In Hot Water

Actually, my hubby and I are not in hot water. We're out of it. When the propane guy came out last week to sign off on the safety of our house, he lit the pilot light on the water heater. It was amazing to have hot water--I splurged and used it on luxuries like bathing. A mere 48 hours later, the pilot light went out again.

This morning, a different propane guy came out to fill up our propane tank. Not having enough propane in the system can sometimes cause the pilot light to give up. Once the light's back on and the tank is working again, it takes about an hour to have enough hot water for things like bathing (which I was hoping to do before work, for some reason).

Unfortunately, my hot shower has to be put on hold (maybe for a day or two, yuck!). Even with a full propane tank, the pilot light won't stay lit. So now we are faced with a dilemma: should we get the gas-burning water heater repaired, or should we upgrade to a snazzy new tankless one? Benefits of a snazzy new tankless water heater include lower energy use and an endless supply of hot water (as long as we're not running our nonexistent dishwasher and showering simultaneously, according to energy.gov). Benefits of keeping the water heater that came with our lovely home include not trying to find someone to get rid of it and probably keeping a few more dollars in our bank account. Hmmm.