New hot water heater brings flood of information

Was it just a coincidence that on the fourth night of the eight-day holiday of Passover which relates the story of how God rained 10 plagues on Egyptians to force them to let the enslaved Jewish people flee we were hit with a plague of our own?

It was around 10 Thursday night when we discovered that we had no hot water. Our hot water tank had gone kablooey, and water was leaking out on the basement floor. Our second tank had died a few years ago, so we were out of luck looking at Easter weekend.

I called our trusty plumber, Dwight DeBow. Then a miracle occurred (not as spectacular as the parting of the Red Sea for the Jews to leave Egypt): Dwight answered and said hed see us at 7 a.m. Good Friday.

He found that not only was the tank broken, but so was the valve to turn off the water so the tank can drain. The answer: Get a new tank and haul out the two old ones.

The old hot water heaters were power venters, Dwight said, which vent the gas byproducts outside via a 6-inch diameter sheet-metal stainless steel pipe.

The new hot water heater holds 50 gallons and vents outside with a 3-inch PVC plastic pipe (made of polyvinyl chloride, more effective than traditional materials).

Its a higher-efficiency hot-water heater, Dwight said, adding that this option was $1,000 cheaper than replacing the type of tanks we had.

The new tanks also are safer, he said, because if the low-temperature PVC pipe venter fails, the safety valve shuts off the pump immediately. The old style can start a fire if that happens.

I dont understand it all, but Saturday Dwight and two men removed the old tanks, redid wiring, put in the new Rheem tank, billed us $1,860 (about $1,000 for the tank, the rest labor. Oy!), and we took a shower.

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New hot water heater brings flood of information