Hot Water Heater Woes

We got home from our two week trip on Saturday night about 11 days ago.  We whipped up a quick dinner, tucked the kids in, and sat down with our laptops to get busy catching up with life.  Uh-oh, no internet! 

Sunday morning we got up for church and Uh-oh, no hot water!  We tried our usual trick to just reset our instant hot water heater, but the problem wasn't so simple this time.  Boo!

Sunday afternoon we called about the internet, and DH found out about the outage that half the city was suffering through.  Lame!  We decided to call about the hot water heater on Monday to avoid a weekend service call surcharge. 

Monday I called the gas repair service we've used in the past with good luck.  They didn't call back.  I tried again in the late afternoon and got a recording again. 

Tuesday morning I got a call back - Hooray! - and scheduled a Tuesday afternoon visit.  Then the bad news.  Water Heater Guy refused to work on the water heater because "it's not vented properly."  Apparently the manufacturing company recommends a dedicated vent and my brother had tied its venting in with the furnace venting.  Water Heater Guy was kind of rude: " I don't know who's doing your remodel, but [imply idiocy on my part for hiring idiot]."  So he says he can't work  on it for warranty purposes or something, but he can come and work on it when venting is fixed.  Meanwhile I get charged an hour of labor for NOTHING.  I called my brother and he was apologetic but also confused because he was pretty sure it was allowed to vent water and furnace together.  He also said he had made the change about a year ago so it had been working just fine for a long while.  Augh!  What to do?

Wednesday DH called our friend, a local general contractor, who we trust.  He said that it's only a manufacturer recommendation to vent a hot water heater independently.  It's perfectly legal and Water Heater Guy should have been able to investigate further.  Our friend gave us the name of a water heater person he trusts.  DH called and left a message.

Thursday we waited to hear from our friend's friend.  DH called another friend, too, but didn't get a clear idea of direction.  I went to a friend's house for a proper shower and to bathe all the kids. 

Friday we lost track of time and forgot to follow up. 

Over the weekend we avoid calling other contractors again for the weekend service fee and continue to scrub as best we can with boiled hot water.  I have been washing my hair leaning under the freezing tub spigot for over a week.

Monday DH calls our friend's friend again.  He gets through.  Friend hadn't called back because he's not available until Thursday, but DH got some ideas of things to troubleshoot.  We still don't have internet so we can't download the manual for the water heater.

Tuesday DH downloads manual and emails it to me because Hooray!  Internet is restored, but very slow.  DH leaves message asking friend's Friend to come on Thursday.

Wednesday I attempt to download manual but internet won't cooperate.  Don't know if it's just slow or it's not fully restored.  Just know I'm very frustrated and really hope it gets fixed tomorrow.  But we don't know if friend's Friend is coming tomorrow as he hasn't heard back.  Gah!

Thursday - Today - I'm trying to roll with this, but it stinks (ha!).  I'm tired of handwashing dishes and washing laundry in cold water.  I want to can 80 pounds of apples, but lazily want to sanitize my jars in the dishwasher instead of boiling them one by one.  I'm tired of sticking my head under a freezing spigot and I'm especially tired of having to wash myself with a sink of warm water.  I know, first world problems.  I guess I am just spoiled. 

Anyway, if you're reading this would you just take a second to pray with me?  Lord Jesus,  Thank you for loving me.  Thank you for providing for all of my needs.  You are faithful.  Lord, I am really struggling with this no hot water thing.  I don't know if it's the inconvenience of no hot water that really bothers me or if it's that it just hasn't been a high enough priority for us.  Help me to have more grace.  Help me to be patient.  Mostly Lord, if it's not outside your will, please allow the Friend's friend to come today and help us.  If it's not today, then please let this be resolved before our out of town guests arrive next week.  We don't know what we're doing and we just need help.  Show us what to do, Jesus.  Help us not get frustrated and blame other people. Forgive us where we have failed you.  Amen. 

Thanks, dear friends!  I'm a firm believer in the power of prayer so have at it!

Love, Katie