Links to Civilization

It turns out, at least for me, that civilization really does hinge on easy access to hot water.

As Scott pointed out, we were really without hot water for 5 days.  But it felt like an eternity.  Friends were very generous with their bathing facilities, so we weren't particularly stinky (especially for Durham), but it made things like doing dishes more difficult.  And washing my face in the morning.  Wow, that was so much more bracing that I typically enjoy.  There was just an overall grumpiness that comes with having to be that much more coordinated at a time when we were already stretched as thin as people can be.

We ended up replacing our 1985 low boy gas water heater with a shiny tankless gas water heater.  See, it turns out they stopped making the style of water heater needed to fit under our house in the crawl space YEARS ago.  Possibly decades ago.  So long ago that the first plumber we called was like "uhm, are you sure that it's gas?"

I have to give mad props to PSNC, our gas company.  While they weren't available the first day Scott called (Fri) because the person who runs the program was out, when he called on Mon, they had a guy out looking at stuff at noon and they did the installation the next day.  With 10% down and 36 month financing, it was a clear winner for us.  Plus it is one of the things that you get a 30% tax credit on, which ROCKS!  Oh, and there is a $100 rebate.  It is still more expensive than a traditional water heater, however, with our situation (crazy pipe movement), the rebate and the tax credit it's fairly close and we get to feel all efficient!