And the bad news of the weekend is...

[sraun]

Our hot water heater started dying on Friday.

At first, I thought it was just standing water from the snow bank against the house - it was 43 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday - that was seeping in. This is a known problem, we need to do some landscaping, and maybe replace some windows, probably with glass block.

However, Friday night / Saturday morning the temperature plunged down to significantly below freezing. And on Sunday, the pool of water that I use for tracking such things (there's a low spot right in front of the washing machine) kept refilling in minutes every time I emptied it. Started investigating, after about a half-hour I discovered that there were drips coming from the bottom of the hot water heater, and the water under it was hot! Not good. Turned off the gas to the hot water heater, planned on worrying about it today. Oh, yeah - the water shut-off valve to the hot water heater has apparently failed.

Very cold shower this morning - so very abbreviated.

We called the plumber this morning, he should be stopping by to look at it shortly (promise was late morning / early afternoon, they have a history of being reasonable in their estimates). I'm hoping he gets it replaced yet today.

Comments

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's a major bummer! We need to replace ours too, and I am SO in denial about doing it, just because it's such an annoying thing. Hope you get it fixed very soon, and it's not too expensive!

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Back in 2002, our hot water heater burst on the eve of a holiday. We caught it early since my daughter was playing in the basement at the time. Turns out the bottom of the tank had rusted through. Fortunately, nothing was damaged. I did a write-up of the experience for the fanzine

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Back in 2002, our hot water heater burst on the eve of a holiday. We caught it early since my daughter was playing in the basement at the time. Turns out the bottom of the tank had rusted through. Fortunately, nothing was damaged. I did a write-up of the experience for the fanzine <i.Knarley Knews</i> a while ago.

[sraun]

$1400 later, we have a new water heater. The plumbing inspector is going to have to come sign off on it - Irene's going to have to schedule that.

We also have a recommendation that we should think about spending ~$5000 on basement water pipes - they're galvanized iron, and the plumber said there was significant rust. We'll have to see what we can do about affording it before it becomes catastrophic.

[bibliotrope.livejournal.com]

You might want to check with your insurance agent to see if they'll cover part of the cost of the heater or the pipes or both.