Suzy Says

One of the things I have been getting used to in the new house is that it has a hot water heater instead of a flash heater, which the old house had. With a flash heater, you get on demand hot water and, as the name suggests, pretty much right away. With the water tank, I find I have to run the water for quite a while before it warms up. One Saturday, it never got above tepid.

I went outside and looked in the little storage shed attached to the house, where the water tank lives. Its pilot light was out. I was able to successfully relight it, which made me all proud of myself until it went out again. I followed the instructions, not wanting to bother Danielle yet again.

Eventually I had to, though, and she came over to investigate. The hot water heater was only five years old, but she thought it needed to be replaced. She put a call in to the guy who deals with such things and went to work. I started making alternative plans to take a shower and wash the dishes.

Being Danielle, she came home with a new water tank and had somehow persuaded Water Tank Guy to come over even though he had worked seven days in a row and undoubtedly his enthusiasm for this weekend project was why they invented negative numbers. He agreed that the tank needed to be replaced, so he set about draining the old one and putting the new one in place.

She said that she put in a hot water tank instead of a flash heater because then there was hot (or at least warm) water for a while when the power went out. Apparently flash heaters need power, which I never knew because I never had water when the power went out, since it meant that the well pump didn’t work. Here I will have water at least for a while when the power goes out, since there is the big water storage tank on the third floor of the house.

It occurred to me that so far Danielle has not made a lot of money from renting the house to me. Also that I might be some kind of appliance jinx. First the heater needed a new thermo coupler, involving an expensive visit from the Gas Guy. Then my stove was replaced, since Danielle decided it was cheaper to just buy a new one rather than have the old one fixed (the broiler and one burner didn’t work. This is the kind of thing that I would have just lived with at the old place). Then the outlets and closet light in the bedroom weren’t working, necessitating a visit from Electrician. Now this. She also mentioned that she was going to have to buy a new refrigerator for her own house. Hopefully my refrigerator will continue to keep things cold while the water heater continues to (eventually) produce hot water. I don’t think this is the time to mention that I can’t change the dryer controls and instead have to run it two or three times on the cycle it’s stuck on.

ONE YEAR AGO: The beginning of Dental Hell. I do not recommend visiting it.

FIVE YEARS AGO: Some miscellaneous updates.

TEN YEARS AGO: Getting ready to get the hell out of Oakhampton. Note to Self: What is with your landlords turning up wth no notice, wherever you live?