Early in my career, my mentor pointed to a seemingly minor detail and said, “If you don’t fix this $100 problem now, it will become a $10,000 problem later.” He was inspecting a corroded anode rod in a 10-year-old Rheem Performance Platinum 50-gallon gas water heater—a unit still technically functional but quietly eroding from the … Read more
A common misconception is that if a tankless unit looks compact and shiny on Instagram, it’ll slide right under your ½-inch gas line and deliver endless 120 °F showers. Often the opposite is true because most viral posts skip the cold-water sandwich, the 199 k BTU gas appetite, and the Âľ-inch dedicated line the city … Read more
Last year, a homeowner who had lived in their house for 30 years told me, “I’m just tired of fighting this same problem every single season…” Their old 20-gallon electric water heater would run out of hot water by the second shower, and the rust-colored drips under the tank had become a weekly chore. They … Read more
I once worked with a young couple who had just bought their first home. They were thrilled, but completely overwhelmed by the long inspection report—especially the note about their outdated oil furnace. Heating costs were already $350 a month in winter, and their basement reeked of soot. They wanted something cleaner, more efficient, and future-proof. … Read more
The call came at 2 a.m.—a vacant rental’s 50-gal gas heater had toppled during a slab leak flood, yanking the copper connectors and turning the basement into a scalding sprinkler room. By the time I arrived, the fiberglass insulation was soaked, the gas valve was hissing, and the water heater stand had dissolved into mushy … Read more
In the middle of a winter storm, with the power out and temperatures dropping, we had to find a way to prevent an entire plumbing system from freezing solid. A commercial property in upstate New York lost heat, and the tankless water heater—critical for employee washrooms—shut down. With frozen pipes imminent, we needed a solution … Read more
Every winter, without fail, we get a wave of calls for the exact same, preventable issue. Last January, I pulled up to a campsite in Flagstaff where a family was freezing in their 2022 Winnebago Minnie Winnie—no hot water, and the propane line was frozen solid because they’d left the bypass valve open. They’d tried … Read more
Every winter, without fail, we get a wave of calls for the exact same, preventable issue. A family in rural Montana freezes their pipes because their old tank heater ran out of hot water mid-shower—again. Another couple in Oregon cancels their weekend trip because their RV’s water heater took 45 minutes to heat up, and … Read more
In the middle of a winter storm, with the power out and temperatures dropping, we had to find a way to prevent an entire plumbing system from freezing solid. A family in rural Vermont was stranded, their electric water heater dead, pipes starting to crack. Without hot water, sanitation became a crisis within hours. Elderly … Read more
A client called me last week, their voice full of regret, after trying to follow a tutorial they found online about connecting an indirect water heater to their boiler. They’d bypassed the primary loop, used the wrong pump, and now their radiant floor heating shuts off every time someone showers. The system was flooded, the … Read more