DSG Fire Drill!!!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-22-1999
DSG Fire Drill!!!!!
14
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 12:46am
Yes, it is another fire drill.........this happened to me Monday night, so I am putting it out here to challenge you..........sorry it is so soon after the television fire drill, but life happens!

On Monday night I was laying on the sofa drifting away....drifting away....almost asleep, then my downstairs neighbor came knocking on the door to say water was dripping into his apartment....I checked the water heater, and it was sitting in a big puddle......YIKES!!!!! I was up for most of the night after that cleaning up after it and then waiting on the janitor to come with the replacement the next day. I lost 2 hours of work this week and a night's sleep. A good friend told me I was lucky I didn't have to pay for the replacemnt tank which is true, but I am upset about losing the 2 hours of work.....I couldn't make it up since I am in a class afterwork right now.

So here's the drill......one way or another you have discovered you need a new hot water tank......How would you know this, and are you prepared to pay for a new one? What would you do? Do you have any money left after the last fire drill?

Littlesbigs, Your Emergency Coordinator

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 12:56am
We don't have a water heater. I think our building has them downstairs for the whole building. (It certainly feels like they are right under us - I am in a tank top right now, and outside I have been wearing mittens, a toque, and a scarf).

Unfortunately, even though we did not get a new TV in the last drill, we really don't have much of an emergency fund. We do have savings, which are enough for 10 months worth of expenses, but we can't touch those. So it's a good thing we don't have a water heater that can break.

Sorry to hear about your adventure though.

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-10-2004
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 9:43am
We have no emergency fund, so the new water heater would go on the Sears card. :-(
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 9:46am
Well, having *just* replenished our $1000 emergency fund from the dental bill, vehicle expenses, et al, we would have the money to do it. But it would be very disheartening to have to start all over with our emergency fund again!

Thank goodness it wouldn't have to be charged, though!

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2004
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 12:29pm
I looked and it seems like hot water tanks cost around $300. Does that sound right?

Since I've finally turned my credit around the past two years, I would do what I did when I had to buy a new mattress and new fridge in July. I opened store cards at zero interest and started making montly payments that will get the thing paid in full before the zero interest period ends.

I actually do have $300 in my emergency fund, but that is all I have and I wouldn't want to wipe the whole thing out when I could get a zero interest card. I'd rather save it for car repairs or something that would have to otherwise go on a high interest credit card. Oh, and from the last fire drill I did not use any emergency fund money on a new TV, I'd go without (I'm pretty sure).

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-24-2004
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 1:39pm
We'd have to charge it. No Savings or ER fund at the moment. UGH!

Hopefully soon!

Avatar for mahopac
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-24-1997
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 1:46pm
Oh, I love your fire drills!

This is a very good one. We are not homeowners, so this is not a big problem for us. We have rented the same house for 9 years (yes, I know, *renting* for 9 years, don't get me started on that). At this point, if there is a huge repair/replacement, the landlords take care of it - and we do need a new oil burner, which is going to set them back $4000 (we also need a new roof. But we pay for things like oil burner and water softener maintenance, and when the dishwasher died 3 years ago, we paid for a new one. The reason is that they have only raised the rent once in 9 years, when their property taxes went up, and they could easily get twice in rent what they ask us to pay.

So we do anticpate that 3-4 times a year something is going to break that we have to fix, and that we probably will pay about $1000 a year for those things - but it's like car repairs - if you have an older car, you expect you're going to have to pay for repairs.

Now, I think anyone who's a homeowner shouldn't *become* a homeowner without having at least $5000 sitting in an emergency home-repair fund - because things happen, ya know?

Kelly

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-22-2003
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 2:18pm
I have a home warranty policy that costs around $450 a year that I started when I bought my condo. It was a god-send when my heat pump broke last year in the middle of February and all I paid was $250 (I had to pay for disposal and freon), as opposed to a couple of thousand. If my water heater broke down, I would call my home warranty company and my insurance company. Insurance for any damage I have done to my neighbours condo, and the warranty I have a $50 call-out and fix it fee. They will replace the entire unit, and I just pay for disposal costs. If they come back on the same problem, I don't pay any further fees. I know my air handler is on the way out, 20 years old, so I'm just praying it breaks down before June 16, so I can get a new one from the home warranty.

Water Heaters have a fairly short life span. I've heard from 5 years to 10 years. I don't know if there are any signs. I think they just go when you don't expect it!

I'm sure I'll still be broke regardless!

Avatar for mymartes
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 2:30pm
From the last fire drill, I didn't have to go out and buy a new tv. We have 4 in the house.

As for the water heater tank, we rent an apartment. When our home is finished being built, our water heater tank will be in warranty. Therefore, if it goes out, we'll have it replaced with the no charge.

My father recently had to buy a 50 gallon water heater tank. It cost him approximately $300. And he installed it himself.

MYM

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 3:21pm
Well, i'm sure we'd have to "steal" it, we have no EF right now just barely making it month to month and no savings. We're renting so the rental company would probably pay for it.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-29-2004 - 3:25pm
HOpefully I would know that my hot water heater went out becuase I wouldn't have hot water - if it was leaking, hopefully the pan it is sitting in is big enough to hold the water - if not it would probably end up leaking into our living room.

To replace the hot water heater I would try to purchase it on a 0%/0 pay cc if not I would have to pull the money from our savings.

AS for the living ceiling - hopefully home owner's insurance woudl cover that one.

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