The story of my new hot water heater, told in narrative and Facebook status updates (Part 1)

Last Saturday (7/25), I got up early, and decided to do a little laundry. I gathered my dirty clothes together and found a leak in my water heater and about an inch of water in the basement.

Awesome, right?

I called the emergency plumbing and heating number and asked for a plumber. The answering service said she'd have him call me "right back." I woke up the temporary roommate to let him know what was going on. After an hour, I called the plumbing company again; they were still trying to reach the plumber. So much for emergency service. That gave the roommate a chance to convince me that actually, if we cut off the supply to the water heater, we wouldn't have an emergency, and I wouldn't have to pay an emergency rate for the plumber. When the plumber finally called back, he agreed.

So, temporary roommate (hereafter known as TR) shut off the water, and spent several hours getting water out of the basement. Then, like the bad person I am, I abandoned TR to keep working on water removal and return the roofers pump to Home Depot while I ran off to get my hair cut before my stylist went on maternity leave. Sorry, TR.

[bzzzzgrrrl] has had a hell of the day: hot water heater's still broken, basement is mostly not flooded anymore, hair looks fabulous, valuable information actually gleaned from an issue of Cosmo. Any questions?
July 25 at 6:18pm

A good homeowner might have cleaned up the remaining pooling water Saturday night, or Sunday. I am not that homeowner.

Instead, I did nothing about the smallish amount of water in the basement and went to stay with my sister and help her with the baby on Monday. That also left TR and my parents to deal with plumbers on Monday (outside emergency hours), which they did, wonderfully. Poor TR did without hot water for almost a week, in fact. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I had a high old time (including showering) with my sister, brother-in-law and niece, with periodic breaks to call plumbers, utility companies, TR and my parents.

[bzzzzgrrrl] is home. And still dealing with the hot water heater.
July 30 at 11:43am

My new plumber of choice came out to the house on Thursday and gave me an estimate for replacing the water heater. We booked him to come the next day.

[bzzzzgrrrl] is listening to the sweet sweet sounds of a new tankless water heater being installed.
Fri at 12:08pm

The plumber (with some, but not a lot) of help from another plumber installed my new water heater. There was some trouble draining the old one, but he got it done.

As he was cleaning up, we chatted. It seems the good folks at this particular heating and plumbing organization have had some hard times lately. One guy was injured by a 700-pound propane tank falling on him. The guy who had helped my plumber's grandmother had just died. And my plumber had a close friend die just a few years ago of an unfortunate stomach-stapling-related complication.

Anyway, the friendly plumber got my check, fixed my license plate to my car, and was on his merry way.

[bzzzzgrrrl] started the dishwasher, then jumped in the shower, then started a load of laundry and told the roommate he could get in the shower.
Fri at 5:42pm

Stay tuned for Part 2. It's way shorter. I promise.