The new tenants moved into the rental as of December 23, 2007. A couple with one child.........not married.

Over the weekend, I get four telephone calls.........one more antagonizing than the next........no hot water in the bathtub. Hot water is fine everywhere else, but the bathtub has only cold water. "Pipes must be messed up in the wall".

I've owned this house 15 years and there is definitely no problem with the pipes.

Stop over on Wednesday after Christmas and confirm that there is hot water from the tub..........but it runs out quickly if full demand is used for a bath. The tankless coil is marginal and cannot keep up with a heavy flow rate.

Fine, I'll check into changing the coil. Find out that the coil is $225. due to the cost of copper, now. It's simply a flange with about four feet of coiled copper tubing with fins on the OD for heat transfer. Must cost about $50. to make.........

So, I figure that I'll put in a separate hot water heater for about the same cost........electric.......and the tenants pay the electric. Tenants are fine with this............sounds like a better plan for them...........unlimited hot water.

So, I get my heater, get my parts and tools together, get some 10 gauge Romex and a 25 amp double pole breaker..........and I'm good to go.

Get there today at 2:30 p.m. and here is where I make my first critical mistake:

I tell the "wife" that I'll be installing the water heater and that the water will be off for several hours. However, I need a couple of hours to put some cement blocks down in the crawl space (4.5 ft. headroom) and drag the heater down into the space, unpack it and stand it up. Also started the lines from the water heater to the furnace without shutting the water off.

About 4:30 is when I actually shutoff the water.

It's a bit of a slow process due to the difficult working conditions in the crawl space and I want to install the heater in both parallel and in series with the tankless coil...........so, some thought and planning is involved and time disappears.

But, it's going fairly well. I'm about 80% done at 7:30 and the "husband" shows up from work.

"BRIAN"

"Hey Nick, how's it going"

"Not too good!!"

"Why's that?"

"I've got no water and there has been no water for FIVE HOURS"

"I shutoff the water at 4:30, Nick...........and I'm working as fast as humanly possible"

"Well, I've got a wife and child up there and THEY DON'T HAVE ANY WATER!!"

"Not much I can do about that, Nick..........I can only install a water heater so fast"

"I told you that I WOULD PUT THE WATER HEATER IN..........I DON'T NEED TO BE WITHOUT WATER!!"

"Well, giving me abuse for not working faster isn't going to get your heater installed any faster, Nick"

"Well, they give me grief...........and I'M GIVING YOU GRIEF".

"Fine, Nick........whatever you say.............."

I go back to work...........he leaves the crawl space.

I get the cold water back on at 8:00 and struggle with a hot water leak for another hour (sweated it four times until I gave up and took it apart).


Now...........the irony of the situation and the reason for the title of the thread is as follows:

He works as a plumber (apprentice) over at the beach..........earns a decent salary and is well regarded by his employer.