Hot Water Heater III
I admit that I didn't expect to be writing about plumbing issues a scant two weeks after we got our new filtration system installed, but when I woke up last Tuesday 4/6 and went downstairs I heard a very loud noise in the basement. I initially thought perhaps the filtration unit was draining, which I was told would happen occasionally and be unexpectedly loud, but it turned out the noise was coming from the water heater at the opposite end of the basement. It was leaking dramatic amounts of water. Fortunately, all that water was going right to the floor drain, but still, not how you want to start your day, especially because we got a new hot water heater installed back in August 2020. For extra insult, my brain didn't engage properly and I forgot to close the cut-off for the hot water heater for a few hours, so I'm sure the next water bill will be substantial.
The plumbers came out and found that the tank had cracked. A new tank was installed. Fortunately, we were only 20 months into the six year warranty, so all parts were replaced free of charge. Unfortunately, we still had to pay for labor, and while it was only a 90 minute job for a two man crew, at today's rates that is a substantial amount.
The plumbers said it appears to have been a quality control issue with the tank and not anything that went wrong with the installation or because of the new filtration unit, so I guess it was just bad luck. The new water heater warranty clock restarts for another six years. I'm not sure if I should hope that it dies at 5 years and 363 days or if I should hope it lasts another 10+ years.
While writing this up, I realized that although I've long been using the house tag as a de facto journal of my home improvements, there's a lot of other stuff under the house tag, which I described as "All about my house. Usually just my current house." To facilitate looking up when I got major work done to the house, I'm splitting off the new tag home improvement, which I'll use for "major new work and/or installations" as opposed to "random fixes." So this post, which starts the clock on a major warranty counts, but trimming the tree branches doesn't. Naturally, I've gone back through and added this where appropriate.
The plumbers came out and found that the tank had cracked. A new tank was installed. Fortunately, we were only 20 months into the six year warranty, so all parts were replaced free of charge. Unfortunately, we still had to pay for labor, and while it was only a 90 minute job for a two man crew, at today's rates that is a substantial amount.
The plumbers said it appears to have been a quality control issue with the tank and not anything that went wrong with the installation or because of the new filtration unit, so I guess it was just bad luck. The new water heater warranty clock restarts for another six years. I'm not sure if I should hope that it dies at 5 years and 363 days or if I should hope it lasts another 10+ years.
While writing this up, I realized that although I've long been using the house tag as a de facto journal of my home improvements, there's a lot of other stuff under the house tag, which I described as "All about my house. Usually just my current house." To facilitate looking up when I got major work done to the house, I'm splitting off the new tag home improvement, which I'll use for "major new work and/or installations" as opposed to "random fixes." So this post, which starts the clock on a major warranty counts, but trimming the tree branches doesn't. Naturally, I've gone back through and added this where appropriate.