When we built our house, eve troughs were not included in the deal. And we understood that. If we wanted eve troughs, we would have to take care of that ourselves.

Now, one of the contributing factors for installing the eve troughs was the grill. I like to grill. I grill year round, rain or shine. But, I don’t like getting wet. So, I wanted to keep the grill under the eves so I can grill and not get wet.

Unfortunately, there was not enough room for both me and the grill under the eves so part of the grill would have to sit out in the rain. But with the installation of the eve troughs, I wouldn’t have to worry about rain water cascading off of the roof and on to the grill.

Since I was quite handy and since eve troughs were available from the local Home Depot, I decided to tackle the job my self.

Now, the eve troughs that I bought were made out of vinyl. And the instructions were quite simple. You measured the length of your run, calculated how much drop you needed, hung your brackets every few feet and you were good to go. From there on out, everything just snapped together.

And, the system worked fairly well. Granted, there were some minor design changes, but all and all, the system worked.

When the first rain storm came, and I needed to grill, I headed out the back door of the garage and lit the grill. Closing the lid, I went back inside and waited for it to heat up. Once it was hot, I headed out with tongs and a plate of chicken.

As I was about to lift the lid, I felt an icy stab in the back. Startled, I looked up. There were water droplets on the bottom of the trough. What was this? Was it leaking?

After some consideration I determined that it was condensation. But as I scanned the rest of the trough, I noticed that it only seemed to be dripping where I was grilling. Rats. And while I realized that propane had a high moisture content, I would have thought that the humidity was already at 100%.

Maybe there was a design flaw. Maybe I didn’t put enough angle for proper drainage.

I noticed that the area by the dining room slider was not dripping. Maybe that would be a better spot for the grill. So, the next day, when the weather cleared, I moved the grill.

When the next rainy day for grilling arrived, I headed out armed with tongs and a plate of chicken. As I was putting the chicken on the grill, I felt a cold drop of water hit the back of my neck. Then another. And another after that. I couldn’t put that chicken on fast enough. Bah!

What gives? I checked my original spot by the garage door. It was perfectly dry. I walked around the house under the eves. No moisture. Must be the propane.

When the next rainy grill day arrived, I went outside to light the grill. But, before I lit it, I checked the eve troughs. They were dripping even though I hadn’t lit the grill. Well, so much for the propane theory.

After 20 years of dripping on me, we decided to replace the eve troughs with some professionally installed ones that were metal and had gutter guards. And hopefully, the new ones wouldn’t drip on me.

But alas, no. The only spot that they drip is the spot where the grill is located. And they drip whether the grill is lit or not.

Like the bread always landing jell side down, so too, the eve troughs always drip by the grill.

Quantum mechanics!