Arizona is a great state to visit, but it can be murder on appliances and batteries. I married a man from the Pacific Northwest. He had the same battery in his car for seven years ... six months in the desert heat (and he came for winter) and it died. The lesson? You rent a car battery and sing praises to the manufacturer if it goes beyond two years.This is nothing to say about our hard water. some say it is some of the hardest in the nation. Pools and hot tubs have to be partially drained annually so chemicals can do their jobs properly.
Hot water tanks?
Drain or die.
Sounds dramatic, but it is true.
Prior to the holiday, we weren't able to get enough hot water to shower for more than thirty seconds.
After the tank was drained, we broke up and removed a huge amount of calcium from it, plugged it back in, and saw no improvement.
We went to our favorite hard-lines store and bought a new tank and hubby installed it (not the Christmas present I expected, but important)!
Still no hot water.
Except.
Except for the fact that there was hot water ... in a pipe that had apparently developed a leak ... and was warming my kitchen floor.
Biggest problem?
We don't have radiant heat in the house.
Nope. We have/had a major leak ... just in time for the holidays.
After meeting with our handy-dandy plumber, it was determined we needed a repipe. Hot water could be turned on to the house for short bursts of time, but there would be no standing in the shower and watching troubles go down the drain. My grandmother must have lived with an incredibly small hot water tank. As a kid, I remember watching her boil pots of water to add to the water that came from her faucet in order to scour pots and pans. At the time it was interesting and a cautionary situation (I got up close and personal with a few steam burns in my day).
I never thought I'd do the same thing with my own dishes some xx number of years later. Yes, I could say how many years, but let's not depress the author.
Today, the repipe was about 80% complete. Things aren't buttoned up quite yet, but hot water on demand is now available and I couldn't be more excited.
So I'm officially in hot water. What a great thing!
2 comments:
Ummmm. Can you say cold showers? There's no telling when we'll get our hot water back. Surprising, isn't it, how we are spoiled by so many things that were luxuries in the past? Take a nice, hot bath for me.
Hunter
And I thought cold showers were just for the heroes in romance novels, Wizard Harry Dresden (who can't keep any kind of technology working), and teenage boys.
Crossing my fingers your hot water is back.
And you are right, things that we take for granted now were luxuries not so very long ago.
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