plumbing ideas :p

[spongebob lover]

ohh boy i think we're in big trouble .
yesterday for some reason when the husband was taking a shower, all of a sudden he said that the water came out really really hot (to the point of burning:lol: ... it was funny but )
now today when he was about to take a shower the water just came out cold (he had to take a very very cold shower:lol: and he's sick:shock: ) he thinks that our water heater thingy is broken, what do you doods/doodettes think?
i don't wanna take a cold shower but i'm willing to ..... just to get it over ..... hopefully it won't all of a sudden come burning hot :lol: .
Any good plumbing ideas? something that the husband can do?
i posted this in the PASA forum and i'm posting it here too so may be i can get a quick reply before the husband gets a heart attack from this

 

[mattseattle]

is it gas or electric or do you know? also is it cold when you only turn on the hot water side? if it's electric it sounds like the heating element could've went out and if it's gas then the pilot light could be out.

 

[spongebob lover]

it's electric and it's cold both in both sides dood.

 

[mattseattle]

did you check the breaker to see if it was tripped? if it isn't then sounds like either the thermostat or the heating element went out.

 

[spongebob lover]

it was not tripped .
do you know if it's expensive to replace the heating element dood?
because we were just thinking that if it's gonna costs us more than 300 then in that case i guess we'll just replace the whole thing and instead have gas

 

[mattseattle]

I have no idea - you could call around and see. Personally I'd just replace it. When we moved into this house that was the first thing we did.

 

[spongebob lover]

I have no idea - you could call around and see. Personally I'd just replace it. When we moved into this house that was the first thing we did.

where did you get yours from?
my guess is that we're gonna have to replace the whole thing .

 

[mattseattle]

I called Lowes and they did everything. I'm sure there are cheaper places though.

 

[spongebob lover]

thank you very much dood, we'll check out lowes .... meanwhile i just took a freezing shower :lol:.

 

[mattseattle]

Home Depot does it as well but they were quite a bit more expensive than Lowes when I got quotes.

Good luck with it....

 

[returnofsid]

Heating elements and thermostats are both very easy to replace. There's probably 2 of each. You can test continuity in the elements to see if they're bad. You can also test the thermostat but that's a lil' more complicated. To replace elements, you will have to drain the tank. Replacing thermostats doesn't require any water draining...however, keep in mind that you're working with 220V. Make sure you turn off the breaker before messing with either thermostat or element. Elements are fairly cheap and since you need to drain the tank to replace, it's a good idea to replace both. If it's just the upper element, you only have to drain the tank partially. Usually the lower goes out more often though because it does more of the heating.