Back in hot water

The 40 year-old water heater is gone at last. New water heater installed and things brought up to code in under an hour. That's good work. I guess there are people out there who actually care about the job they do. Not only did I get a major home appliance replaced in under 24 hours but my gas bill should be noticeably smaller with the more efficient heater.

kherr @ 14:48 CST | link | general

No longer in hot water

Our water heater has sprung a leak out of the drain valve which finally got too bad to ignore. After shutting off the heat, draining the hot water (via hot water tap in laundry sink) and using a DIY plumbing book I tried releasing pressure with the relief valve. Out gushed the water, and the relief valve wouldn't close. Okay, don't panic. Just shut off the water line to the heater. To my surprise the shutoff valve was missing, replaced by a solder joint on the water pipe. The only way to shut off water is at the water main to the whole house. Luckily, after some fiddling, I was able to reduce the leakage to a small trickle which is easily handled by buckets.

A new water heater has been purchased and hopefully installed today. And I will be making sure I get my shutoff valve!

This is, to me, another example of shoddy work that is far too common in our culture — where doing something simple to solve the short-term problem is often chosen over doing the job properly.

kherr @ 01:29 CST | link | general