Bad News: We awoke this morning to find that our water heater was leaking. Not a tiny, elegant drip drip leak. But a large leak i will call a rivulet coming from the base of the water heater. Who knows how long; we rarely go into the garage. But the carpeting on the left side of the garage was pretty soaked.
Good News: I was able to find a past work order for our plumber so i could give him a call.
Bad News: The plumber wasn’t immediately answering the phone. I left a message describing the problem.
Good News: Plumbers call you back promptly when a large job like replacing an entire water heater hits their answering machine.
Bad News: Large jobs cost the same amount of money even if they are performed quickly.
Good News: Our previous water heater lasted an amazing 27 years! As i read the serial number, Mr. Plumber was like “no that can’t be right.” It’s right. We have some long-lasting appliances in our home. The HVAC system that we replaced a few years ago had lasted 30 years also.
Bad News: The plumber was an hour and a half later than he estimated.
Good news: I have a job where they don’t mind if i work from home all afternoon while i wait for the plumber.
Good News: The plumber very friendly and approachable and matter-of-fact. He clearly explained our options and didn’t make me feel like a woman who doesn’t know anything. (Which, of course, i am.)
Bad News: The best option, and the one we’re leaning toward, is something called a tankless water heater, which is much more energy efficient. But it costs roughly twice as much as replacing the normal tank water heater that we already have.
Good News: The tankless option comes with a significantly longer warranty and a pretty hefty tax rebate from Uncle Sam. And we would never run out of hot water like we sometimes do now.
Bad News: Did i mention tankless costs twice as much?
Bad News: The job won’t be able to be done until tomorrow afternoon, so no hot water in the house until then.
Ah, home ownership.
June 25th, 2010 10:13 pm
Great post. The other good news: your hot water heater was NOT in the attic. I don’t know why so many of the homes in our area have hot water heaters in the attic. I read some horror stories about those leaking…
Congrats on going even more green, despite the cost.
June 26th, 2010 6:51 pm
Love the Good News/Bad News bit! Good news is this bad experience made for a funny blog!