Thursday, August 11, 2005
SOME LIKE IT HOT....SOME GET IT COLD
After four days without hot water, I am happy to say that we are heated up and running again. I was taking a shower Saturday evening when I noticed the water never got to the warm stage it normally is. We’d been having a little breaker trouble on the fuse box since our whopper of a thunderstorm a couple of days before that, so I figured it had shut off and the tepid water would soon run cold. I yelled at Rocky and he came to check things out………and then decided if he didn’t want a stone cold shower he’d better get one too.
The following morning he changed some of the fuses and the water became boiling hot……..we barely turned the hot faucet on and turned the cold one almost to full capacity. Now, we’re both thinking………something is just NOT right about this. Rocky had to go to work so I did some laundry and ran the dishwasher…..everything seemed to be in order. That evening when it was bath time, the water was stone cold, dead in the market. It was tough but we managed a shower. A quick one.
Then we both began an assault on the water heater……..we had a plan, carefully thought out. Rocky left the room and returned with our hose so we could drain the water from the heater……and didn’t spill a drop or have a catastrophe. So far, so good. Then he tore it apart, bit by bit and with the wiring taken off and the heating elements out, we discovered the bottom element was rusted and totally broken apart. We could also see through the hole he removed it from there was lime/calcium deposits clear to the top of the opening.
After some inspection and information gathering, Rocky said we could bring in the Shop-Vac and duct tape smaller hoses to it so we could get the lawn hose in the hole. He was told it would then suck out the sludge from the tank. After several tries and failures, he began poking the stuff with a long screw driver…..then went to look for a longer metal piece to go all the way into the tank.
Our hot water heater is in a compartment that is closed in on one end of our clothes closet. Now our clothes closet is where I stack shoes, old work clothes, a small tool box for the house, shoe shine box………well, you see where I’m going. We had to drag all that out to even start………then Rocky, twisted himself into a pretzel to fit in the closet and poke in the tank to remove the lime. I would say, in about 15-minutes tops, he was so cramped up I had to pry him out of the little space he was working in and we stood staring at the situation in a more realistic way. We decided that I would be the one to poke and he would hold the hoses.
So I started and after a few design flaws were worked out we actually completed the removal of lime. By now it was 11:00pm and we were both about done in. The tank was as clean as we could get it under the circumstances. Rocky turned the water on and everything looked great………when a hose connection started leaking on top of the tank. Rocky shut off the water and we put a bucket under the drip and went to bed……with no bath.
The next day he went to the lumber yard and came home with new washers and fittings………put them in all of the pipes and fastened them down. Eureka!!! No leaks. Rocky removed the room-full of equipment we had in the bedroom by now and we went to the living room to wait for the water to heat. After so long a time we began checking the faucets for the results and the water was still cold. Inspecting the tank……it was nice and dry but cold.
Rocky went back to the manual and went through the series of things we had followed. Then he turned the page and it said a little word that made instant sense. That word, Reset, was the answer. Back to the living room to again wait anxiously to see if at last we would have hot, running water. On the next inspection it was alive and well…….water running …….and hot. We both got a good, long shower and went to bed happy.
Today I am doing laundry and running the dishwasher. I am one who has never taken creature comforts for granted but my appreciation for hot, running water has increased beyond measure…….
So how is YOUR water running?
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
The following morning he changed some of the fuses and the water became boiling hot……..we barely turned the hot faucet on and turned the cold one almost to full capacity. Now, we’re both thinking………something is just NOT right about this. Rocky had to go to work so I did some laundry and ran the dishwasher…..everything seemed to be in order. That evening when it was bath time, the water was stone cold, dead in the market. It was tough but we managed a shower. A quick one.
Then we both began an assault on the water heater……..we had a plan, carefully thought out. Rocky left the room and returned with our hose so we could drain the water from the heater……and didn’t spill a drop or have a catastrophe. So far, so good. Then he tore it apart, bit by bit and with the wiring taken off and the heating elements out, we discovered the bottom element was rusted and totally broken apart. We could also see through the hole he removed it from there was lime/calcium deposits clear to the top of the opening.
After some inspection and information gathering, Rocky said we could bring in the Shop-Vac and duct tape smaller hoses to it so we could get the lawn hose in the hole. He was told it would then suck out the sludge from the tank. After several tries and failures, he began poking the stuff with a long screw driver…..then went to look for a longer metal piece to go all the way into the tank.
Our hot water heater is in a compartment that is closed in on one end of our clothes closet. Now our clothes closet is where I stack shoes, old work clothes, a small tool box for the house, shoe shine box………well, you see where I’m going. We had to drag all that out to even start………then Rocky, twisted himself into a pretzel to fit in the closet and poke in the tank to remove the lime. I would say, in about 15-minutes tops, he was so cramped up I had to pry him out of the little space he was working in and we stood staring at the situation in a more realistic way. We decided that I would be the one to poke and he would hold the hoses.
So I started and after a few design flaws were worked out we actually completed the removal of lime. By now it was 11:00pm and we were both about done in. The tank was as clean as we could get it under the circumstances. Rocky turned the water on and everything looked great………when a hose connection started leaking on top of the tank. Rocky shut off the water and we put a bucket under the drip and went to bed……with no bath.
The next day he went to the lumber yard and came home with new washers and fittings………put them in all of the pipes and fastened them down. Eureka!!! No leaks. Rocky removed the room-full of equipment we had in the bedroom by now and we went to the living room to wait for the water to heat. After so long a time we began checking the faucets for the results and the water was still cold. Inspecting the tank……it was nice and dry but cold.
Rocky went back to the manual and went through the series of things we had followed. Then he turned the page and it said a little word that made instant sense. That word, Reset, was the answer. Back to the living room to again wait anxiously to see if at last we would have hot, running water. On the next inspection it was alive and well…….water running …….and hot. We both got a good, long shower and went to bed happy.
Today I am doing laundry and running the dishwasher. I am one who has never taken creature comforts for granted but my appreciation for hot, running water has increased beyond measure…….
So how is YOUR water running?
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
