Loading ...Water company employee just left here. Couple of years ago, got a notification,
#1 I have no choice, I need a new “smart water meter”. It sends a signal like a cell phone that reads the consumption numbers.
#2 Employee (same one that left) came here, but could not shut water in the street, to do the job, bad old valve not budging. He schedules the need for new valve in the street.
#3 Two new employees put in a new valve in the street, and a new fangled “smart water meter” in the basement.
#4 My hot water heater occasionally started pushing, spraying water out the high pressure relief valve. I call my burner service guy, who puts in a new high pressure relief valve on the water heater.
#5 No improvement. Water still pushing out. I looked on the Internet, and find out, SOME new smart water meters have an anti back up valve so my water or pressure can’t go back out into the system. And I need an expansion tank for my water heater. Huh??
I call the water company, and sure enough, that’s right. So they send an employee, the first one that was here, to come and remove the anti back up feature. I ask him. How did this stupid thing happen?
He says. “Somebody had the idea (anti back flow) but didn’t put enough thought into it, and then we had to start removing them.” So I wonder… Was the “idea” to prevent a terrorist from putting poison into the water main from my house??
Or was it just another on millions of ideas to create another unneeded part to be fabricated pay people in China fabricate it and pay somebody else to install it, and later pay remove it?
On top of paying some country to make the new smart meter, pay another to install it, who could not, until we pay another employee to put a new foreign made valve in the street, and pay to install the new smart meter. With the unneeded created and installed and pay to remove, anti back flow part.
On account of all the above, I paid for service call for my hot water heater, plus paid for a new China made high pressure valve I did not need. Also, by the way…..
My Burner service guy about 20 years ago, told me the Ford hot water I have, that was installed in 1975, needed to be replaced. TWENTY YEARS AGO. Still working fine.
It uses only 1/4 to 1/2 gallon #2 heating oil per day for hot water. My land lord friend says he automatically changes all the modern hot water heaters every 10 years. They don’t last and can’t be trusted.
To heat the whole house, I have a big cast iron oil burning boiler from 1929. Service guy said it originally burnt coal. On the worst cold windy weather it uses 10 gallons per day. Normal winter weather, 5-6 gallons per day.
Caution: Sales and service businesses will ALWAYS sell and service you MORE than you need. The Medical Industry and big Pharma, same exact thing. Many unnecessary job creations. MORE than you really need. Be it a test, prescription, operation etc. Remember. They are also sales and service.