Category: Appliances

  • The Horrors of Water Heater Maintenance

    The Horrors of Water Heater Maintenance

    Today I’m going to talk about the sacrificial anode rod, an essential component of tank water heaters. The idea for this post is related to our newly installed water heater, which happened in July and was prompted by Sena seeing some debate on the web about the apparently somewhat controversial relationship between water softeners water…

  • Countdown to Hot Water Heater Replacement

    Countdown to Hot Water Heater Replacement

    Well, even though our hot water heater was temporarily fixed, there is no guarantee that it won’t fail again between now and later this week. That’s when we’re scheduled to have the new water heater installed That will cost approximately 10 billion dollars. This item will be the major selling point for our house because…

  • May the Force Be With the Qualified Plumber

    May the Force Be With the Qualified Plumber

    Well, after 5 grueling weeks of icy cold showers, a qualified plumber—oh wait, you guys already know our hot water heater croaked just last Friday. And the plumber fixed it in a jiffy on Monday—miraculous. So, the cold shower ordeal lasted only 3 days. But those were really dreadfully, awfully, cosmically cold shower days. I…

  • An Old Dog’s Approach to Replacing Electrical Outlets and Other Thoughts

    An Old Dog’s Approach to Replacing Electrical Outlets and Other Thoughts

    Since retirement, I’ve been very gradually casting about for another identity now that I’ve given up my professional identity. It doesn’t come naturally. I’m definitely not a handyman, although I’ve been learning a few skills. For some reason, a large number of our electrical outlets didn’t hold power cords tightly enough. They were either cheap…

  • Short Laundry List of Features on GE Washer Model GFW850SPNDG

    Short Laundry List of Features on GE Washer Model GFW850SPNDG

    I’m not a laundry guy, but we just got a new GE washer and dryer pair to replace the old set. I’m just going to make a few comments about the washer, model GFW850SPNDG. This is not an exhaustive review and I don’t have any conflict of interests with GE. First let me get something…