A New Year but with the same old house and the same old problems lending to new learning experiences. That is, after all, the point of Doing It Like A Woman. So why does it sound like a whine? Frankly, it is. The hot water tank stopped making the precious stuff one morning. It's winter, it's cold outside and a long hot shower is one of the small pleasures I give myself a couple times a day. The world looks and feels more manageable after standing under my new rain shower shower head pounding hot droplets on my hard working body. When that stops happening, I stop being happy and turn into a cranky defeated wimp. I work a job now and need my showers to recuperate. So pay attention anyone with a hot water tank, especially those living in highly mineralized locales. This is important.

This is a bucket full of crud (technical term for minerals and dirt) that came out of the bottom of my water tank rendering the lower element unworkable long ago. When the top element went out there wasn't anything to heat water. This sludge is also what eats out the bottom of water tanks.

Not being able to take the day off from work to deal with the problem, my brother-in-law Mike and my sister appeared on the scene to assess the situation and do a fix. He used a shop vac to suck this muck out. By putting a short piece of lawn hose on the end of the vacuum hose, he was able to reach into the far "corners" of the tank to get it really clean.

There aren't many things that can go wrong with a water
heater but the elements or thermostat so I tested the heating elements for continuity. I started at the source to find
the fuses where good and that power was entering the tank. By using a
volt meter set to ohm1, the power to the tank turned off and the wires
unhooked from the element screws, I could see no movement of the
meter's needle when touching a lead to each of the two screws on the element.
No reading means no continuity and no current flowing. No current no hot water. Simple. No, not really. Finding replacements for such an old unit is challenging. Doing the best we could with what was available in the hardware store, he replaced the top one to get me back up and running hot water.

So why not replace the bottom element as well? My electrical service isn't up to a standard to handle anything more than two 2000 watt elements of this tank and we had one new 3500 watt. Finding two matching elements might not be possible and I'd rather change out my panel to accommodate a new tank-less heater than sink any more money into the old one. It's on my list of to-dos for 2007. Time to update for 2008.

Again, I am blessed with an expert in the family who was relentless in his pursuit of fixing my problem. After braving the blistering cold winds today to pump heating oil into the furnace tank, I will be found standing under a shower of hot water once again.