Water Heater Week

Water heater week began on Monday when we found out that our rental apartment's water heater was leaking. Thankfully our tenant is out of town right now, but a friend noticed when she was picking up her mail. Anyways, we were up pretty late attempting to stop the leaking and to drain the water heater. We were not successful with either since I could not get the hose to connect tightly enough to drain it and the cut off valve was not working. So, Zach continued to replace the towels until a plumber was able to come on Wednesday to replace it.

Since the plumber was already here, Zach asked him to come look at our water heater. Zach and I have been taking about 7 minute showers for months now because we would run out of hot water. We had gotten pretty accustomed to this, but knew that at some point it would have to be addressed. The plumber was very kind to come take a look at ours and let us know that it appeared that one of the elements was out even though it was reading fine. He had to get to another job, but told Zach that he could replace it himself. He also suggested going ahead and replacing both elements and thermostats while he was at it.

Well, I came home to lots of water on the floor, no electricity* (no heat on a cold day with the door open to drain the water heater and working by lanterns), and still not working water heater. Zach got the elements and thermostats changed and we started filling back up the tank. And then the leaking began. It did not take us long to find the leaking was coming from the new elements. We shut everything back down and Zach tightened the elements. At this point we were already late to a get together with some friends, so we headed out the door. When we got home, we turned on the electricity and filled the tank.

*you might wonder why we turned out the electricity to the whole house...our breaker box is not labeled, so we have no idea which breaker goes to what...next on the to do list*

Thursday morning, all I had was cold water:( Mr. Plumber came back out to tell us that we had burnt out the element we had just put in by turning on the electricity before fully filling the tank. So, finally we had hot water!

But then water began pouring out of the pressure release valve. We turned back off the water heater and called the plumber. He told us we sure did have bad luck and that we would need to replace the pressure valve. Once again, we were late for a commitment, so out the door we went. We did pick up some needed items from Home Depot on the way.

When we returned home, we turned back on the water and the pressure valve did not leak. And so far things have been good which includes me taking a longer than 7 minute shower this morning!

Even though this week has been full of mishaps and frustration over 2 water heaters, I believe that Zach knows more than most about water heaters and how to fix them. Hopefully next time around we will have better luck with our new knowledge.