Saturday morning I decided to check out a growing puddle of water in my basement. I grabbed the mop and started to clean it up, and that is when I saw where it was coming from. It was flowing out of the bottom of my hot water heater. HOT WATER. OUT OF THE BOTTOM OF MY HOT WATER HEATER.
And all I could think about was how much my next water bill was going to be.
I've heard tales of the $900 water bill from neighbors of neighbors who've had something go wrong in the basement and they didn't know they had a problem with wasting water until the bill arrived. And I've head there is no credit given when something breaks and money runs down the drain.
My husband figures that the water is leaking at the rate of one gallon per hour. That's a lot. And who knows how long it was leaking before I noticed it. A week? A few days?
On Saturday we purchased a new water heater, but since it was the weekend I'm sure I'll have to wait until Monday to get the install scheduled. If you know me, you know that I'm stressing about the water going down the drain. I know how expensive the water is here in Menomonee Falls, and with gas being $3.79 a gallon, and grocery store visits costing nearly $200 a week, the last thing we need is an out of ordinary water bill next quarter.