Cold Showers

My hot water heater died last night. It's a tankless on-demand water heater that isn't very common, so I have no idea who to call. I think most people call plumbers for a water heater problem, but I figure they are used to cleaning up the mess from a leak and then installing a new one. Tank water heaters aren't usually modular; they usually just get replaced. My water heater is the size of a computer and it's built in a similar fashion. It consists of 4 heating elements, two control chips, a few water temperature sensors, and lots of wires. Any one of those parts can be replaced rahter than replacing the entire unit. Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't sound like a plumber issue. But on the other hand, can I get an electrician to listen to a word I say after "water heater?" In any case, I decided to send an e-mail to the tech support address of the company that manfactured the water heater. Here it is:

My Model 220 stopped working last night. I hit the reset button on the
far left and heard a click and saw a blue flash through one of the
vents on the side. I removed the cover to make sure nothing was on fire
and noticed that the second electrical connection from the right is
black and slightly melted. The connection has a black wire going into
it from the home electrical supply. Neither one of the double pole 50
amp breakers was tripped, but the unit is completely out of order. Our
hot water supply is ice cold and the unit is not making the sounds we
are used to hearing from it. Do I need to call an electrician? Is this
a problem you have seen before? The unit and the house are just shy of
4 years old and it has worked beautifully since day one, so I don't
think there was any problem with the connection. I don't know whether
my builder filled out the warranty card or not and I don't have the
names/license numbers of the installers, so I don't think I can make a
warranty claim. But at this point, I just want to find out how to fix
it. Thanks in advance for your help.

Pretty simple, right? Not for Carlos, the guy that got the e-mail. Here's his response:


Call us tomorrow for an RA number so you can ship the unit in to us to hav eit repaired....

One important little piece of information I haven't mentioned is that this company is located in Miami, Florida. I live in the Dallas, TX area. It's the first day of March. Since transporter technology has yet to be invented, I would have to send the unit via snail-mail. Then they would have to repair it. Then, assuming that transporter technology hasn't been invented yet, they would have to ship it back to me, again via snail-mail. I guess I'm supposed to boil water and pour it in the tub until then and only wash my cold water clothes. What's more, I am not licensed to remove the thing from it's moorings on my garage wall. It's not that I couldn't remove it, after all I'm Mexican. But I'm not supposed to remove it. So I'm not going to remove it. Nor am I going to live for 6 weeks without hot water.

I have to wonder if I'll ever come across a situation like this where I'll be able to talk to someone intelligent with some pride in their work. To add insult to injury, I called my builder (who's also a good friend of mine) last night to see if he could help me find a good electrician I can trust, and he promised to call me back with a recommendation. I couldn't possibly have expected anything different based on past experience, but he never called. Nice, huh? Oh yeah, and in order to make a warranty claim, I have to get the names, phone numbers, and license numbers of the plumber and electrician that installed the unit. That information would come from none other than my builder. What a wonderful day!