Preventive Maintenance

[billroper]

So as I sat in my chair in front of the furnace last night waiting for the air conditioning to thaw, my gaze turned to the left to look at our eleven year old water heater. The one with the rust all around the drain valve. The one that I've drained once in the eleven years that we've been here. (Yes, I know you're supposed to do it every year or two.)

And then I thought about how entertaining it would be when the valve rusted out with a house full of people in a few days, which it surely would now that I had noticed it.

So I went to Lowe's and bought a new water heater this afternoon. They're supposed to come install it tomorrow. I maybe could have installed it myself, but I really don't need a plumbing adventure right now.

Comments

[catalana.livejournal.com]

Good plan. I approve of this plan.

[dek9.livejournal.com]

There is no good reason to install a water heater yourself - and this is coming from *me* mind you.

They are heavy, draining them is a PITA, hauling it away is a PITA, finding some place to dispose of it is a PITA, etc. And it's about the cheapest major repair you can have done on your house. $500 and someone ELSE deals with all the PITA...

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

Glad you were perceptive enough to notice the dangly the fates presented you. They would likely have followed through had you noticed it or not, but you'd have kicked yourself harder...

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

You're supposed to drain the hot water heater every year? News to me. I do agree with the decision to have somebody else do the install. What would have taken me all day and much grief took them an hour.

[carolf.livejournal.com]

Early in our marriage, for more years than we liked, our water heater had this habit of exploding, in some fashion or other, during the time of the winter Olympics -- usually as we were watching the ice skating events. We never understood why it chose the Olympics, but any doubt there was a connection evaporated when it happened the 3rd time, two months AFTER the Olympics, but during the time when we watched the skating events I had taped in Clif's absence.

Anyway, the first time this happened, Clif had truck with the beast for the first time since it had been installed (or so we think.) Rust was the least of the problems. Clif's account of this is way too funny for me to paraphrase. If he still has it on his system somewhere, I'll dig it out and post it.

Yes, good thing to avoid. Especially when Fate literally dares you not to.