The culprit

For years our hot water pressure has stunk. More than that, we’d only have a few minutes of hot water in the shower before it’d begin to dwindle and we’d have to dial back the cold to ensure we kept getting hot water.

"But Shawn, why didn’t you fix it years ago?" Welcome to my life. :)

Anyway, last Saturday, Dad and I took out the old hot water heater (the drain plug at the bottom broke so we had to manhandle that thing outside with 30 gallons of water in it. Not fun) and installed a new hot water heater.

After we got the old hot water heater outside we decided we were going to use the old hot and cold fittings because they still appeared to be in good shape. We torqued them off and when Dad reached in to clean out the fitting that was on the hot water side, he stopped. He just stared into the fitting. Under my breath, I uh-oh’d.

He and I have done a lot of projects together (he’s a regular Bob Vila. I am the gopher that gets in the way) and I’ve learned what certain looks mean. This one meant something between "$%@*&(" and surprise. That’s him to the right, by the way, from the 70′s with a perm.

He turns the fitting toward me so I can see into it. It’s a small L-shaped elbow fitting that comes off the water heater and connects to the hose that sends the hot water to the house.

What’s inside that fitting? A little blue marble. It fit perfectly in the L-bend in that fitting.

That’s right, folks. For years, a little blue marble stood in the way of long, glorious hot showers.

I cursed that little blue marble. I cursed myself for not doing something about it years ago. You’re welcome to use the comments to curse me, too.

The question is: how did a little blue marble get in there?

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