[Ed Snyder]

Until recently I had never had a water heater problem. I always assumed that if an electric water stopped heating your water you had to replace the whole thing. But then I educated myself recently when I had to deal with a bad water heater. While looking around at Home Depot at new water heaters, I noticed that they sold kits with new thermostats and heating elements for about $35. I figured if installing those gets me hot water again, that's way faster, easier, and cheaper than replacing the whole thing. So I bought the kit, turned off the breaker, drained the tank, replaced the upper and lower heating elements and thermostats, refilled the tank, turned the breaker back on, and it worked! Nice hot water!

Maybe I'm the only one here who didn't know you could do this. On the other hand, maybe my experience will help someone else avoid having to wrestle with heavy tanks or paying for a plumber to do it for you.