Me & WhirlyWell, I had an unexpected event today. I awoke to my water heater leaking and a big puddle on the floor. The carpeted floor. You see, my hot water heater is in the back of my bedroom closet. Just one more weird thing about my jimmy-rigged 1920s house. After clearing everything out of the closet, and sopping up all the water with towels, I tried to locate the leak. There were several. I did some poking around on the internet. Maybe I just need to snug up the water line fittings. Done. Still leaking. Maybe I just need to flush it and let off a little pressure. Hooked up the hose to the drain spout and drained for about 15 minutes. Still leaking. Ugh! With the help of a couple coworkers I found a plumber that could come out at 2:00 to take a look and give me an estimate.
In the meantime, I thought I remembered that my sister had replaced a water heater on her own before. I called her, and turns out she has replaced two - one for her main house and one for her guest house. Jackpot! With her guidance I decided to tackle this project on my own and I called off the plumber. Honestly, if it weren't for Jill doing all these home improvement projects before me, I'd never have the confidence I do to tackle them myself. Thank you, Jill, you truly are an inspiration to me. Thank goodness you were born first.
I headed to Lowes and the sales guy was super helpful, he had replaced his own water heater just three days before. I loaded it all up in the back of my Jeep and took it home. I'll spare you the details about the agony of draining and disconnecting everything, a trip back to Lowes for more supplies, hoisting the old one out and the new one in, and ripping out all that nasty soaked carpet. But eight hours, $300, and a scratch on my bumper later, I have hot water! That's a photo of me and my new friend, Whirly. You'll have to excuse my haggard, sweaty look. It's been a long day. And bonus - I'll get $35 from the Energy Trust of Oregon for upgrading to a more efficient model. Wahoo!
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