Water Heater 1, Scot 0

Last night I left the caulk to dry around the flange of the toilet and planned on putting the toilet all back together this morning. I also left the small puddle of water in the garage to dry overnight. When I woke up, I checked the garage and there was MORE water! ARGH! Since no water supply was on for the toilet, the culprit couldn't be the toilet. In other words, I "fixed" the toilet twice, but the toilet was not the leak.

I looked around and laid on the garage floor and waited, listened, and watched. I heard a drip, then using my superpower listening skills (I hear better when my eyes are closed), I zoned in then watched. Sure enough, on the backside edge of the water heater, there was a drip. It was coming off of the insulation around the tank, so I stripped that off and there was some rust near the top of the tank and it was slowly leaking. I duct taped it just for a quick patch (it was very slow, not like a stream) and headed to Home Depot.

What started as a $15 toilet fix turned into a $750 water heater replacement. ARGH! Why couldn't this happen a month after we sold the house? Just kidding. Maybe. At least now I know that I can take apart and put a toilet back together since I have practiced twice. This reminds me of when I wanted to replace the handles on our shower (~$10-$15) and when I took the old ones off, the stem broke. As I replaced the stem, the threads got stripped. I ended up having to get a plumber come and replace the whole assemby (tearing the tile off the wall, cutting the old piece out, replacing it, then retiling and grouting that section). Price: something like $300. So, if you need help "plumbing", Scot knows how to fix some stuff, but will just cost you 20-50X more than you thought. Call for help at your own peril. Plumbing, you jerk!