Am I being picky or am I just stupid?

[JoeyGee]

We moved into a house (built in '77) last Feburary. A couple months ago, the water heater started leaking out of the drain faucet/spigot. I tightened it as tight as I felt safe doing, but it would not stop leaking. I had heard I could replace the spigot without replacing the whole WH, but we have a home warranty and I have NO time, so I figured the $55.00 deductible was worth it to have the valve/spigot/faucet/whatever it's called replaced.

So, I am at work today, and LOML calls me "YOU wanted to spend $55.00 for a $.30 part?!?!?"

I come home and look at it, and the repairman screwed a cap on the end of the valve.

Maybe I'm upset because I spent $55.00 on a $.30 part, but in my mind, it's really not fixed, just patched. So, am I being picky, or just stupid?

[MilDoc]

That really was a cheap s**t fix.

Sure you didn't just need a 5 cent washer? 'course, you have to turn off the water supply, drain the tank, disassemble the faucet, replace the washer. And that would have taken some time. So the "repair"man did it simple and charged way too much.

But, the "faucet" is important. If you want your WH to last longer, you really should drain it every 3-6 months to avoid sediment build up. Depends on the hardness of your water. So, his "fix" will work.

One of the reasons plumbers sometimes make more than I do!

[JoeyGee]

I agree...

It started leaking after I did just that--drained it a little to get rid of sediment.

[just4funsies]

Not only that, but all you paid was the $55.00 deductible. The repairman may have charged the warranty company even more. The first thing I'd do is report him to the warranty company, and the second thing I'd do is make somebody fix it right. It may just have a bit of scale stuck on the washer or seat.

[Tom Miller]

It started leaking after I did just that--drained it a little to get rid of sediment.

The leak may be due to a piece of sediment getting trapped in the valve when you closed it after flushing. Try opening and closing it multiple times to flush the sediment some more. Each time you close it, check to see if it leaks. If yes, open and close again. Rinse and repeat.

Regards,
Tom
[oops, I think j4f kinda hit on that above.]

[thrytis]

Home warranties are such a rip-off. After two service calls and $120, they told me my garbage disposal wasn't powerful enough to gind up vegetables (fed in slowly) without clogging the drain. After a nasty letter i got half of my money back, but i ended up having to replace it myself in less time then it took messing with the warranty company and i could have done it for less moneythan then one service charge if i had choosen a cheaper disposal to replace it with.

[Deadhead]

Unscrew the cap, throw it away, and call the warranty company and say it still leaks.

Oh, and tell them you will not pay another deductible because it's the same problem.

[lkazista]

I thought a deductible was a maximum payout from you. Like the repair will cost up to $55. If it was .30, then you should have just been charged .30


Lee

[havighurst]

Unscrew the cap, throw it away, and call the warranty company and say it still leaks.

Oh, and tell them you will not pay another deductible because it's the same problem.

I would agree that you should not pay another deductible for the same problem. I have found that repairmen act very different if my wife is the one home vs. me. My wife was taken advantage of by dishonest repair men. If you can, be there when the plumber shows up and don't accept any bull**** repair.

[Kristofor]

I don't know how much stock to put in TV plumbers, but the guy from Ask This Old House, and the goofy one on the DIY channel have both said not to do the water heater flushing deal unless you start when they're new. I don't recall the rationale, but basically if it had been building up for a couple years or longer the recommendation was to just let it be.

Whatever that's worth, I guess as it's leaking now and wasn't before there may be something to it

I did the same thing on mine (made it leak slowly) by playing with, er... testing (ya that's it) the overpressure protection valve. Luckily that was an easy replacement and since it comes out on top and I have valves fore and aft of the water heater very little water had to be drained to swap it.

Kristofor.

[25]

I saw that episode and if I remember it had something todo with causeing it to leak. I believe it was removing the sediment that was over a leak or something. Then again I am probbably just full of it and don't remember well enough.

[Holbren]

That sounds like a bandaid not a fix. For you to do it yourself and save the $$ is one thing but for a service company I would expect it to be fixed. You may not mind the fix but I would call and complain.

I am sure it was at least $75 to come out to the house. Plumbers are probably the highest paid house calls I have seen. If doctors still made house calls I don't think they would charge as much.

[JeremyM]

I'm not a plumber.

But if you start flushing several years after installation, all you have is corroded parts and lots of junk in there. I live in an area of hard water and it's very true. Either start flushing or leave it be. I tried to start flushing one of mine and learned the hard way the truth of those statements.

Later

[atgcpaul]

I don't know how much stock to put in TV plumbers, but the guy from Ask This Old House, and the goofy one on the DIY channel have both said not to do the water heater flushing deal unless you start when they're new. I don't recall the rationale, but basically if it had been building up for a couple years or longer the recommendation was to just let it be.

Kristofor.

The lining in WHs corrodes over time and I suppose it's worse if you don't
regularly drain the tank. The sediment actually plugs up the corrosion and if
you drain it, the plugs are no more and you have a leak.

[beetee3]

At the time you called the home warrantee help number you were quite willing to pay $55 to make the leak go away. So what if the plumber had a more creative solution than you envisioned? It would have cost you more in parts and labor/lost earnings if you had tried to fix the problem yourself by replacing the spigot. Don't get mad at the plumber or home warrantee company - chaulk it up to experience and move on.

If you really want to get one up on 'the man', then why not send the plumber's fix into one (or more) of the many DIY magazine hints & tips pages? When the tip gets published you'll more than recoup your copayment. Tell 'em how you were about spend half a day fixing a leaky spigot until a wise old plumber told you this great tip about a thirty second, thirty cent fix. Just don't tell them that it cost you $55 to learn this tip