A client called me last week, their voice full of regret, after trying to follow a tutorial they found online. They’d swapped their 30-gallon tank for a 40 gal water heater, assuming “bigger is better.” Three days later, they were paying $85 in extra monthly bills and still running out of hot water by 7 … Read more

Why do so many brand-new homes develop the same exact problem within the first five years? The answer has nothing to do with the construction quality. Homeowners crank the thermostat to 140 °F because the shower runs cold after ten minutes, then blame the builder when the 30 gallon electric water heater rusts out in … 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 14-year-old water heater. The inspector recommended replacement, and they were torn: stick with a traditional tank water heater or jump into a tankless water heater vs … Read more

In 15 years of field installs, I’ve learned that 8 out of 10 “dead” tankless units I’m called to on Monday mornings just needed a 45-minute vinegar bath. The homeowner stares while I pull out a $120 tankless water heater flush kit, hook it up, and watch chalk-white scale chunks flush out—problem solved before lunch. … Read more

My records show that homeowners who postpone this specific repair end up spending an average of 3.7x more within two years due to secondary damage. I saw it firsthand in a 1980s ranch in Toledo—leaking tank water heater warped the subfloor, rotted the drywall, and flooded the basement. The homeowner waited six months because they … Read more

The week before Thanksgiving is our busiest for plumbing disasters. It’s always the same culprit, and it’s completely avoidable. Families gather, showers run back-to-back, and aging water heaters—especially electric resistance units—struggle to keep up. I’ve seen tanks fail under demand, flooding basements just as guests arrive. The root cause? Inefficient, fossil-fuel-reliant systems that can’t scale … Read more

Have you ever wondered why some installations last for decades while others fail in just a few years? The difference is rarely the brand name on the box. I’ve seen a $1,200 solar geyser water heater in Cape Town outlast a $2,800 imported unit—not because it was fancier, but because it was matched to local … 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—the pilot keeps going out and I’m stuck taking cold showers.” She’d patched, prodded, and relit that old atmospheric unit more times than she could count, yet every fall the … Read more

The first time I encountered a power vent water heater that wouldn’t ignite, I assumed it was a bad igniter. I was a rookie HVAC tech with just two years under my belt, working a cold January call in Buffalo. I replaced the spark module—$185 part—only to have the unit fail again 48 hours later. … Read more

During a routine inspection in a beautiful, million-dollar home, I moved a piece of insulation and found something that made my blood run cold: a cracked heat exchanger on a 2019 AO Smith GPVL-40 ProMax, leaking 1,200 ppm of CO into the playroom. The family had been dizzy for weeks, blaming the flu, while their … Read more