Spoke Too Soon

[Richard Gillespie]

On the 4th of this month I posted a reply to a thread started by Dennis Peacock on getting his water heater problems fixed. I was bragging about my used $50 dollar water heater lasting 18 years. Got home from a short overnight trip this evening and as soon as I got near it I could smell water. You guessed it, leaking. I know what I'll be doing tomorrow.

[Tyler Howell]

Hope it didn't do too much damage.
With all the travel, I turn down the heat and and cut way back on the amount of flow in the water system just in case.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Richard........you're not the only one that experienced that! I hope you don't have too much water damage. I had a friend who took his family to Romania for 5 weeks. When he returned he found a water line had broken under the sink in the kitchen. The kitchen was on the middle floor of his tri-level. The middle floor and the lower floor had to be basically demolished. Wall coverings removed, insulation removed...entire bottom 2 floors of the house gutted...insulation removed, flooring ...cabinets, wallboard.....gutted. The bill was over $45,000...and Jim, I and other friends did a lot of the labor. Oh.....his water bill for that month was over $600. Good luck Richard!

[Richard Gillespie]

Tyler and Ken;

I was lucky. I'm in the habit of turning off the water to the house and electricty to the water heater whenever I leave, even if it is an overnighter. The heater has a slow leak and it sits on a concrete floor on the basement level.

At least I did that much right. Next time I'll keep my big mouth shut.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

We went on vacation when I was a kid, a longer one than normal, so my dad decided to turn off the water and elec to avoid any problems. Trouble is, he didn't empty fridge. You can't believe the mess and stink we found when we returned. My mon claimed the smell never left and we replaced the fridge a few months later.

[Dennis Peacock]

Tyler and Ken;

I was lucky. I'm in the habit of turning off the water to the house and electricty to the water heater whenever I leave, even if it is an overnighter. The heater has a slow leak and it sits on a concrete floor on the basement level.

At least I did that much right. Next time I'll keep my big mouth shut.

Richard,

Very sorry to hear of your water heater problems. I just spent $700 to get mine fixed for the next several years. The water heater and the labor is all covered for 7 years by the plumbing company that installed it. It wasn't cheap, but my lesson learned? I'll never by another Whirlpool water...EVER!!!!

[Richard Gillespie]

Dennis;

Mine is covered by the same warranty I gave my wife when I built the house 18 years ago. Believe me, there are things she still points out that aren't right with this house. Being one's own contractor isn't alway what it's cracked up to be.

Well, I got lucky on this one, 18 years is longer than most people get on their water heaters, used or not. It only took me 6 hours to fix this. That's twice as fast as a contractor would taken, but I saved $300.00. My wife blasted me with sooner or later I'm going to have to start using contractors to do this kind of work for us. I know, I know, but there is some pride involved.

She is worried that at 60 I'm going to hurt myself doing some of this work. So far, so good.