How Do You Know

Life just doesn't have a warning signal for everything that is coming your way. Our aged, and I mean aged - 27 years old - hot water heater went to hot water heaven over the weekend.  Sure, we knew it was old, but our whole house is old, and we have replaced nearly every major appliance in the ten years we have lived here. The plumbing here sucks, and has always been a problem in one way or another. Having a drip free connection anywhere around here is worth celebrating.

The HWH, as I like to call it, since acronyms are so cool and trendy, never gave us a hint of it's impending doom. I do have to say that it never leaked, which was a major worry of mine, since I have three trunks of family heirlooms stored in the same area. As a precaution I had placed everything in sealed bags just in case of a flood, either from the HWH breaking down or from the Platte River overflowing. It did that once back in '62, filling the basements in every house in the neighborhood.

Our dear HWH always produced the hottest water possible, regardless how low we turned the thermostat. It never made a peep - I don't recall even a ting, a clunk, or a sigh out of it - it was a silent soldier just doing it's job. It was a perfect appliance, other than choosing the weekend to quit. This is good, in that we were home to install a new one, but bad that a weekend plumbing issue is costly, and weekend rates for plumbers are out of this world. I could buy a small car for the cost! In the end we decided to attempt it on our own, and to my surprise it went really well. Even the husband-to-wife frustration level stayed low. Three hours into it and we were finished, including the time I took to wipe away years of dust and dirt from the walls and floor.

I am always a little sad when something like this happens, because the new one just won't be as well made or last nearly as long. The warranty on the original Saf-t-kleen was 5 years and it well outdid itself there. The new Rheem has a 9 year warranty, but I probably won't be living here to see if it exceeds that.

I got to be the first to try out the "new" hot water in the shower, and it was probably in my head but the water seemed cleaner.... the silent soldier is now on duty.