Why don’t I listen to the collective wisdom of those who comment here? Last August, Highriser Andrew commented: “Plan now for hot water service replacement as they never break down when it is convenient. If you don’t, the temptation to just replace it with the same is great.”

Last night, it broke down. When describing the symptoms over the phone to the plumber this morning, he confirmed that it is kaputsky.

Origin Energy say they can set me up with an entirely new solar (gas boosted) installation for $2045 (after rebates), which seems pretty good.

Having checked with a couple of plumbers, it would seem that this is actually quite a good offer, and because they do heaps of them, I was a bit more confident their prowess. Let’s just say I liked the cut of their jib*. So I went ahead and ordered it.

The catch? About two weeks waiting. That’s a long time to go without a hot shower and/or boiling kettles for baths, though my sister for starters has volunteered use of her shower. (I didn’t have a shower today, and spent much of the day at work wondering if I smelt. Nobody on the train backed away from me, so hopefully not…)

Hell, it can’t be any worse than the Great Shower Rebuilding of 2001, or the gas crisis of 1998 (following the Longford explosion)… when there was no gas for cooking, either.

But ho boy, I wish I’d done this a month ago.

So much for upgrading my car right now.

(By the way, of the other goals on that list of home projects, I’ve completed precisely none of them, though some have progressed as far as investigation. The bathtub needs a complete new coat of paint. The insulation is actually not too bad at all for effectiveness/thickness.)

*An expression that seemed to work its way into conversation a couple of times last weekend.

PS. 11pm. You know, the more I think about it, the more I suspect doing it this way was a dumb idea. Oh well, even beyond geek pride, I’ll really appreciate it when the solar panels eventually get fitted to the roof and the whole thing is running.