Cold Shower Anyone?

Last week our hot water heater died. Luckily it didn't explode or even leak, it just stopped producing hot water. So we bought another one and amazingly the hot water heater guy came the next day to install our brand spanking new source of non-cold water. He installed it in less than an hour and zippee do dah, we were on our way to hot showers and clean dishes once again. But.....

You have to have the installation inspected by the city government to make it "official". The inspection is not so important that we couldn't use our newly heated water, you just have to have a certificate on file somewhere in the boughs of city hall to say that your hot water heater passes inspection. You call, you choose a day for them to come, they come and if all goes well then they file it for you. For those reading closely, I said you choose a *day*. Not a time frame of 2 hours, not a time from of 4 hours. No, you pick a day and they will come with no advanced notice sometime between 9 and 4 on your chosen day.

Today was our day. I don't do much on Thursdays which is why I picked today, but I do usually leave the house at some point each day, if nothing else to walk down to the kids' school to pick them up. We were lucky, the water heater inspector came just after noon freeing up the rest of my day. He could not have been nicer chatting it up with Wes, remarking on our floor plan and my cute baby. He looked at the water heater for maybe 5 seconds and left. Apparently our water heater was installed correctly. Not that we were worried mind you, we paid a contractor $1300 for the heater and installation and it came with a 10 year warranty. But thank you City Hall for looking out for me.

Did I mention that we also had to add $100 on to the cost of our water heater to pay for that 5 second inspection and the certificate that is now making its way into a file somewhere in our government's big file drawer? I hope that is one pretty certificate, perhaps suitable for framing. Thankfully I don't work, so I didn't have to take a day off for the privilege of the inspection but gosh, for those who work and may have to take a day off (possibly without pay) to sit and wait for the kind inspector man as well as pay for the inspection and the actual water heater and installation, a new water heater is a pretty expensive proposition!

Taking a cold shower could have a whole new meaning!