We knew it was coming. It was just a matter of time. In fact, it took a lot longer to happen than I thought it would! There were hints, though, that the limit had been reached, and today, it finally happened.

Our hot water tank died.

While my daughter was showering, of course.

The original tank (I found the original 1963 warranty while cleaning up in the basement and my parents got it second hand in the 1970’s!) died shortly after we moved here. My brother tried valiantly to keep it going, but a few months later, in 2018, we got it replaced with a new tank.

The replacement tank only lasted a year? Two? before it started leaking out the bottom.

It’s a good thing I take pictures of all this stuff, and document it here on the blog!

The first replacement tank started having problems in August of 2019, so about a year and a half before problems started. Water was leaking somewhere and filling the bottom of the tank.

The plumber tried different things, but in the end, it got replaced under warranty in January of 2020.

This is what started happening just over a year later.

Once again, water was leaking and filling the bottom of the tank.

I called the company and got it replaced under warranty again – but this was the last time I could do that. There’s only so many times you can replace a tank under warranty before they start assuming there’s something dishonest going on. Which is understandable.

So in January of 2021, I got a second warranty replacement tank. However, once we got it into the basement, I noticed the leaving the panel off had provided enough air circulation that the bottom of the tank was dry again.

So, we left it. We still had hot water, and we knew by now that our hard well water would likely just kill the new tank in a year. We decided to see how long we could last on what we had.

Amazingly, it lasted until now!

My first hint that something was wrong came when I was checking the old basement and found the concrete under the hot water tank was wet. I took the blower fan that we use to help dry out the basement when it gets wet in the spring, set it to blow directly at the hot water tank, then left it. A couple of days later, it was completely dry.

Then, last night, while doing dishes before bed, I found the hot water was getting way too hot. Warning sign number two!

This morning, I switched out the blower fan for a pedestal fan that uses less power. The concrete under the tank was starting to look damp again. Warning sign number three!. This fan could be set up closer, and I thought it might be enough.

I don’t know if it was. I haven’t gone down to check since then (the stairs are difficult for me to navigate). Later today, though, we simply lost hot water.

We called a plumber and left a message. Since we have the warranty replacement tank, still in the box, it just needs to be swapped out. That shouldn’t cost very much at all. Which is good, because every spare penny we have is being set aside to try and build up a larger down payment for a replacement vehicle.

Meanwhile, I’m bringing my mother’s car back to the garage tomorrow morning to get the spark plugs replaced. Then I will be going into the city for our second Costco shop.

Oh, and the septic guy was able to come by today – the ground was solid enough, even after yesterday’s downpours.

*sigh*

It’s like everything is popping up to make it impossible for us to set funds aside for a vehicle!

Oh, I also got word from the ranch we’re buying a quarter beef from. We’ve been paying $100 a month towards that since March, with the expectation that it would be ready in December. Well, it turns out it’ll be ready in 2 weeks, and what cuts did we want this time? !!!

Also, the weight for a quarter beef is higher this year, too. All together, we were going to be over $400 short!

I explained our situation, and they are going to hold our order off until January, which will make it even easier on the budget. So awesome of them! Once that’s paid for, that’s $100 a month that will be diverted to car payments.

The plumber hasn’t called back yet, but hopefully we will hear back tomorrow. If he hasn’t called by the time I’m back from the city, I’ll try again.

Aside from all that, it was a nice enough day that, once the septic guy was gone and I was no longer on kitten watch, to make sure none went anywhere near the open tank, I was able to get some work done outside. We don’t have high winds today, so my daughter was able to get a burn going, doing our paper garbage and some of the branches that we were starting to accumulate again that can’t fit into our wood chipper.

She’s still out there as I write this!

As for me, I need to try and get to bed early, because I’ve got a long day of running around tomorrow.

Good night, my friends!

The Re-Farmer