Dip Tube

I'm quite pleased with a simple fix to my hot water tank last night. I'm sure that if I had called the plumber, they would've changed out the hot water tank and left me with a bill for $800, but I ventured to diagnose the symptoms and attempt to squeeze another year out of our 20-something year old tank. The hardest part of the job was turning the old dip tube nipple out of the top of the tank. I had Sylvia stand behind the tank and help hold it in place so I could reef on the pipe wrench. Thankfully, the nipple finally turned without causing damage to the threads or tank or anything else. If I had damaged the threads or the tank at this point, we would've been without any water for the night, and perhaps I would've had to take some time off this morning to plumb in a bypass to the hotwater tank until we could install a new one. At any rate, the dip tube was a perforated, cracked, paper-like, floppy tube when I pulled it out of the tank. The new one went in easy, the plumbing went back together nicely, and about 1/2 hour later the water was coming out of the tap steaming hot. I actually filled the whole tub and had the best bath I've had in a long time. Three great benefits from last nights fix: I learned how to replace the dip tube on our hot water tank; I kept some junk out of the land fill for (hopefully) at least another year; and I spent $25 on parts instead of $800 or so for a new tank and installation.