Good boy...

My water heater is on the fritz, blink or whatever other term that means “not working properly.” It seems that when you need to have hot water most, the hot water heater detects that and shuts off 6 hours prior to ensure you don’t have any.

 

Be that as it may, I called a fix it guy to take a look. Through our own investigation and research our guess was that it’s the thermocoupler. Which I think is latin for, turn it off when it’s needed most.  The guy looked and quoted some outrageous price to get it fixed. Well, I need it fixed so I said go ahead.

 

Meanwhile, as the repair guy is hacking up a lung downstairs spreading who knows what sick germs, he starts the repair as we are sitting upstairs eating. My oldest boy barks out, isn’t that under warranty or something? It looks brand new. The wife and I quickly corrected his flawed thinking informing him that it wasn’t and it was purchased before we owned the house so we didn’t have any paper work.

 

Hackmaster calls me down to report that it’s not just a simple thermocoupler, but a complex one that he’ll have to go get a part for. Oh, and by the way, because he has to go get a part there’s a 133 dollar go get the part fee, plus the part will be considerably more expensive. So, we end the day with him taking my number telling me he’ll call me in the morning with the final estimate including the price of the solid gold part.

 

He calls in the morning and quotes 450ish for replacing the thermocoupler and 600 to replace the valve assembly and thermocoupler. In my shock (and having my computer with internet handy) I pop up Lowes.com and research brand new water heater prices. Considerably less than what he’s wanting to replace parts…then he says, “you’re unit is fairly new so it should still last a long time and I wouldn’t think you’d need to replace the whole thing”… “Still somewhat new?” says I in the back of my mind…let me call you back.

 

Immediately, I recall what the boy says and look up the water heater company on the internet. I find it, call and get prices for the parts (btw, 41$) and ask if my warranty is still good on this water heater. “Please hold and I’ll transfer you to that department”, 30 seconds later a woman with a very monotone voice answers and we discover that we still have 2 more years remaining!! Parts are free! She’ll send one to my house with a new filter and vacuum cleaner attachment to clean out the air intake area.

 

Well, I’ve got to hand it to my boy. He called it. I shunned it! I was wrong. Well done my good son. Net savings at this point 600 dollars. Cake for the boy!!!