I thought we'd quit with all the plumbing issues, but I guess not.
If you've been following the house saga to date, you know we've already replaced all the plumbing in the kitchen, laundry area, and both bathrooms (including new tub, shower fixture and pipes, etc.), but we were still making do with the existing hot water heater. It still made the water hot, so it was serving its purpose, right?
One thing I already knew about this water heater - whenever you turn the hot water on, particularly in the bathtub, black stuff comes out with the water. Dad explained this residue away, and promised to replace a few fittings on the water heater to remedy the situation. We bought the new bits and everything - but then got involved putting in my floor and working on other more pressing issues, and the new fittings never actually got put on - so I just put up with the black stuff and scrubbed the tub after every couple of showers and quit taking baths (it's a little disconcerting to relax in a tub full of bubbles and black scum).
I mentioned that my brother finally got moved in before Christmas, and within the first week or so he was there he asked me if I had enough hot water for my morning shower. I had noticed that the capacity had diminished a bit since he moved in, but didn't think much of it.
I also noticed, though, that my December gas & electric bill was WAY higher than my November bill. Fully twice the amount. That disturbed me a bit, but I explained it away due to the extra person in the house (who uses rather a lot of electricity for the arcades & computers, but I didn't think it would be *that* much) and the fact that it was Winter, and the weather had been rather chilly.
Fast forward to February, when my January gas & electric bill was over $100 *more* than the December bill. Now I knew something was *definitely* wrong, because a) it wasn't *that* much colder, and I had even turned the heat down to save some gas and b) we were out of power for almost a full week during the time period covered by the bill (due to ice storms).
I consulted with the parents, and they agreed with me that something needed to be done. I also remarked that the hot water heater seemed to be running a lot recently (hadn't really thought about it too much - one of those "huh, that's odd" things in the back of your mind that you notice, but don't really pay attention to), and, in fact, couldn't really remember the last time I *hadn't* heard it running.
Then I went off to work and didn't think much of it again.
When finally I returned home that evening, all my stuff from my office closet was out in the hallway, and there was a big ol' hot water heater in the middle of my kitchen floor. Wha...??
It turns out that the relief valve at the bottom of the tank had corroded/burst/ruptured/failed in some way, and water was literally *pouring* out the bottom of the tank underneath the house. Therefore, the hot water heater was constantly refilling itself, and constantly trying to heat the new water, in order to replace all the water running out onto the ground. And, apparently, it had been doing this for at least 2 months.
(Now I understand why my most recent water bill was so high, too...)
Anyway, to shorten an increasingly long-winded story - we put in the new hot water heater (no, not the one I saw sitting in the kitchen when I returned home - that one had to be taken back to the store 'cause it was all dented in at the top when we opened the box), and now we once again have hot water (clean, too! No more black floaty bits!) at the house.
And hopefully my gas and water bills will be considerably more favorable in the coming months.
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