Comments (scroll down to add your own):

1. When I was growing up we had an electric water heater that would always flip its internal breaker. So each morning we had to get up and reset it if we wanted to have hot water. Sometimes we would ultimately forget and have to either suffer through a cold shower or just go through the day as the “not so fresh” guy.

   Basically… I don’t envy you. But I do want to thank you for the link.

   Comment by Matt Jabs — Sep 21st 2009 @ 12:30 am

2. …an electric water heater should last about 15 years, if maintained properly.

   Electric water heaters have an odd component… called an anode-rod — that should be replaced every 5 years ($25). That rod is an expendable piece of dissimilar metal… preventing corrosion of the water tank, caused by galvanic action.

   Depends on the chemical quality of your local water supply… as to how fast that galvanic corrosion acts inside your heater.

   Comment by Nate — Sep 21st 2009 @ 8:54 am

3. For those of you with electric water heaters, it is imperative to keep them in good running order. I’ve seen one that turned all the plumbing in the house into 110v live current (measured between a grounded stove and the kitchen sink).

   Imagine standing in a bathtub of water and grabbing the shower head… Granted the water heater was at least 20 years old, but these things can kill. Word of advice: use a licensed plumber. If your heater is tripping the breaker, then it is giving you warning signs — don’t mess around.

   Comment by BG — Sep 21st 2009 @ 10:22 am

4. Nate: Yep. At our previous house, I was much better about maintaining the water heater. We were the original owners, so I knew the entire history of the system, and was thus more motivated (I guess) to maintain it. I used to regularly flush it out, etc.

   The problem now is that: (1) we bought the house from someone who had lived here six years without lifting a finger on that sort of stuff, and (2) our water heater is also installed in the crawl space without much headroom, so it’s difficult to access the anode rod.

   Having just sunk a bunch of cash into this, I’m going to be much more attentive going forward, though I’m still not sure how easy it will be to service that anode rod. Worst case scenario, I guess I can drain and unhook the water heater to gain access.

   Comment by Nickel — Sep 21st 2009 @ 11:46 am

5. This is the part of home ownership nobody warned us about. We had terrible water pressure for about three years and then finally the piece of pipe we didnt’ even know about (from the main to our property…we had checked that the main was “new” and the pipe on the property was “new” too) broke and we didnt’ have water for more than 2 weeks.

   If you get really sick of it, you can probalby get a one-week gym membership for $25 or so. We showered at the Y most of the time for about a year when our water was really bad.

   Comment by Rosa — Sep 21st 2009 @ 4:01 pm

6. Thanks for the link, Nickel!

   Comment by Flexo — Sep 22nd 2009 @ 6:30 pm

Leave a comment