Water Problems

Every morning when I take a shower I have to let the water run and run and run, to get it hot. The water heater is in the garage, way at the other end of the house. This morning the water was not getting hot. Not even getting luke warm. I figured it must just be because of the really cold pipes. It has been cold, a couple days ago it snowed just 45 min. NE of here, in Atascadero. But none for us--we are too close to the ocean. Anyway. I told Brian (trying to sleep yet) that the water wasn't heating up, and he said, "Well, just let it run."

I was getting a little irritated, cold in that 62 degree house, and asked, "For how long?"

"A few more minutes.....," he groggily replied.

So I let it run. And run, and still no hot water, not even warm water!

Finally he got out of bed and went to the garage. He said before he even opened the door he heard water running out there and thought a pipe had burst. Well, sure enough, the water heater had a leak and was spraying all over the garage. Bailey was freaked out, to say the least. He sleeps out there.

So no shower for me this morning. Brian gathered up his stuff to shower at the office, and was in such a rush and so flustered that he forgot his lunch.

I heated water in the microwave so I could at least wash my face, and turned the heat on, and called these guys:


They came at 9:30 and said it was the worst leak they'd ever seen in a water heater! A weld had come loose inside the tank. The receptionist I talked to estimated the cost would be $800-$1200 (EEK!!) to have them replace the heater, depending on what they had to do to bring it up to code. At least the house is fairly new, so that wasn't an issue. The plumbers (2 came) took one look at the heater and said, "This is new. This shouldn't happen." And they quickly found out it was still under warranty (HOORAY!!). It was only 5 years old, and the warranty would expire in April 2010. Can we say relieved???? So we only had to pay a small fraction of the estimate, thankfully. I had called Brian with the first estimate and told him he better stay at work a few more hours. ;) $$$$ Cha-ching! The plumber said I could call him back and tell him he could come home, since the bill was so much less. LOL

I just couldn't believe it--the hot water heater today, and last Tuesday we'd had the water softener man out because we were getting loooow water pressure. They first said they'd have to put in a new resin ($$$$), but then when he looked at the softener, the motor wasn't working properly, and he also found the pressure to the whole house had been lowered. He said that can just happen over time. Anyway, we didn't need a new resin and the motor was covered under warranty yet, so that was our lucky day too! We are most thankful for those warranties and that we were still covered!

And now for the cuties. Because I don't think anyone looks at this to see plumbing trucks. ;)

Lauren with her books. She looked through a giant stack of them today.



And then just one from this afternoon. I have Lauren's baby pictures out because I am organizing them into her albums so I can scrapbook them! Yes, I am a bit behind. Just a little. Ha! She likes looking at them, and has asked where her scrapbooks are when Julia and Austin look at there's. So I hope to make progress on them now.