Water Heaters and Murphy

Howdy Friend,

We all kick up our heals and rejoice when Saturday rolls around. ‘Saturday’ could be any old day of the week—as long as it’s your designated day away from the grindstone.

Often times my day off is spent tackling the usual “honey do” list my wife carefully places in my lap. And this particular Saturday was no different.

I cheerfully looked over the list and noticed ‘fix water heater’—the nerve of her putting water heater repair on top of the list. I mean really ‘hot water’? Who needs a device that will heat water automatically—without having to light a fire.

Seems my baby likes those small conveniences like hot water, air conditioning, and other modern-day comforts.

Ok, ok I have a big confession to make here—I like all those small, trivial modern day conveniences too! And if I were a betting man, I’d bet you like them too, no?

You see, for several weeks now our water heater has been the silent partner, quietly purring along in the background doing its fair share helping my family with all the dish washing, laundry, and ensuring there’s plenty of hot water for bathing.

Despite this, the old water heater was giving us something else too: puddles of water in the basement.

At first the puddle was about the size of dinner plate. But as time went on the plate got bigger and bigger.

I tried all of the usual remedies: flushing the tank to rid itself of impurities, rust and the like—thinking that couldn’t hurt!

Boy was I wrong. Flushing the tank actually made it worse. I came home from work the next day and found the puddle the size of a small trampoline and water spewing like Yosemite.  Not good!

Luckily this was on a Friday and I could tackle my newest home project over the weekend.

As an X- HVAC guy, I knew my way around plumbing fixtures, propane torches, and the usual hand tools.

I was up for the challenge of tackling the replacement myself—plus I could save a buck or two by cutting out the contractor’s labor.

Saturday. Off to Lowes Home Improvement I go armed with a shopping list and a pocket full of change.

300 bucks later I’m back home with a brand spanking new water heater, various plumping fittings, pipe glue, a torch and few other accessories and I’ll ready to get started.

The old heater had been draining for several hours so it was near empty. With the help of my trusty pipe cutter and the flip of an electrical breaker, the old unit comes out pretty easy.

All’s well except one tiny, weenie little problem. Water was still flowing out of the cold pipe so I go back to the main cutoff valve located in the basement and wrench down and *snap* off comes the stem and handle to the valve.

This sucks. If you’ll recall I mention the word “Murphy” boldly in the title to this letter. At one time or another we all have been introduced to Murphy’s Law that broadly states—anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.

Well, it gets better. Seems Murphy can also become a bit greedy—wants to claim Saturday—and the rest of the weekend all for himself!

Here’s what I mean.

Being that there’s water pouring all over the basement floor, I scramble to locate the shutoff at the meter. It’s getting dark and dirt covering the meter doesn’t help the matter. So armed with my little flash light I commence to digging desperately trying to find the dang shutoff valve.

Sadly it’s not where they are usually installed—towards the house. So it’s more digging. Finally I see a semblance of what appears to be a shutoff valve on the far side of the meter box.

And to be all I can barely reach it with my T-wrench. With a wing and a prayer I get the water shut off and pick up where I left off in the basement.

I start removing fittings off the old water heater hoping I can reuse them. No good. These fittings are so corroded you can hardly see though them. So it’s off to Lowes, trip number two.

When I get back home I realize that I didn’t get everything I needed—namely ¾” pipe. Sheesh! By this time it’s too late to make another trip to the building supply and I’m beginning to burn out.

Sunday. You learn to appreciate the simple pleasures of life—good food, good friends, and a hot bath! And boy was I needin’ one, not to mention the rest of my family.

I keep telling myself, “Mush on. You gotta keep going. Finish the job.”  You know how important it is to become you own cheer leader. A little encouragement goes a loooong way.

By now I’m becoming a “regular” at Lowes Home Improvement. The clerks are calling me by name, giving me home improvement tips, asking me if I’d like a job—you know like I’m one of the gang.

Heck, after all of that, it became pretty tempting. These folks are really nice!

Anyway, I decide to keep moving forward, get my parts and get the water turned back on.

Yippee! Everything is in place, final inspection, yes, yes it all looks good and no signs of any potential water leaks. I give it a while for the pipe cement to set and crank open the valves for a final leak test. So far, so good I take another look around all the joints—all’s well! No leaks.

I go upstairs and my son grabs me to help him find a toy on the second floor. It was then when I heard a psssss . . . pop . . . spew . . . it’s sounding like serious water flow.

Like an Olympic sprinter I zoom down to the basement, hoping what I’m hearing wasn’t true!

Damn! It’s Murphy! He’s struck again. Boy what a sight—water spraying like a geyser.

Working quickly, I shut the water off, and shook my head in disgust!

It’s back to the drawing board.

Muttering under my breath, dreading going and recounting how many times to the building supply I’ve endured I realize I have spare fittings.

Could it be that the tables are turning now? Maybe I’ll kick Murphy’s ass for a change? Maybe short turn.

I redo the piping once again but this time give extra time to for the cement to cure before cranking on the electricity and water.

Elapsed time approximately 45 to 50 minutes, I anxiously fire up the water heater hoping for the best.

Shower time is finally here! Big smiles coming from the entire family.

So what does this story have to do with marketing? I can tell you in just one word: Persistence.

That’s right, persistence. Keep working till you get it right. Successful marketing is about planning your work and working your plan.

Successful marketing isn’t about having all the latest, greatest website bells and whistles. It’s not about looking the flashiest or dumping a ton of money on all the latest software programs.

No! Successfully marketing is about learning what your target market wants, what pains they’re having, what problems they want solved and letting them know you’re the go to guy or gal who can help them.

Don’t quit. Don’t give up. I have seen oftentimes successful comes to those who are absolutely committed to staying in the game.

Are you willing to do this?

Warmly,

Emette Massey

P.S. What problems are you having in your business today? I very well may have just the solution you want to get where you want to be. Why not give me a call? I’ll be glad to answer any questions, share a few ideas that will help grow your business! Call me at 828-313-0694. Or if you prefer send me an email at eemassey@yahoo.com There’s no cost or obligation at all!