I got up Tuesday at 5 a.m. as usual but when I came downstairs I could tell something was amiss. There was a strange musty smell in the house. I immediately accused the dogs of doing something to cause this but their bewildered looks told me that they were innocent - this time. I followed the smell to the garage, where I spied the water heater sitting in a puddle of leaking water. Dang! This is the third water heater to fail in the 21 years we've lived here. The water is really, really hard around here and I am told that is the cause of the water heaters rusting through. No going to work for me that day!
I briefly toyed with the thought of replacing the water heater myself. It is not a complicated task at all but being there by myself I didn't know if I would be able to get the new water heater up onto the 3ft high cubbyhole that it sits in without help. So I started calling the plumbers.
Guess what? We happen to live in an area zoned for only super low energy consumption water heaters! Hurray! that added about $300 to the price of the water heater. When the plumber who gave the lowest WH price showed up, I got more bad news: the house was not up to current codes. Hurray! I got to pay to have a pressure release line run outside the house and a few other issues resolved. Total tab was $1,600. For a stupid water heater. The good news is, is that the gas company will give us a $30 rebate for installing the energy efficient WH that we had no choice but to install. Hurray! It really made my day, let me tell you. The water heater is really efficient looking and modern appearing too. I go out into the garage a couple times a day now to look at it and bask in the glory of owning an energy efficient water heater in a house that is completely up to code.
While all that was going on I got a call from Best Buy to pick up Mary's laptop. It was fixed in only one week. Now that was good news! I saved $300 on the repair by having bought the extended warranty when I purchased the laptop. Two points for the Grouch.
A completely unrelated topic:
Listening to my iPod today I heard two songs from the"One On One" soundtrack: "John Wayne" and "Love Conquers All" both by Seals and Croft. This movie is a guilty pleasure for Mary and I; has anyone else seen this? Robbie Benson is in it before he made it big in "Beauty and the Beast".
Happy Thanksgiving to all!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Well, that just plain sucks. I live in constant fear of water-involving home disasters, and I'm convinced something like that will occur to me now that the Army Man is gone. The only positive thing I can say is that at least the water was in the garage and not in the house, destroying the floors.
ReplyDeleteI'll be sure to bask in the glow of your energy efficient water heater when I come to visit. Does this mean that there's now enough hot water for several people to take showers in a row? :)