Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Water Heater Leak

The night before leaving on a 1 week vacation, we discovered water on our cellar floor. A leaking, 10 year old water heater was the culprit.

I'm glad we found the leak before our departure. Otherwise our basement would have flooded.

After getting a 3 prices from local plumbers I chose a Melrose based plumber. For $850.00 he replaced the gas fired 40 gallon tank, with a warranty extended to 12 years.

Rubber hoses to washing machines are another potential weak point in any plumbing system.

After this, I'll turn off the water main before leaving town for extended periods.

3 comments:

Feneric said...

The last time I had to change a water heater, I switched over to one of the tankless models. Besides never having to worry about it bursting and dumping water, it has a couple of key advantages: 1) it only heats water when needed and is thus much less expensive to operate, and 2) it can be mounted on a wall and doesn't take up any floor space.

It's a bit more expensive up front, but it pays for itself during its regular life expectancy. This is especially true now as gas / oil prices are shooting up through the roof...

Jim H said...

I was aware of tankless water heaters but I don't know if they can keep up with demand in certain situations. If hot water is needed from several faucets at once for example.

In our house there is commonly a person in the shower, while the dishwasher or washing machine is running, or hot water is being used at the kitchen sink.

BTW, I got my highest gas bill ever from Keyspan last month. $89.00!

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