing to the needs of the condo and its quests. In return for this and for my labor of replacing the railings, they would have me move into their third floor 2 bedroom unit and stay there for free. Sounded like a fair exchange to me.
So when it came time for them to leave I moved all my stuff into their place and moved my workbench and tools to their front deck and began my management duties along with my carpenter duties. The first week was a piece of cake. No issues at all. Then a couple moved into one of the ground level one bedroom units and that’s when things began to get interesting. The couple were from Quebec, Canada. The wife spoke some English but her first language was French. The husband only spoke French. So right away we’ve got some communication issues as I only understand and speak English except for a tiny bit of Spanish. Mario and Clare had been there a day and I got a call that they needed a new coffee pot. So I went down and Clare pointed out a small, almost invisible crack in the glass pot. It wasn’t leaking and otherwise was still serviceable. But, subscribing to the notion that “the customer is always right”, I rode my bicycle into town in search of a new pot. Well of course I couldn’t find just the pot and ended up purchasing a complete new coffee maker to replace the one in their unit. Two days later, I got a call just before noon that they were almost out of propane for the range and she wanted to make lunch and was afraid it would run out before she was done. Since there were no gauges indicating how much gas was left in the tank I asked how she knew it was almost empty. Most people just wait for it to actually run out before replacing. She explained that they were used to propane and she could tell by the weight of the tank that it was almost empty. I didn’t argue, but just went to the little convenience store close by and exchanged the tank for a full one. Clare seemed to think that I was her personal servant. The next thing was that their internet connection was too weak and slow. Admittedly, the wireless connection from the wireless router on the upper floor was a bit weak. So the most expedient thing for me to do was run a hard wire down from the upstairs router down to their unit. I contacted Kim and Bryan’s internet guy to see if he could come out to run the wire. No, he was on another job and it would be a couple of days before he could get out. But… If I were to go to his shop in town, I could buy the Cat5 cable I needed. So off to town to buy the cable. After finally making my needs known to the Spanish only speaking woman in his shop I got the 50 feet of cable I needed. But I still needed the connectors on each end of the cable and she couldn’t do that. But she sent me to another place that could. So about 2 hours later I was back and the cable was strung from the router, down the outside wall and into the kitchen window of Mario and Clare’s unit. I could tell this couple was not going to be easy or fun to deal with. And they were due to be there for at least 2 months.
The next thing to happen just a couple days later was that I was washing dishes about 11:30 before going to bed and there was no water pressure. This condo relies on a catchment system to collect rain water from roof run off into a 2500 gallon storage tank. Then an electric pump takes water from that storage tank and pumps in into a smaller tank called an accumulator. It has two chambers separated by a rubber diaphragm and each half of this tank is about 150 gallons. As the pump puts water into one chamber the diaphragm expands into the sealed empty chamber. Once the pressure reaches about 55 pounds per square inch, the pump shuts off and a check valve prevents the pressurized water from flowing back through the pump. The pressurized water in the tank is connected to the buildings plumbing and water then flows throughout the building to take showers, wash dishes, and flush toilets. When water is used the pressure in the tank begins to drop. When it reaches about 30 psi a pressure switch on the pump turns the pump back on and more water is pumped into the accumulator. This works quite nicely. That is until one of two things happens. Either the area doesn’t receive enough rain to keep the storage tank full or the pump doesn’t run. Because it had been an unusually dry spring, either of these causes were a possibility. The pump and accumulator tank are located in a small building (bodega) just a few feet from condo. I grabbed a flashlight and headed down the two flights of stairs to the bodega to investigate. Next to the bodega is the storage tank and I thumped on the outside and though the tank was only about one third full, it did have water in it so that was not the problem. I next unlock the bodega and since there are no lights in the building I peered in with the flashlight and confirmed that the pump was not running and the system pressure gauge was reading “0”. I spent some time bypassing the pumps pressure switch and the thermo overload protector to make sure that was not the issue. It wasn’t. The motor itself was quite hot but not running. So I turned the electrical breaker off. The pump wasn’t working. Why I didn’t know. But at 2am there wasn’t anything I could do so I retired to bed but didn’t get much sleep. What was I to do? I’m not very familiar with the area. Could I find someone to check it out? Could I find a new water pump if needed.
Early the next morning I had to cut the PVC pipe running from the pump outlet to the accumulator and unscrew the supply pipe as there was a union type connector for that. After disconnecting the electrical wires I was able to get the pump out into the light of day and take it apart enough to tell that it had “frozen up”. I couldn’t turn the impeller no matter how hard I tried. The pump would have to be replaced.
So when it came time for them to leave I moved all my stuff into their place and moved my workbench and tools to their front deck and began my management duties along with my carpenter duties. The first week was a piece of cake. No issues at all. Then a couple moved into one of the ground level one bedroom units and that’s when things began to get interesting. The couple were from Quebec, Canada. The wife spoke some English but her first language was French. The husband only spoke French. So right away we’ve got some communication issues as I only understand and speak English except for a tiny bit of Spanish. Mario and Clare had been there a day and I got a call that they needed a new coffee pot. So I went down and Clare pointed out a small, almost invisible crack in the glass pot. It wasn’t leaking and otherwise was still serviceable. But, subscribing to the notion that “the customer is always right”, I rode my bicycle into town in search of a new pot. Well of course I couldn’t find just the pot and ended up purchasing a complete new coffee maker to replace the one in their unit. Two days later, I got a call just before noon that they were almost out of propane for the range and she wanted to make lunch and was afraid it would run out before she was done. Since there were no gauges indicating how much gas was left in the tank I asked how she knew it was almost empty. Most people just wait for it to actually run out before replacing. She explained that they were used to propane and she could tell by the weight of the tank that it was almost empty. I didn’t argue, but just went to the little convenience store close by and exchanged the tank for a full one. Clare seemed to think that I was her personal servant. The next thing was that their internet connection was too weak and slow. Admittedly, the wireless connection from the wireless router on the upper floor was a bit weak. So the most expedient thing for me to do was run a hard wire down from the upstairs router down to their unit. I contacted Kim and Bryan’s internet guy to see if he could come out to run the wire. No, he was on another job and it would be a couple of days before he could get out. But… If I were to go to his shop in town, I could buy the Cat5 cable I needed. So off to town to buy the cable. After finally making my needs known to the Spanish only speaking woman in his shop I got the 50 feet of cable I needed. But I still needed the connectors on each end of the cable and she couldn’t do that. But she sent me to another place that could. So about 2 hours later I was back and the cable was strung from the router, down the outside wall and into the kitchen window of Mario and Clare’s unit. I could tell this couple was not going to be easy or fun to deal with. And they were due to be there for at least 2 months.
The next thing to happen just a couple days later was that I was washing dishes about 11:30 before going to bed and there was no water pressure. This condo relies on a catchment system to collect rain water from roof run off into a 2500 gallon storage tank. Then an electric pump takes water from that storage tank and pumps in into a smaller tank called an accumulator. It has two chambers separated by a rubber diaphragm and each half of this tank is about 150 gallons. As the pump puts water into one chamber the diaphragm expands into the sealed empty chamber. Once the pressure reaches about 55 pounds per square inch, the pump shuts off and a check valve prevents the pressurized water from flowing back through the pump. The pressurized water in the tank is connected to the buildings plumbing and water then flows throughout the building to take showers, wash dishes, and flush toilets. When water is used the pressure in the tank begins to drop. When it reaches about 30 psi a pressure switch on the pump turns the pump back on and more water is pumped into the accumulator. This works quite nicely. That is until one of two things happens. Either the area doesn’t receive enough rain to keep the storage tank full or the pump doesn’t run. Because it had been an unusually dry spring, either of these causes were a possibility. The pump and accumulator tank are located in a small building (bodega) just a few feet from condo. I grabbed a flashlight and headed down the two flights of stairs to the bodega to investigate. Next to the bodega is the storage tank and I thumped on the outside and though the tank was only about one third full, it did have water in it so that was not the problem. I next unlock the bodega and since there are no lights in the building I peered in with the flashlight and confirmed that the pump was not running and the system pressure gauge was reading “0”. I spent some time bypassing the pumps pressure switch and the thermo overload protector to make sure that was not the issue. It wasn’t. The motor itself was quite hot but not running. So I turned the electrical breaker off. The pump wasn’t working. Why I didn’t know. But at 2am there wasn’t anything I could do so I retired to bed but didn’t get much sleep. What was I to do? I’m not very familiar with the area. Could I find someone to check it out? Could I find a new water pump if needed.
Early the next morning I had to cut the PVC pipe running from the pump outlet to the accumulator and unscrew the supply pipe as there was a union type connector for that. After disconnecting the electrical wires I was able to get the pump out into the light of day and take it apart enough to tell that it had “frozen up”. I couldn’t turn the impeller no matter how hard I tried. The pump would have to be replaced.
I grabbed some cash from the emergency supply Kim had left for me and road into town to the first hardware store I came to. “You got any 220 volt water pumps?” Luckily the proprietor spoke pretty good English and sure enough, for $300 he had 220 volt one horsepower pump. The inlet and output were just a bit smaller than the old horse and half pump and it was about half the physical size so I was a little nervous about buying it. But at least it was close enough to give it a try. I also bought the necessary reducing bushings and a proper union for the pressure side so that pump could be removed without cutting pipes. The pump was too large and heavy to put in my back pack so, Richard, the proprietor, volunteered one of his staff to load it in their truck and deliver it to the condo about 2 miles away. I proceeded to install the pump and by about 1pm, the building again had water. And the smaller pump actually performed better than the larger pump had. I knew this because we had had earlier problems with the system requiring the replacement of the pressure switch and I had timed the cycling of the pump. The new pump only took about 2/3rds as much time to build pressure to the 55 psi cutoff point. Mario and Clare, Clare mostly grumbled because they couldn’t take showers but were appreciative the I was able to solve the problem relatively quickly. They hadn’t been in Bocas del Toro long enough to understand that this repair happened at lightning speed compared to most problems in this part of the world. One thing you learn here is patients, or you go crazy.
Water issues are over. Right? Wrong? About 2 or 3 days later, again there was no water. But this time it was because the storage tank had run dry. This was turning out to be a nightmare! Through the help of the woman that was doing the cleaning who, though American, spoke fluent Spanish, I was able to contact someone that could bring us water. I bought what was supposed to be 300 gallons of water for $40, but as there was no flow meter in their pumping system from their tank, I have no idea how much we got. This was about 10am and by about 6pm, again we were out of water and basically there was no one around to be using water as all of the tenants were away for the day and I hadn’t been using any. The water was going somewhere, but where. I went around and made sure that none of the spigots were leaking or none of the toilet flapper valves were leaking. Nothing in the building was leaking and yet I could watch the system pressure gauge slowly drop from the 55lb shut off to the 30lb where the pump turned on. It took the pump about 45 seconds to bring the pressure back up and about 4 and one half minutes for it to drop to the 30lb level. There obviously was a leak somewhere. But where. I called the plumber that Kim and Bryan use and who was somewhat familiar with the system and he came out and confirmed my earlier diagnosis of a leak in the supply pipe to the building. But he didn’t know where the pipe ran or where it entered the building. He wanted to see the plans for the building and I contacted Kim and she told me where to find them. I called the plumber and said I had the plans. He said he’d be out the next day. Three days later and several phone calls still didn’t make the plumber appear. He obviously didn’t want to take on the job. But rather than tell me that, he just kept saying he would come out but didn’t show up. I looked at the drawings myself and determined where the supply pipe entered the building. I next learned of a young gringo that did odd jobs and he came out and the two of use found were the supply pipe which was covered with about a 4” thick concrete side walk was leaking. Garret when into town and purchased a 4lb hammer and a chisel and returned to start breaking up the sidewalk in the area we suspected the leak was. About an hour later, sure enough, there was a 90 degree elbow that had cracked and leaking.
Water issues are over. Right? Wrong? About 2 or 3 days later, again there was no water. But this time it was because the storage tank had run dry. This was turning out to be a nightmare! Through the help of the woman that was doing the cleaning who, though American, spoke fluent Spanish, I was able to contact someone that could bring us water. I bought what was supposed to be 300 gallons of water for $40, but as there was no flow meter in their pumping system from their tank, I have no idea how much we got. This was about 10am and by about 6pm, again we were out of water and basically there was no one around to be using water as all of the tenants were away for the day and I hadn’t been using any. The water was going somewhere, but where. I went around and made sure that none of the spigots were leaking or none of the toilet flapper valves were leaking. Nothing in the building was leaking and yet I could watch the system pressure gauge slowly drop from the 55lb shut off to the 30lb where the pump turned on. It took the pump about 45 seconds to bring the pressure back up and about 4 and one half minutes for it to drop to the 30lb level. There obviously was a leak somewhere. But where. I called the plumber that Kim and Bryan use and who was somewhat familiar with the system and he came out and confirmed my earlier diagnosis of a leak in the supply pipe to the building. But he didn’t know where the pipe ran or where it entered the building. He wanted to see the plans for the building and I contacted Kim and she told me where to find them. I called the plumber and said I had the plans. He said he’d be out the next day. Three days later and several phone calls still didn’t make the plumber appear. He obviously didn’t want to take on the job. But rather than tell me that, he just kept saying he would come out but didn’t show up. I looked at the drawings myself and determined where the supply pipe entered the building. I next learned of a young gringo that did odd jobs and he came out and the two of use found were the supply pipe which was covered with about a 4” thick concrete side walk was leaking. Garret when into town and purchased a 4lb hammer and a chisel and returned to start breaking up the sidewalk in the area we suspected the leak was. About an hour later, sure enough, there was a 90 degree elbow that had cracked and leaking.
There had been a minor earthquake a few weeks earlier and I suspect that’s when it all started. Initially the leak was pretty small as the pipe and fitting were encased in concrete. But over time it started to erode this away and it was leaking at a pretty good rate. Garret was able to open up enough room to replace the broken elbow and finally the water issue really was fixed. And luckily, it started raining sufficiently to keep the tank full of water from then on.
Mario and Clare, as you can imagine, were less than understanding through all of this and negotiated with Kim to get out of their commitment to stay and moved out shortly thereafter. I can’t say that I was disappointed. I next ordered and installed an electronic gauge in the storage tank with a Bluetooth readout in Kim and Bryan’s unit. Now the water supply could be easily and accurately monitored and if something like this happens in the future it could be detected early enough for preemptive preventative measures.
None of us had any idea that my first stint at property management would be so exciting and stressful. But Kim and Bryan were most appreciative and once it was behind me it gave me a good feeling that I had handled it about as well as anyone could have, given the same circumstances.
My resume just keeps getting more varied.
Mario and Clare, as you can imagine, were less than understanding through all of this and negotiated with Kim to get out of their commitment to stay and moved out shortly thereafter. I can’t say that I was disappointed. I next ordered and installed an electronic gauge in the storage tank with a Bluetooth readout in Kim and Bryan’s unit. Now the water supply could be easily and accurately monitored and if something like this happens in the future it could be detected early enough for preemptive preventative measures.
None of us had any idea that my first stint at property management would be so exciting and stressful. But Kim and Bryan were most appreciative and once it was behind me it gave me a good feeling that I had handled it about as well as anyone could have, given the same circumstances.
My resume just keeps getting more varied.